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 ...
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“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 ...
Hello, December.
I love going to new places and trying new things. I also love going to old places and doing thing I've done before, but that's not important right now. ;-) When December rolls around, I always look forward to having holiday-type experiences. Sometimes those include plays or movies or Disney Magic. But yesterday, I had the happy privilege ...
Fambook – like Facebook….but not…
My big, fat, Cuban family is made up of a ton of people. As you can probably imagine, we ditched having every single family member buying Christmas gifts for every other person a long time ago. The only exemption to this rule is my mom. Everyone buys her a little something. We tried drawing names, but after a couple of years, we ran out of ideas ...
W. Unplugged.
My husband, Eric and I had the wonderful opportunity to see and hear George W. Bush at the Saddleback Civil Forum last night. (We regularly attend Saddleback Church, but that's not important right now.) He was there, by his own admission, to "shamelessly peddle my book," Decision Points.What was wonderful about the entire evening ...
The Kids Are Alright
My kids are all gone this Thanksgiving weekend. And I'm okay with that. No, really. I am O-KAY. I don't know when this cataclysmic change happened inside of me. But I know that it did. Adam, whom I haven't seen for months because he moved to Northern California, was here for a few days and took Lucy and Jonathan back with him and ...
The Mother Ring
I remember when my mother got the ring. I must have been about 12 or 13 years old. It was the most beautiful piece of jewelry I thought I'd ever seen. I loved the way the six stones represented me and my five siblings. I loved the way it was perfectly symmetrical, even though I usually prefer things at more random angles. She always wears it ...
TANGLED – A Winner.
I realize the times and dates of the TANGLED screening might not have been convenient for many of you, but thanks to those of you who entered the giveaway. The winners will receive One - Admit TWO pass to the pre-screening of the film. I know that sounds confusing, but it still means that 2 people get in. So start looking for a friend to take! ...
