There has been so much preparation leading up to this week. Of course, I'm sure it's been like that in every home that celebrates Christmas. And also, did it seem like December just vanished in a puff of smoke, or is that just me? We're not the people who put up Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving. We take our time and ...
Cuban Christmas
Enjoy these Cuban Christmas traditions, Cuban recipes, and stories from my family to yours. Wishing you and your family a very Merry Cuban Christmas!
Nochebuena in the O.C. (¡Oh, Sí!)
I'm just now recovering from the Food Coma that has ensued since our fabulous Nochebuena celebration. Once again it fell to me to host My Big, Fat, Cuban Family for our big Cuban feast on December the 24th. Cubans celebrate Christmas Eve more so than Christmas Day. It's a fall-back, I think, to the days when we actually celebrated the 12 ...
Starting our Nochebuena right – Thank you, Avocados from Mexico.
Nochebuena preparations are in full swing around here. The pig is happily marinating in the Mojo Criollo I told you about a few days ago. The Matervas are chilling in the fridge. Lucy is out in the world on a hunt for Turrones. Every time the phone rings or there is a text, it is Christmas related. My sister, Helen, calls: "We need an ...
El Wiwichu
There's so much that I love about the holidays. My earliest Christmas memories are all filled with abundance and magic. I think one of my favorites happened as we were learning the language and the customs of our new adopted country. Our default greeting was always "Feliz Navidad." But here in the U.S. things were a little ...
It’s beginning to look a lot like…
I often say that the best part of Christmas for me is being Cuban. Our traditional Nochebuena celebration begins with the fabulousness that is Lechón Asado. A roasted pig. Or, if you don't have 50 of your closest relatives coming for dinner on Christmas Eve, then a 20 lb. pork shoulder will do. If you're a cheater, like me, you can also ...
My Big, Fat, Cuban Family Cubiche Christmas Gift Guide
Christmas shopping. I am so not the get-up-at-the-crack-of-dawn-to-snap-up-deals-on-Black-Friday type of person. I am much more the online-shopper-in-my-pjs type. (However, if you tell anyone about the PJ thing, I'll most certainly deny it, but that's not important right now.) It's just a matter of covering more territory while ...
Nochebuena is coming and everyone’s invited!
We Cubans celebrate December the 24th. It's our BIG Christmas celebration with the extended family. And when I say celebrate, I mean we pull out all the stops. It's a PARTY. The meal is usually roast pork (lechón asado), white rice, black beans, plantains, yuca con mojo. And a great big flan (and assorted sweets) for dessert. It's ...
Happy Dia de los Reyes!
Happy Dia de los Reyes. Day of the Three Kings. Day of the Magi. It's always so strange to try and explain some of our Cuban superstitions traditions. And yes, I know we've been exiled for 50 years now, but some traditions we still keep. Even if they are now mostly just as a nod to our heritage. Enter the Three Kings. Or the Three Wise ...
Everything I wished for…
Happy New Year, everyone! I know some of you are wondering what happened with the Dark Christmas Tree. Here's the story: My son, Adam flew in from the Bay Area at the crack of dawn, landing at around 7:30 AM on Christmas eve. Lucy and Jonathan went to pick him up at the airport while Eric and I finished up the last minute touches around ...
The Dark Christmas Tree
It's December the 24th and my Christmas tree is finally up. But there are no ornaments on it. My friends tease me because I don't like to decorate my home for Christmas very early in the month of December. In the Christmases of my youth, we would always wait until Christmas eve to decorate the tree. There's nothing like feeling the ...
The Great Christmas Card Challenge of 2011
I love the tradition of exchanging Christmas cards. I don't know if my parents ever sent out Christmas greetings, but I remember being 18 years old and buying my first pack of Christmas cards. My family had just moved to Orange County from the Los Angeles area where I had left all of my old friends. It was 1973 and I was still regularly ...
Marta’s Christmas Gift Guide #2 – It’s all about the image
As long and as far back as I can remember, everyone in my family has had an old school "cafetera" sitting on the stove. There might have been a few years (waaay back in the day) where my parents used a sock-thingy to make Cuban coffee. But for the most part, the stovetop cafetera has always been the must-have Cuban coffee making ...
It’s Nochebuena! And everyone’s invited. Again.
My big, fat, Cuban family consists of pretty much the same people year after year. Except for the occasional birth, marriage, or divorce, I'm still related to the same people. It's still just "us." (Sometimes "us" can get to upwards of 40 people, but that's not important right now.) We Cubans have our BIG ...
Marta’s Cuban Christmas Shopping Guide: La Cantina
I am not the type to start decorating in November for Christmas. I know many of you do. I choose not to. I am patient when it comes to the festive home decor. I wait until about a week before Christmas to start. It's my own personal preference. I think it's just that much more magical, but that's not important right now. But I have ...
Our Favorite Orange County Portrait Photographer and Friend
I'm starting to think that I'm the last of a dying breed who waits until it's actually December (and usually half-way through!) to start decorating my home for Christmas. I explain that in great detail here. But that doesn't mean I don't shop or do all the other preparations that make Christmas meaningful to me. It takes a ...
Teaching Generosity?
As you know if you've been reading this blog for a while, we have homeschooled our kids. I often say that one of the reasons we have chosen to homeschool is that we're not as concerned about their academics as we are concerned about their character. We have attempted to teach them kindness, thoughtfulness, hospitality, and generosity - ...
