There's a trend that happens in the month of November. People are sharing (on social media) something they're grateful for every day of the month. I've heard the arguments that everyone should just be grateful all the time and not just as a "trendy meme" for the month that the Thanksgiving holiday falls on. I guess ...
Celebrate
I'm Cuban. I throw lots of parties. You shouldn't be surprised.
Give Thanks. I mean it.
I'm preparing to host Thanksgiving again this year. Of course, everyone's invited. I love traditions. But what I love more is making them my own. I had a vision. I wanted to hang a giant banner that read, "Give Thanks" that would be the first thing you saw when you walked into our freakishly small cottage-like home. I tried to ...
Everyone’s Invited
Everyone knows that Thanksgiving lands on the 4th Thursday of November. So, it's not like it's a big surprise that Thanksgiving this year will be celebrated on the....4th Thursday of November. This happens every single year. 4th Thursday = Thanksgiving. We have already discussed and decided that the Thanksgiving celebration will take ...
Styling a Quick and Easy DIY Thanksgiving
I love a beautifully set table. I do. It doesn't have to be fancy or elegant, although it could be. My preference is for fun and welcoming. Here are some examples of Thanksgiving tables that I've done in the past here, here, and here. Today I want to share how I went about styling my Thanksgiving tables last year. So, buckle in and welcome to my ...
Here, have some “Pi”
Do you love fall? I truly do. Although, here in Southern California, Fall is a little schizophrenic. We have very cool and blustery days and then the sun will come out and suddenly it's just a regular beach day. It even rained one day in September. We didn't know how to act, of course. We just don't know how to "do" weather. However, the calendar ...
Summer Manifesto
The definition of the word manifesto from Dictionary.com:man·i·fes·to [man-uh-fes-toh] noun, plural man·i·fes·toes.a public declaration of intentions, opinions, objectives, or motives, as one issued by a government, sovereign, or organization.I know from experience that unless I am very intentional about doing something, it just ...
Hello, Outdoor Movie Nights
I know this might sound odd, but at the beginning of every summer, we make a Summer Bucket List. I may just have to blog about it soon, but today is not that day. We've always been pretty intentional about the things we choose to participate in and the places we go. I think it's a holdover from being homeschoolers for so long. ...
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 ...
