May you discover the magic of la Navidad all over again! Merry Christmas!

Our friends at Lanugo have put together this Christmas coloring book for us to share with all of you. The Lanugo Christmas coloring book celebrates our cultural traditions during this time of year. Inside you’ll find los tres Reyes Magos, a page dedicated to el villancico “El Burrito Sabanero,” and much more!

Click here for the printable version of the Lanugo Christmas coloring book. 

Disclosure: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I’ve received product samples and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

My 7-year-old daughter, Vanessa, loves it when I tell her we’re going to do a craft together. Although I’m never sure if I’m doing things right, just quality spending time with her and my younger son trying to make something beautiful and unique with our own hands is enough to make me love it too!

Since we’ll be spending Nochebuena at my sister’s house this year and she’s asked all of us to bring an ornament for her Christmas tree, we decided that we would make them, making sure we somehow incorporated the Spanish language. After trying to come up with something totally different, I remembered I had once seen an ornament made with the wooden tiles of Scrabble, one of my favorite board games.

Believe or not, I have a really old one that I’ve kept for many years even though it’s missing many of the letters. I know I could’ve just ordered the ones missing, but I never got around to it and since we wanted to make some original ornaments, I figured the time had come to put the tiles to good use.

So we decided to make ornaments with words in Spanish that represent the holidays for us using Scrabble letters. If you don’t have a set of Scrabble, you can get one for less than $20 at Walmart. While it may feel weird to get a board game just for a craft, think about the compliments you’ll get on your unique ornaments.

Other than the actual wooden tiles, you’ll need some Christmas-themed ribbon, a gun glue and any other trinkets you may want to include and you can find all of it in the crafts section of your local Walmart. We got some jingle bells and we ended up doing two different types of ornaments. One with the words spelled out horizontally using colorful foam sheets as the backing and one with the words  spelled out vertically using ribbon as the backing.

The first thing we did was come up with a list of words in Spanish that we associate with the holiday season. Then, we grabbed the ribbon of our choice and we laid down each letter attaching it to the ribbon with a bit of glue. We left a bit of space between each tile because we wanted the polka dots to come through, but you don’t have to. We also left extra ribbon on top to make a loop to hang the ornament.

My favorite part of this craft is that the options are endless and the kids get to practice their spelling in Spanish!

If you are a family with multiple cultures represented, a family that has immigrated to a new country, a mixed race family, an interfaith family, una familia multilingüe, an adoptive family, an expat family, a host family, holidays are a balancing act of choosing “which,” “how,” and “when” to incorporate the different traditions and customs.

In our family, my husband is from Mexico, I am from the U.S., and we have two biological daughters, and two sons who are adopted from China and Ethiopia. Out of serendipity, many important holidays from our four cultures fall within a 3-month period.

From November through January (and sometimes February!), our multicultural family celebrates Día de los Muertos, Thanksgiving, St. Nicholas Day, Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe, Las Posadas, Noche Buena, Christmas, New Year’s (both “western” and “Chinese/Lunar”), Genna (Ethiopian Christmas), Reyes Magos, and Timkat (Ethiopian, “Epiphany”) and a few birthdays. Whew! Just typing it out, I’m already making lists in my head of things I need to do and plans I need to organize.

At the beginning, when our kids were younger, we would haphazardly put things together at the last minute: “Isn’t tomorrow Reyes Magos? Should we get the kids something?” or “Let’s go out for Ethiopian food for Genna today.” We didn’t put a lot of thought into teaching the reason behind the traditions, or explaining why the holidays were celebrated and their cultural importance. In fact, because we didn’t have a plan, we would completely skip holidays sometimes!

When our older kids were about 6 or 7, my husband and I decided to make the traditions more intentional. Family traditions are a key component to healthy family relationships: they strengthen family bonds, teach our children our family values, give our kids a sense of identity and security within our family, and instill pride in our children as they develop their cultural heritage. Think about it: the traditions we make with our children create special memories that most likely, they will pass on to their children.

Traditions do not have to be complicated, take a lot of time, or cost a lot of money, but I would argue that they should be deliberate and repeated consistently in order for them to truly become a part of your family culture. In my type-A world, the first thing to do to get organized is to make a list.

