To all of our readers:

We want to wish you a Very Merry Xmas and a wonderful New Year 2013;)

Every year, I get to spend Christmas in the United States. I learn new things about how Christmas is celebrated and how we incorporate things in our family of three; soon to be four.

We don’t have relatives living close to us, and as I was growing up, even though we had our cousins and aunts living close to us, my parents most of the time decided to spend Christmas at home. Usually we gathered together for Christmas; it was my mom, my dad and both of my brothers, and that was our family.

After almost ten years in the United States, as much as I miss my Christmas in Peru, I also enjoy my time with my new family. I bring things from my culture to our Christmas, like my two-day marinated turkey, my Russian salad, our apple sauce and from the American culture, I am trying to create a tradition where my husband and my son make my mother in law’s traditional fruit salad and honey baked ham.

We don’t bring the Christmas tree down the very next day of Christmas, because in Hispanic tradition, we celebrate “Bajada de Reyes,” and that happens January 7th.

Hispanics celebrate Christmas the night of December 24th.  We wait until midnight to have our family dinner, and right after that, we start opening gifts. Different than the U. S. tradition, huh?   When we are in Peru, we follow our Peruvian tradition; although when we are at home in the U.S., my husband stays up till midnight, because he knows that in Peru, we count minutes and seconds prior to midnight to wish us Merry Christmas, and it has to be midnight, not before or after. We have done this every year and he knows how important it is for me.  This year, for the first time, my little one Tyler stayed up until midnight. We hug and kiss at midnight wishing everyone Merry Christmas, then we go to bed and wait for Santa to come overnight with our Christmas gifts, right?

Tyler & Mommy two minutes past midnight;) We did it!!

I hope this blog helps readers understand that there may be different ways to celebrate Christmas, but the most important thing is that Jesus was born on Dec. 25th, and we should be thankful to have the opportunity to spend it with our family.

Till my next blogpost;)
Sincerely,

Evelyn Brooks

To all of our readers:

We want to wish you a Very Merry Xmas and a wonderful New Year 2013;)

Every year, I get to spend Christmas in the United States. I learn new things about how Christmas is celebrated and how we incorporate things in our family of three; soon to be four.

We don’t have relatives living close to us, and as I was growing up, even though we had our cousins and aunts living close to us, my parents most of the time decided to spend Christmas at home. Usually we gathered together for Christmas; it was my mom, my dad and both of my brothers, and that was our family.

After almost ten years in the United States, as much as I miss my Christmas in Peru, I also enjoy my time with my new family. I bring things from my culture to our Christmas, like my two-day marinated turkey, my Russian salad, our apple sauce and from the American culture, I am trying to create a tradition where my husband and my son make my mother in law’s traditional fruit salad and honey baked ham.

We don’t bring the Christmas tree down the very next day of Christmas, because in Hispanic tradition, we celebrate “Bajada de Reyes,” and that happens January 7th.

Hispanics celebrate Christmas the night of December 24th.  We wait until midnight to have our family dinner, and right after that, we start opening gifts. Different than the U. S. tradition, huh?   When we are in Peru, we follow our Peruvian tradition; although when we are at home in the U.S., my husband stays up till midnight, because he knows that in Peru, we count minutes and seconds prior to midnight to wish us Merry Christmas, and it has to be midnight, not before or after. We have done this every year and he knows how important it is for me.  This year, for the first time, my little one Tyler stayed up until midnight. We hug and kiss at midnight wishing everyone Merry Christmas, then we go to bed and wait for Santa to come overnight with our Christmas gifts, right?

Tyler & Mommy two minutes past midnight;) We did it!!

I hope this blog helps readers understand that there may be different ways to celebrate Christmas, but the most important thing is that Jesus was born on Dec. 25th, and we should be thankful to have the opportunity to spend it with our family.

Till my next blogpost;)
Sincerely,

Evelyn Brooks