My dad passed away on December 11th, 1999. He and my mom would have celebrated their 60th anniversary just 3 weeks later on December 31st. To this day, when asked how long they were married, my mom will always answer, "Casi 60 años." Translation: "Almost 60 years." It's as if she feels like she's lying to just say 60 ...
Archives for December 2010
The Look
When he was little, he would give me a Look. The Look could melt my heart in an instant. The Look would wonder, "Am I in trouble?" Or the Look would happily say, "Yes!" in answer to my silent offer of food or a gift. He had a Look of Absolute Joy. And a Look of Abject Terror. The Look began the day he was born. I remember the ...
The “Pamagranate”
I love edible gifts. I do. Lucky for me, I have lots of friends and family who bake many wonderful things at Christmastime. My friend, Debbie makes the most delicious and beautiful pizelle (Italian waffle) cookies as gifts. Eric's grandmother makes incredible peanut butter balls. And we can always count on Eric's Aunt Rita for her famous ...
Nochebuena. Cubans. Photo Booth. (Pachanga!)
My home, as I've told you before, is freakishly small cottage-like. Accomodating my big, fat, Cuban family for Nochebuena takes quite a bit of planning and hard work and a little bit of creativity. Actually, a LOT of creativity. My family is full of extroverted, noisy people. (Hello? Cubans!) They are easy conversationalists and will most ...
Welcome, Christmas!
The tables are already set. The smell of roast pork is intoxicating. The gifts are wrapped and tagged. The creme de vie is already flowing. The girls made a run to Porto's Bakery this morning for some REAL CUBAN BREAD (Thank you, God!), croquetas, pastelitos and Cuban tamales. We are ready for Nochebuena. Everyone is working hard around here, ...
Cheaters Lechón Asado (don’t judge me.)
It's raining like mad here in So Cal. And we live in The Bubble (aka. The O.C.). And Nochebuena falls on a Friday. And the men-folk are all working. What does this mean? It means that there will be no Cuban Caja China Pig Roasting for us. (*insert sad face here*) Of course, this does not mean that we won't have our lechóncito. We are, ...
My Two Favorite Dolls
As a child, I played with dolls. A lot. In fact, constantly. I had two that were my favorites. I had a Chatty Cathy doll. The kind with the pull string in the back that made her talk. And talk. And talk. And a Skipper doll. Barbie's little sister. She had the coolest wardrobe ever. I loved these two beauties so much that one day, I decided ...
The Great Cucufate
Coming soon to a Cuban household near you... Brought to you by the genius of iMovie & iLife '10. (No, they're not paying me for this. But they totally should, right?) Feliz Navidad! ...
Beauty and The Grid
When Amy was about 12, we had the opportunity to see Beauty and the Beast (the stage show) at the Music Center in Los Angeles. (At that time, Lucy was only 2, but that's not important right now.) I remember the show being so breathtakingly beautiful. And I remember my surprise that the Disney animated film could translate so perfectly to the ...
Everyone’s Invited!
I can't remember when this started, but as long as I remember we have been making invitations for our Nochebuena Celebration on December the 24th. It's always the same people (with a few added guests). They all know when and where the party is because we have been discussing it for weeks. And, Duh! We do this every, single year. But ...
Make it and Take it
I'm a giver. I give. (You could possibly call me a bit co-dependent, but that's not important right now.) Anyway, back to giving. I'm giving away my personal label designs for Creme de Vie (recipe here) and for Homemade Dulce de Leche (recipe here.) Here's the Crema de Vie ~ Feliz Navidad! Label. And this one is in case ...
Curses! Foiled Again!
**The following post of daring ingenuity and all-around cleverness has been brought to you by the one and only Kikita. I've been temping.'Nuff said. Actually, there's so much more to say.I've done temp work before. I've worked all kinds of places. In fact, there was even a time when I worked as a "Staffing Agent" ...
The Luza Gift
As you know, we Cubans celebrate Noche Buena on December the 24th. In my family, December the 25th, or Christmas Day is the day we each celebrate with our individual families. Usually, my oldest sister, Ofelia will take Luza (my 96 year old mom) with her to enjoy Christmas morning with her grandkids (my mom's great-grands). Besides the ...
“Making Christmas?” or “Resolviendo”?
Our home is small. You could say it's freakishly small, but I prefer to call it cottage-like. (That makes it sound so much cuter.) So hosting my big, fat, Cuban family for holidays is often a challenge. We have to move furniture around to make room for everyone. Can I just add right here that even though it's kind of a challenge, ...
The Christmas Card Photo Shoot of 2010
It will go down in family history as The Year We Hauled the Red Chair Down to the Park. Here's how the whole thing went down: Eric and I went on a pre-Thanksgiving cruise (on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas, which I still have to write about, but that's not important right now). That very same (pre-Thanksgiving) weekend, my son, ...
Lighting the Menorah and Spinning the Dreidel
One of my favorite things about the holiday season is the parties and celebrating with friends. What's different is that not all of our friends do Christmas Trees and Nochebuena. Tonight, my son will be wearing a yarmulke and my daughter will help light the menorah. There will be a wonderful matzoh-ball soup made by a Genuine Jewish ...