And so, on a “date night” to the café at our local bookstore, my husband and I sat down with a notebook and made up a calendar of the holidays that we would like to celebrate with our kids and which traditions we wanted to incorporate. We each had a strong view of the US and Mexican inclusions, but China and Ethiopia required us to do additional research (both on-line and asking our Chinese and Ethiopian friends).

Some of the traditions are simple and quite common: hanging our homemade stockings by the chimney as I had always done as a girl; putting up the Nativity scene as a family as my husband had always done in Mexico; making Christmas cookies together. Others involve meshing traditions from two or more cultures: we now set up the Christmas tree while listening to Christmas music from around the world and eating tapas and Chinese dumplings, and this time of year we read tons of books about Christmas in Mexico and in the U.S.

We wrote everything down, even if it was just attending celebrations as a ritual: visiting the Ethiopian church festival for their Genna (Christmas) celebration; partying with adoptive families at the Chinese Consulate’s annual Chinese New Year event; going to our church for their Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe mass (that is always followed by folkloric dances and amazing food!).

It’s been three years since we’ve made the family calendar, and every year it seems we add new family traditions – sparklers on Noche Buena, a new annual museum exhibit for Dia de los Muertos, and we started inviting friends over every January for a rosca de reyes party. For our family, raising our children to be proud of their cultural background is as important as raising them to be bilingual. Celebrations and their corresponding customs are the perfect way to pass on your cultural values and heritage, don’t you think?

What are your favorite holidays traditions? How do you balance the different cultures in your family?

My family and I are lucky to be able to go to Disneyland quite frequently, but I can attest that never have we felt so thrilled and felt so at home as we did last week when we were invited to the media event for Disney’s ¡Viva Navidad! at California Adventure.

I already shared with you a sneak peek with a few Instagram videos I took, but I promised you more and here it is!

I got the chance to interview Susana Tubert, one of the Disney creatives behind the whole ¡Viva Navidad! concept. Susana, a bilingual Argentinean, had the fun task of bringing alive the spirit of the Latin American celebrations of la navidad in a uniquely Disney way. Susana, who is also the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Latino International Theater Festival of New York, Inc. came on board only a few months ago and I’ve gotta say that what she and Disney delivered is a pure fiesta con mucho corazón y alma latina.

Just check it out y comienza a vivir la navidad!

Want more of Disney’s ¡Viva Navidad!? Check out five reasons why  it’s a must-see.

Can it be true? Can Disneyland Resort really be creating a special 8-week long celebration in “inspired by the warmth and joyous spirit of the Latino culture, filled with holiday traditions, jubilant dancing and exciting music”. ¡Así es!

We live so close to Disneyland Resort and are lucky enough to visit the parks many times per year and are always happy to see things like their Día de Muertos altars or Reyes Magos celebrations, but in some way it’s never quite enough. So you can imagine lo felices que estamos that Disney announced today “Disney ¡Viva Navidad!” from November 15, 2013 to January 6th, 2014 in Disney California Adventure Park.

From their announcement:

“Disney ¡Viva Navidad!” is a merry celebration inspired by the warmth and joyous spirit of the Latino culture, filled with holiday traditions, jubilant dancing and exciting music. Based in and around the Paradise Garden area of Disney California Adventure, the special activities include crafts and face-painting for children, live Latino music, dance lessons, holiday foods, a “Disney ¡Viva Navidad! Street Party” and, of course, appearances by some popular Disney characters.

The grand finale of “Disney ¡Viva Navidad!” will be the special celebration of Three Kings Day (Día de los Reyes) Jan. 3 through 6, 2014 in Paradise Garden. We will for sure not miss that one!

To read the full announcement with more details on the Latino-centered celebrations, visit the Disneyland News blog.

What do you think about this announcement? Do you want to go to “Disney ¡Viva Navidad!”?

The lechón smells delicious as it finishes roasting in the oven, the majority of the gifts are wrapped and underneath the Christmas tree and the playlist full of trullas navideñas and villancicos is ready for tonight’s Nochebuena celebration, which I’ll be hosting in my home this year. It’s going to be a long night… but one of my favorite ones of the year.

