Every single one of our trick-or-treating neighbors made a comment about the pumpkins jack-o-lanterns. We were the show-stopper house. Even more so than the guys down the street that had the inflatable Frankenstein and fake cobwebs. People were even posing their costumed kids on our brick path for photos and we were loving every ...
Celebrate
I'm Cuban. I throw lots of parties. You shouldn't be surprised.
Where you won’t find me on Halloween…
You won't find me in a costume on Halloween. I love everything about this day. (Well, no, that's technically not true. Not everything. I'm not at all into the uber-creepfest or trampy-dressing part of Halloween. I am all about achieving a High Cuteness Quotient, but that's not important right now.) And while I enjoy making ...
Marta Darby’s Day Off
Can you guess where we were today?You know, just because we homeschool, doesn't mean we don't ditch sometimes. ;-) Okay, the truth is that Lucy had PSAT Testing and Jonathan had his Literature and American History classes. They've both been working really hard and they both were through at noon and well, it's ...
What do you call your Abuela?
The span in age between me and my oldest sister, Ofie, is about fifteen years. Which means she was married and had her first child, Annette, by the time I was nine. Which means that at that point in my young life, my mother, Luz, became a grandmother."La Abuela!" She had waited so long to finally hear those words. She could barely wait until ...
“Felicidades, Abuela!” (state your name)
I've written before about how my family spent summers in Varadero Beach in pre-castro Cuba.My grandmother's birthday was in late June so we would be out of Havana and not with her to celebrate. So we would call.... It seems like such a simple thing, making a phone call from Varadero to Havana, but it was quite an elaborate operation because the ...
Counting my blessings
Scenes from Mother's Day with...MY....BIG.... FAT.... CUBAN.... FAMILY.... On days like today, I consider myself so incredibly blessed that these are the people that have been given to me to love.... What a gift. ...
The Good Mother
Like every other mother I know and like all those emails that get passed around this time of year, I've done my share.I have wiped my share of runny noses.And changed innumerable diapers.I have had the amazing experience of feeding a hungry baby and rocking them to sleep.I have attended hundreds of rehearsals, productions, and plays.I have starved ...
A Red Carnation
Luza, my mom. She was twenty-five when she got married. She was twenty-six when she became a mother. She was forty-one when she gave birth to me, the youngest of her six children. She was forty-seven when she found herself exiled in a new and foreign country. She was fifty when she became a grandmother. She was eighty-five when she ...
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 ...
