The Holidays are upon us, so I thought I’d share images that motivate and inspire me during this time of year, as well as memories from my childhood. All these images evoke very special feelings for me; I get feelings of happiness, gratitude, joy, and that warm fuzzy feeling one gets when they are so happy.
Before the images, I’d like to share some childhood memories.
When growing up, our home always felt so warm. No matter what was going on, good time or bad, our house was always welcoming to everyone. I recall a few cousins who used to say that our house felt homie, unlike their home.
My mom used to set up our Christmas tree around December the 12th, which is Dia de la Virgen Maria. I remember helping her wipe down the ornaments and all the lights. She used to fix any extensions that would not lit, ALL of them! I loved setting up the nativity set and as many decorations as I could. We had a Santa Claus with a light inside and it would go in the living room window, right in front of our Christmas tree. We also had this ball that would make bird sounds…I LOVED it, but of course, it would get annoying after a while and I had to turn it off. Then there’s the music box. Gosh, how much I liked that thing. I would turn it on here and there, but especially on Christmas morning.
Wow. What memories. I loved going to church on Christmas Eve and almost every year, after church, it would start to snow! So we’d head out of church to go home (we lived a block away so it was an nice/easy walk), and we’d walk home in the snow. It was absolutely beautiful. I love snow. And I especially love snow during Christmas.
Now for some images that conjure the Christmas spirit to me.
How about some food motivation?
I grew up eating menudo and tamales for Christmas. We also had chips, dips, various cheeses, and a variety of nuts. My mom used to also make bunuelos (haven’t had these in about 15 years!) and biscochuelos. She made hot chocolate a few times. Hot chocolate made from Chocolate Abuelita bars is SO good! The biscochuelos look like a tried flour tortilla and we served them with a syrup made from piloncillo, an unrefined brown sugar. Take a look of the images I found in Google.
Yumminess!
What foods do you enjoy for Christmas Eve/Christmas day? What motivates you during the Holidays? Do you like all the decorations? I decorate with traditional colors, how about you?!