I doubt we’ll wait until midnight to have dinner — like we  used to when I was a child since we first went to Misa de Gallo — but we’ll be sitting down at the table fairly late. Past 10 p.m., I’m sure. If my dad was still alive, we’d be having turkey, like most Peruvians do for Christmas. But he’s gone and nobody makes turkey like he did, so we’ve switched our menu to reflect my husband’s Puerto Rican heritage. And, although I’m obviously partial, he makes a mean lechón.

Dinner will go on a forever and it’ll be loud, although not as much as other years, since not everyone in the family is in town. I know I’ll be stuffing myself with all the goodies on the table, but I can’t say the same for Vanessa, who half-way through dinner will start asking when we’ll be opening the gifts. The asking will go on incessantly, until we finally gather around the tree and start the gifting frenzy.

But first, at the stroke of midnight, I’ll hand Vanessa the little Baby Jesus figurine, and she’ll put it in our pesebre. After that, we’ll make a champagne toast and there’ll be a lot of hugging, kissing, laughing and all around happiness as we all wish each other ¡Feliz Navidad!

When I was little, my mom had my sister and I read the names on the gift tags out loud and then we all had to wait for the person to open their gift to see what they got. Now that Vanessa knows how to read, I’m passing on that responsibility to her. I think she’s going to be a great helper and she’ll love being in charge!

Before the night is over, we’ll have some Panetón and hot chocolate — a Peruvian tradition — which will be a perfect way to end the first Blanca Navidad Denver has seen in many, many years. (Yes! It’s snowing!)

On Christmas Day, the kids will wake up and open the gifts they got from Santa. I hope they sleep late, considering we’ll be going to bed super late tonight, but I know that’s wishful thinking. The rest of Christmas Day will be super lazy with the kids playing with their new toys and the rest of us eating leftovers — if there are any — in our PJs.

Here’s wishing you a very Merry Navidad!

{Photo by  lett -/\=}

I’m officially on vacation… and I couldn’t be happier. I don’t plan on doing much the next two weeks, except spend lots of time with my kids and my husband doing pretty much NADA!

But before I sign-off until 2013, I just wanted to share with you some of the great Christmas content we’ve gathered throughout the years since we launched SpanglishBaby. After all, this is the fourth holiday season we’re celebrating! From posts about how we celebrate La Navidad in our bilingual and bicultural households to really cool Christmas-related activities and yummy recipes, there’s something for everyone, so check it out:

POSTS ABOUT CULTURE/TRADITIONS:

A Christmas Gift: 9 Villancicos Navideños {Printable Lyrics PDF}

Christmas Carols for Posadas – Villancicos Para Pedir Posadas {Printable}

Celebrating Las Posadas: From Mexico to the US

Navidad in El Salvador

A Bicultural Christmas Photo — We asked our regular contributors to share one photo that represents Christmas for their families.

Posadas in Mexico: The Largest Nativity Scene in the World

Santa Claus: Does It Matter What Color He Is or What Language He Speaks?

A Mexican Holiday in Pictures

Your Bicultural Holiday Traditions — A series of posts written by bloggers and our contributors exploring how the holidays are celebrated in their bilingual and bicultural casitas.

A Multicultural Noche Buena Feast

POSTS ABOUT ACTIVITIES:

The Grinch Who Stole Christmas Bath Fun: Christmas Kids Activity

Christmas Party Favor: Snowman Play Dough

Burrito Sabanero Puppets on a Stick {Holiday Craft}

Christmas Activity for Kids: Snowman Bowling

Christmas Activity Sheets in Spanish {Printable}

Poinsettia Craft {Printable Activity}

POSTS ABOUT FOOD:

Gluten-Free Quinoa, Almond and Sherry Cake — Christmas with a Twist

Christmas Baking with Kids: Gingerbread Man

Choco-Mint Christmas Cookies

Last Minute Holiday Drink: Warm Winter Margarita

MERRY CHRISTMAS! ¡FELIZ NAVIDAD!

{Photo by jcortehals}

Christmas baking is so much fun and it’s even more fun and messy when we do it with our niños!

