Naptime Blog

With four kids and two crazy families, opening gifts on Christmas morning does not stop after the Santa Claus presents get opened.  As a matter of fact, this Christmas, we started at 8am and didn’t finish until 2pm!  After the Santa gifts, the kids opened gifts from Mommy and Daddy and each other.  We do a big breakfast with the family, so as we were finishing up, my two aunts gave the kids their presents, then my parents came in with theirs, followed by my sister and her boyfriend, and my brother and his roommate.  We stopped briefly for breakfast, and the kids returned to the tree to play with their new treasures.   Already, I was unable to find my living room floor.  Just as I was moving boxes and making a path to the back door, my mother-in-law and her husband come in with their bags, followed directly behind her by my father-in-law and his wife!  By one-thirty in the afternoon, I was very frazzled!

On top of it all, I was hosting Christmas dinner!  Luckily, my aunts helped with the artichokes and mushrooms and my mom had prepared the lasagna and meatballs.  My mother-in-law brought the antipasto, so in between TRYING to find my children amongst the toys, cars, boxes, ripped papers and garbage bags, I was preparing veggies and meat and other parts to our meal.  And every few minutes, I would glance into my living room and wonder WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE WE GOING TO HOUSE ALL THESE TOYS?

When all of our guests left, my husband and I decided we needed to do something, for if the kids woke up in the morning to this mess of toys, who knows where things would land and what would get misplaced or broken.  So we emptied their toy boxes and sorted out the old toys.  We opened all of the new toy boxes and he broke up the boxes for recycling.  We did our best to put what we could in the toy boxes, the new books went into the book case, the new DVDs into the entertainment center along with the new video games.  The board games we put in the closet, and all the new clothes went into a laundry basket to be brought up and put away. 

Could you imagine my delight when I could see my living room floor again?

Christmas is now four days ago.  This morning I was straightening up and found a shopping bag under the table with my Christmas Village on it (I had it covered with a long tablecloth and forgot I put the shopping bag under it) with more GIFTS for the kids!  My mom had brought them last week from a family friend and I was holding them until Christmas morning, and then it slipped my mind.  And don’t you know it – MORE TOYS!

We say it every year, and I know we will say it again next year – WE NEED TO STOP GOING OVERBOARD!  But then again, kids are only kids for a short time, and these memories they will have their whole lives.  I remember when my parents’ living room floor couldn’t be seen, and those were some of the best days of my childhood!

I hope you are all enjoying the (chaotic and sometimes messy!) holidays!

In this most wonderful time of the year, you may also be calling it the most chaotic time of the year!  I know for our home, we are truly enjoying the family time, the sharing and caring, but we are also overwhelmed with the craziness that comes along with it!  And also, at this time of year, I am remembering those I loved and lost, and trying to keep their memory alive (which is why we still do all the traditional holiday planning and activities, which is part of the craziness!)

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It is a gift that is over 20 years old, but is still with me. I was ten years old that Christmas and I wanted a special gift that year. My parents didn’t have much, but they did give me a great gift each year. I asked my mom for a doll to play with. I had a few Barbie dolls, but nothing like a big doll that I could take care of. I wanted a doll that I could treat like my baby.

Christmas morning, I found my doll. It was UGLY! I asked my mom why I got this ugly doll. It was a Wrinkles dog puppet. Its face was scrunched up like a sharpie. But, I realized she was soft and cuddly.

I named her Emily and put my baby clothes on her. She went with me everywhere except for school and church. She kept me company after I had a nightmare and watched over me while I did my homework.

Today, Emily is still with me and is the only childhood toy I’ve kept. She still wears my pink baby dress over her original outfit. Emily still carries her toy bone in her dress pocket. She sits on my desk in my room keeping watch. What makes her even more special is that since my mom isn’t with me anymore, Emily can remind me of the best Christmas I ever had as a kid.

Eeeek! If you’re a Santa-believer, your day of reckoning has come. It is a day that many parents dread if they’ve introduced their children to Santa. So how can you handle this? Here are some tips:

1. Ask your child what he or she heard. Kids hear many things at many times and the information can be very inaccurate. It is always good to ask your kids what exactly they heard. Once you know what you’re dealing with, you can move on to the next step.
2. Where did he or she hear it? Ask your child where he or she got the information from.  You can then try to speak to this individual about what you’d like your child to believe about Santa. Or you can let your child figure out what to believe.
3. Consider your child’s age. If your child is pre-school or school age, you can try to salvage this by simply asking your child what he or she believes in. Chances are, your child may not be ready to let go of Santa just yet.
4. Tell the truth. If your child fixates on the fact that Santa isn’t real or is old enough to realize it, be honest about it. There is no point in continuing a tradition that your child does not believe in.

