My dad passed away on December 11th, 1999. He and my mom would have celebrated their 60th anniversary just 3 weeks later on December 31st. To this day, when asked how long they were married, my mom will always answer, "Casi 60 años." Translation: "Almost 60 years." It's as if she feels like she's lying to just say 60 ...
My Big, Fat, Cuban Family
Family is everything to me. I love them more than words can describe.
The Look
When he was little, he would give me a Look. The Look could melt my heart in an instant. The Look would wonder, "Am I in trouble?" Or the Look would happily say, "Yes!" in answer to my silent offer of food or a gift. He had a Look of Absolute Joy. And a Look of Abject Terror. The Look began the day he was born. I remember the ...
Nochebuena. Cubans. Photo Booth. (Pachanga!)
My home, as I've told you before, is freakishly small cottage-like. Accomodating my big, fat, Cuban family for Nochebuena takes quite a bit of planning and hard work and a little bit of creativity. Actually, a LOT of creativity. My family is full of extroverted, noisy people. (Hello? Cubans!) They are easy conversationalists and will most ...
My Two Favorite Dolls
As a child, I played with dolls. A lot. In fact, constantly. I had two that were my favorites. I had a Chatty Cathy doll. The kind with the pull string in the back that made her talk. And talk. And talk.And a Skipper doll. Barbie's little sister. She had the coolest wardrobe ever.I loved these two beauties so much that one day, I decided ...
The Great Cucufate
Coming soon to a Cuban household near you...Brought to you by the genius of iMovie & iLife '10. (No, they're not paying me for this. But they totally should, right?) Feliz Navidad! ...
The Luza Gift
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
“Cubanism can strike at any age.”
Me: "I made 'fanguito.'" (FAHN-GEE-TOH) Amy Kikita: "Fanguito? Really, Mom? Wait! Is that another Cubanism? Isn't 'fango' the Spanish word for 'mud?' Where exactly are you??" She sounds puzzled, and I picture her tilting her head to one side (kind of like a German shepherd). Me: "In the ...
