Like so many other families, we like to send out a photo greeting card each year at Christmastime. Unlike so many other families, there's never really any danger of us taking ourselves too seriously, but that's not important right now. =D The photo is from Adam's birthday celebration earlier this year. I made good on my threat to use ...
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!
When I sang that I was dreaming of a white Christmas, I didn’t really mean it.
No disrespect to Bing Crosby or anything, but I never knew what a "White Christmas" was all about. (Although, I think the film, White Christmas with Bing Crosby & Danny Kaye is one of my absolute favorite must-see holiday movies and I totally think it's genius, not only because Rosemary Clooney gets to wear all those ...
What’s your “turron” of choice?
There are some things that are unique to my Cuban culture that I take for granted. Particularly at Christmastime. Like most people and most other cultures, there are things we grew up with that seem normal. But outside of our cultural context are just plain weird. Let's take TURRONES for example. (Pronounced TOO-RON-EHS. Well, ...
“El que tiene hijas…”
My dad was an engineer. He was, I could argue, pretty brilliant. (as engineers usually are) He was also uncomfortable around a lot of people. (as engineers usually are) He was always known as "Verdés" - as if calling him by his first name would have been sacrilegious. No one called him by his first name. Not even my mom. My dad was a quiet ...
sELF-portrait Tuesday… Holiday Style. =D
I couldn't do Christmas without them. ;-)http://aka.zero.jibjab.com/client/zero/ClientZero_EmbedViewer.swf?external_make_id=Wp0qgCt6cXEj78iD&service=sendables.jibjab.com&partnerID=ElfYourself Send your own ElfYourself eCardsSELF portrait. Get it? (I crack myself up.) ...
Take a deep breath and just enjoy this…
I tell them every year on December 1st. "Stop what you're doing, take a deep breath and just enjoy this..." And yes, Johnny Mathis does look pretty goofy in the fez and Al Jerreau just looks happy to be there, and my hair can look like Chaka Khan without conditioner, and no, I don't believe Kwanzaa is a real holiday. (right, ...
Day One.
Happy first day of December! In our little corner of The Bubble that is Orange County, California, (I know bubbles don't have corners - it's a metaphor....but that's not important right now) it seems that it has become mandatory to decorate for Christmas in the moments following Thanksgiving. Seriously. The bird has barely hit ...
Feliz Navidad
Me: Can you guys do a 30-second Noche Buena commercial spot? Them: Umm. . . Duh! Watch this . . .I want to wish all of you my very faithful blog visitors (whom I totally consider my Big, Fat, Extended Cuban-Cyberspace Family, because I'm kind of a dork like that =D) a very, very Merry Christmas. Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año ...
Why we do what we do.
We eat roast pig (lechon asado) on Christmas Eve, which we call Noche Buena. We have yuca with a garlic mojo on the side.We fight over the fried, ripe plantains.We hold hands and give thanks to God for his generous provision.We draw names for a gift exchange, but end up getting little gifts (we call those "regalos de arbol" - or ...
Christmas Greetings
We were all dressed up that day. It was the day of Heather's wedding. "Perfect Christmas card photo op!" (at least that's what I thought. . .) We had tons of pictures taken that day, all dressed up and shiny and smiling pretty, but this is my very favorite. The one where Eric extends the camera with his left hand and we all ...