This happened to me. My son (age 10) told me last year that he didn’t think Santa was real. He then said that he thought I was Santa because his gifts were never under the tree until Christmas. (I purposely keep his gifts hidden to keep the Santa tradition alive.) I believe that kids should be allowed to be kids and enjoy the holiday. But, my Santa party is over.

I explained to my son all about the tradition of Santa Claus. He learned the story of St. Nicholas (http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/who-is-st-nicholas/) who lived during the 4^th Century and gave his belongings away. Then I shared that St. Nicholas was the model for Santa Claus (http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/origin-of-santa/) . Kiddo learned more about the saint at school so I didn’t have to explain much. But, he was happy to hear about where Santa came from and to learn about St. Nicholas. Either way you decide what is best for your child. Happy Holidays!

I LOVE music! It is one of my passions and I especially love holiday music. I love traditional Christmas songs (Silent Night, Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Coming to Town) in English and some favorites in Spanish. Silent Night (Noche de Paz – Night of Peace), Pastores a Belen (Shepherds to Bethlehem) and Hacia Belen (Towards Bethlehem) are my top three Spanish holiday carols. When I listen and sing along to these three songs, I’m a kid again in our tiny chapel.

Other songs that have found their way to my heart are parody songs. Parody songs are tunes written to make us laugh. I will be the first one to crack a joke about the holidays and make my family laugh. Someone (bless them!) came up with the idea of writing parodies of favorite holiday songs.

For the last several years, I’ve kept my radio on to Z100 and 95.5 WPLJ to tune into my favorites – Dominic the Italian Christmas Donkey, 12 Things at Christmas that’s Such a Pain to me and of course, Adam Sandler’s Hanukkah song (all three versions). Each year I look forward to singing these to make myself laugh. Sometimes, we can take the holidays so seriously that we fail to enjoy them. What better way to enjoy music during the holidays than to make fun of ourselves and share the laughter?

Other traditions that come during the holidays are special foods and treats. My mother made several, but there are three that are my favorites during this time of year. One is Coquito – a coconut-based drink that is almost like egg nog (without the egg). Each year, my mother would mix a can of Coco Lopez (thick coconut), a fresh coconut (meat/milk), cinnamon, water and at the end, a splash of Puerto Rican rum. Mami usually made two batches – alcoholic for the adults & non-alcoholic for kids.

Another food tradition is called pasteles. A pastele is a mix of ground up vegetables (Green Banana, Yautia and Yuca) with stewed pork in the center. Mami assembled it on wax paper (in Puerto Rico, banana leaves are used) putting the ground up veggies or masa (dough) in the center. She flattened it out creating a pocket in the middle for the stewed pork. Two versions were made – spicy for the adults and regular for the kids. She would then fold up the edges of the wax paper to make a rectangle-shaped container. My job was to tie two pasteles together tightly. It was a holiday tradition just for us to make it because it is made from Thanksgiving through Little Christmas (January 6). We’d sit and talk while we ground up the vegetables and I’d go steal some of the stew to eat it with crackers. So yummy! After the work was done, the pasteles were boiled for an hour and voila! A delicious holiday treat for me to enjoy.

The final one was a dessert called Tembleque (pronounced “tem-bleh-keh”). It is a coconut custard that mom prepared every year along with the coquito and pasteles. My mom used a can of Coco Lopez and heated it with corn starch. She dedicated a lot of time to this because it had to be stirred constantly so that it didn’t burn. Mami then spread the mixture onto a flat plate. She topped it off with a sprinkle of cinnamon and cooled it in the fridge. After a couple of hours, the tembleque was ready to eat. Hers came out hard enough to eat with my hands like cake. My pal made it for me last year and it was very soft after she placed it in dessert cups.

I’ve only tried to make this once myself and it came out burnt. It was brown like caramel and hard as a rock! This was several years ago already, but maybe next year I’ll try making it again. What are your special holiday food traditions?

Growing up with a mom from a Puerto Rico, I learned about unique traditions that really showed the joy and celebration of Christmas. The first one was the parranda. A parranda is equivalent to the carolers at Christmastime here in the US. The big difference is that members of the parranda have guitars and other instruments to sing to their neighbors and friends nearby. I have great memories of going on parrandas with my mother and her church group. They played songs with drums, tambourines and guitars to sing to sick friends who had not been able to go to church. It is one of my favorite memories of the season.

Another tradition from Puerto Rico, is Three Kings Day or Little Christmas. It pays tribute to the visit of the three Magi or Wise Men who paid homage to Jesus and presented him with gifts. The night before Three Kings Day (January 6), children put out a handful of grass along with a bowl of water for the camels that the Magi traveled on. In the same way that children put out cookies and milk for Santa, children in Puerto Rico (and those of Puerto Rican descent) do the same. In the morning, children will find their gifts as a thank you from the Magi for feeding their camels. I remember that my local church collected gifts to give to the neighborhood children for Little Christmas. I think I got my first Monopoly game this way. What are your special holiday celebration traditions?

We celebrate Christmas.  We are Roman Catholic Christians, and although Easter is our religion’s biggest holiday, as you know, Christmas gets the most attention every year!  We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior. 

For our family, the Christmas season begins on Thanksgiving.  We watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV (one day when the kids are a little older we hope to go in person.  As a New Yorker, I cannot believe I have yet to go!), and when the parade is over, we officially say it is Christmas!  I start my Christmas shopping early the next morning (sometimes late Thanksgiving night, IF we are not too stuffed and tired from dinner!) and we decorate our home inside and out over Thanksgiving weekend.

We send out Christmas cards, at least 30 cards to family and friends.  We decorate Christmas cookies, baking butter cookies, sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, walnut balls and a variety of other cookies depending on the year (and our time!)  My husband and I shop and wrap together (except each other’s gifts, of course, although sometimes we know what the other has gotten us in advance!), and we bake as a family.  We attend various parties and Christmas concerts the kids put on at school.

On Christmas Eve, we attend Mass at 5pm, where the children put on The Living Nativity.  For the second year in a row, my daughter is in the presentation.  She is a signing angel.  After Mass, we enjoy a fish dinner, where we have at least 7 different fishes.  I am a seafood fan, so I really enjoy Christmas Eve. We celebrated Christmas Eve with my in-laws for many years, but since Juliana is in The Living Nativity near our house, we have been celebrating with my family.   After dinner, it’s home and bedtime for the kids, and Santa and Mrs. Claus get ready for the morning!  We take out all the kids’ presents, put some together, “eat” the cookies and “drink” the milk (usually putting it back as we are both too stuffed to actually eat anything else!) and prepare whatever we can in advance for dinner the next day.  We always host Christmas dinner at our house, so after opening presents and breakfast, it is back into the kitchen!

Christmas morning at our house is extremely chaotic and crazy, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.  First, the kids get Santa’s gifts, then open the gifts from us (and each other), and usually by then, by parents and siblings have arrived with a ton more presents.  My house usually looks like Toys R Us exploded that morning, and I spend the day worrying where in the world I am going to put all these new toys!  Paul and I go make everyone breakfast, and we enjoy breakfast as  family.  Everyone goes home to shower and dress, and we finish preparing dinner.  Just as we’re showered, our guests start to arrive.  This year, we are hosting my parents, my siblings and their significant others, my mother-in-law and her husband, my father-in-law and his wife, two of my aunts and us.  We will be 18. 

After stuffing ourselves silly for the second day in a row, everyone goes home, and Paul and I usually crash on the couch.  It has been a long few days!  I try to reflect on the day and I remember again the real reason for the season, celebrating the birth of Jesus.  I am thankful for another wonderful holiday.

WHAT DO YOU CELEBRATE?

Well, my non-traditional Thanksgiving didn’t happen. Turns out that my two pals both decided to stay home. One decided to cook for her siblings and the other was so burnt out by work that she wanted to stay home. I decided then to visit my father and his girlfriend for a bit before going to my cousin’s house. (My cousin happened to text me an invite to her house for turkey day a week before.) After a couple of hours with my father (who I had already seen two days that week for childcare – love my dad), I then traveled to my cousin’s house. My cousin V hosted Thanksgiving with a bunch of our cousins all from my mother’s side of the family. I realized how much I liked my family and how easy it was to crack jokes. I also realized how much I missed my mom that day – especially her cooking. V’s cooking is amazing along with everyone else who cooked that day (I brought wine), but none of it was the same because it wasn’t my mom’s. But, for a few hours I had a great time, laughing, joking and chatting away with my family.

That was until my son reminded me that we were also invited to stop by his godmother’s for Thanksgiving as well. She and I aren’t very close anymore, but kiddo loves her very much so I took the trip for his sake. The last few hours of Thanksgiving found me sitting mostly by myself with a few conversations here and there while kiddo played with the other kids there. I’d have been happier with ending Thanksgiving at V’s house, but kiddo had a great time at his godmother’s so it was worth it. Thank goodness for Thanksgiving.