Christmas Tradition Christmas in my family starts when we set up the tree in the living room. Furniture needs to be moved out of the way to make room for it. There is a different type of light that lights up the room when we plug it in. The manger goes at the bottom of the tree and we sing songs about when Jesus was born. The house starts to smell different. My mom spends time making picadas which are homemade flour tortillas with spicy sauce in red and green and white cheese. Even the food looks like it’s dressed for Christmas. It smells so good but she won’t let us have one before Christmas Eve. We don’t eat a lot but we play Mexican Bingo and also tell jokes. My family was originally from Mexico and we never speak English during that time. We speak Spanish as a sign of respect. We never stop celebrating and also we never eat at any fast-food restaurant. There are lots of games we play around the tree and also eat Mexican food. The reason why our family celebrates this kind of Christmas spirit is to spend time together. As we gather around the tree, we finally end by praying and also talking about what we want. We leave the tree and go to the table to get dessert-like pan con chocolate which is bread with chocolate.    

– Gael Olvera P.

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant