Every year, around the the beginning of November, right after Halloween, I get “the itch.” The itch to start to play my favorite canciones navideñas (Christmas songs). I slowly start to play my favorite parranda songs, along with other classics such as “Mi Burrito Sabanero.” By mid-November, my daughter and I are dancing in the kitchen and singing along to the best of the songs (“Dame la mano paloma, oooh oooh;” “Si no me dan de beber LLORO;” “AZUCAR no hay cama pa’ tanta gente”). I also try to solidify Christmas plans with my family members. Being that this year is COVID, there isn’t very much to discuss, unfortunately, but I’m still making plans where there are none. I bought a Happy Planner Be Happy Christmas Box to organize my Christmas plans. Christmas will live on somehow this year!🎄
Interestingly, I noticed that some of my Latino brothers and sisters were on 💯 when it came to Christmas this year! It started actually with a planner video (~8:15) that I was watching. The speaker said that for Thanksgiving, the Christmas tree was probably going to be up because she was Puerto Rican & family time was important to them:
“For me and my family we start celebrating pretty early and we don’t stop celebrating until January 5th. For me and my family, when it comes to Thanksgiving, we kind of add that to Christmas time. We like having a Christmas tree up by Thanksgiving, and probably before that.”
-moni plannerfun @youtube
My FB feed has been filled with holiday cheer and videos that poked fun at Latinos’ obsession with the Christmas holiday, before Thanksgiving even happens! Two videos included my favorite comedians, Jenny Lorenzo and LeJuan James (both classroom friendly!). My social media made my Christmas prep look like nothing in comparison to the gorgeous photos I was seeing of my friends’ homes that were fully decked out in Christmas gear! Below, one of my friends, Dora, who lives in Texas but is originally from Puerto Rico, explains why she gets into the holiday cheer so early:
I hope that you find this information useful in the classroom, as it is quite interesting that some cultures (especially Caribbean cultures) begin Christmas celebrations prior to Thanksgiving! To get into the mood, check out the Navidad playlist that I curated below!
Which do you celebrate first? Do you celebrate Christmas early? Comment below!
Con mucho amor y cariño,
❤️ Allison
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