There’s nothing like your casa infused with the scents of canela, ginger and laughter!  My boys had so much fun making gingerbread men with me. I have this fabulous soft gingerbread man cookie recipe that I know you will enjoy!

Before we get started here are some tips for baking with kids: I did this with three boys ages 2, 5 and 8, just in case you’re skeptical about baking with little ones, it is possible. I gave them responsibilities based on their age.

• Let them try measuring the ingredients out.
• Let them mix it in the bowl. (Even if it spills out of the bowl)
• Have them wear an apron or shirt you don’t  mind them getting dirty.
• Give them their own ball of dough to play with.
• Find an area where they have space to move.
• Tell yourself “It will get messy and it’s okay.”
• Bake with your kids when you’re not in a hurry, it will take longer.

1. Mix all of the ingredients from your recipe in a bowl preferably a large one (helps prevent flour from spilling out).

2. Once it’s ready to be rolled out give each child a ball of dough for them to flatten out on a floured surface.  Note, army men made it into our dough!  Remember the tip I shared above? Give them each a ball of dough for them to play with.

3. Once it’s nice and flat, not too flat though, have them press the cookie cutter into the dough.

4. Follow baking directions and then have the kids decorate them with their favorite icing and sprinkles.

5. Enjoy!

Passing on cultural traditions (both Mexican and US) to our children is extremely important to my husband and I: language, food, celebrations and religion are four significant areas that we try to integrate into our lives. Not only does it help them identify with both the English and Spanish communities, but these daily and special occasions strengthen the bond we have within our family, instill pride in their heritage and increase their language competence.

When my husband was growing up in Mexico City, his family and friends would celebrate Las Posadas every December. “Las Posadas” (which means “lodging”) is a lovely tradition celebrated the 9 days preceding Christmas (the number representing the nine months of pregnancy that Mary carried Jesus). Though before getting married I had never been invited to a posadas party, once we had children we began to incorporate this custom into our family, with some adaptations (usually only having one posada instead of the traditional 9!). We celebrate this with friends and family to teach our children about the birth of Jesus and to incorporate an important Mexican cultural tradition into our Christmas.

Las Posadas try to represent or relive the pilgrimage of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem (Belén) while they’re trying to find a place to stay — with a celebration at the end when they finally find their lodging and Jesus is born.

In Mexico, it starts with a song, as a statue of Mary and Joseph parade through the neighborhood. In some cases, the procession is very elaborate with musicians, instruments or even live animals. We went to a huge posada in Chicago one year with a donkey, cows, sheep, and goats — the kids were so interested in the animals they didn’t want the procession to end! The children carrying the statues knock on (predetermined) doors, asking if they have any room in the inn in a simple, but eloquent song called “Pidiendo Posadas.” My kids love when I break down the Spanish lyrics and explain each line:

People (“innkeepers”) keep denying them a place to stay until finally the family who is hosting the posada allow the Holy Family to stay at with them. They open their house and offer food (tamales, mole, tacos) to all of the procession. The hosts also always serve the typical warm drink of ponche: a homemade punch of cinnamon, piloncillo (raw sugar), boiled with lots of fruit: tejocotes, guayabas, ciruela pasas (prunes), pasas (raisins), and tamarindo, using caña (sugar cane) to stir it. Sometimes adults add rum or brandy!

The mood of the party is vibrant and exciting, and guests’ senses are stimulated by the smells of the delicious feast, the sounds of music, and all of the lights. While parents socialize, the children play with luces de bengala (sparklers) and other types of fireworks and then get to break the piñata that is filled with fruit like mandarinas, mini-jicamas, tejocotes, peanuts, and more sugar cane. Finally, the kids get a little basket with confitones (candied almonds), chocolate and other candy.

The kids LOVE it!!! Everyone is speaking Spanish, playing with each other, marveling at the rarity of the sparklers. Something we love about parties in Mexico is that families celebrate together: it’s not an adult party nor is it a kids party, it’s a family party. Las posadas begin with a religious reenactment of Mary and Joseph’s journey, and end in a fiesta with great food, lots of joking and talking, and families having fun together.  This is what we hope to replicate when we make our own posada here in the US: learning about the story of Christmas, modeling warm hospitality, and spending time as a family while celebrating with our dearest friends.