Editor’s note: We continue with our 31 Days of Reading in Spanish. Check out the book review below and don’t forget to enter our weekly GIVEAWAY of $100 worth of books in Spanish!

BOOK DESCRIPTION/REVIEW

How many times have your kids wished to be older and have more privileges? How often are they envious of an older sibling that is capable and allowed to do more things?

In Gwendolyn Zepeda’s award-winning bilingual picture book Los Tamales de Ana/Growing Up with Tamales, Ana is the younger sister who is always wishing she were just like her older sister Lidia. Every Christmas the girls are assigned jobs to help make the tamales: mixing the masa, spreading it on the corn husks, filling and rolling the tamales — and every year Ana envies what her sister is able to do.

We see Ana getting older as the years pass, turning 10, 12, 14, and 16, and Ana sees Lidia always two years older, and always able to do the more difficult tasks.

Sweet Ana does not get discouraged and knows that when she grows up, she will make the tamales by herself and get to deliver them to all of her family and friends.

Los Tamales de Ana is a delightful story and combines the holiday tradition of making tamales as a family with the wishes of a little girl who can’t wait to grow up. I can’t wait to take this book out this December when we are making our own tamales!

    BOOK DETAILS

    Title: Growing Up with Tamales/ Los Tamales de Ana

    Author: Gwendolyn Zepeda

    Illustrator: April Ward

    Ages: 3-7 years

    Publisher/Year: Arte Publico Press/2008

    ISBN: 9781558854932

    Price: $20.22 on Amazon.com

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}

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.