Happy Three Kings’ Day! Feliz Dí­a de los Tres Reyes Magos!

We did it. Last year, after not celebrating, I resolved to celebrate Three Kings’ Day this year. And, though it’s a normal work day and baby girl is at preschool today, she did get her gift this morning and participated in the traditional Three Kings’ Day celebration.

It’s nice for me to share this tradition with her and remember my own childhood memories of celebrating El Día de Los Reyes. I remember making my basket with my family, filling it with grass on La Víspera de Reyes (the Eve of Three Kings’ Day), and being excited the next morning when I found the grass had been replaced with candy and the kings had also left me a gift.

There was one particular year that I remember vividly because I did something that I regret to this day. I can remember that I wanted one of those Barbie motorcycles; I think they were a hot item back then. When I opened my gift, it was a Barbie scooter instead, or maybe it was a moped. What I know is that it wasn’t the motorcycle I wanted. And I said, in my little whiny voice too, “Esto no es lo que yo queria!” (This isn’t what I wanted!) I was of course quickly reprimanded and told to appreciate what the kings had brought me because other kids may not have gotten anything. But, I can still remember my mami‘s face right before she scolded me. When I was old enough and learned that my parents were the ones that actually provided the gifts and that it wasn’t actually Los Reyes, I felt horrible. I know that I apologized to my mom at one point or another, maybe even multiple times. I will probably apologize again today and we’ll laugh it off.

So, how do we celebrate Three Kings’ Day? I believe that each Latino culture has their own special way of celebrating Three Kings’ Day. I can only tell you how we personally celebrated Los Tres Reyes in Puerto Rico and what I am passing down to my children so they can learn about the tradition.

Traditions for Celebrating Three Kings’ Day (El Día de los Tres Reyes Magos)

1. First, you will need either a plain shoebox or a basket made from a shoebox. Here are the baskets my kids will be using this weekend, made by their abuela:
   
   The basket is normally decorated with bows made out of wax paper, but we’ve had trouble finding such paper. So, in the past, we’ve also used regular wrapping paper.
2. Then, the night before Three Kings’ Day, on La Vispera de Reyes – have your child collect some grass from your yard and put it in the basket. The grass is for the kings’ camels. This is analogous to setting out milk & cookies for Santa or carrots for his reindeer.
3. The basket then goes under the bed (or next to it if it doesn’t fit).
4. In the middle of the night, after your child is sleeping, throw out the grass and replace it with candy. Place a gift next to the basket.
5. The next morning, your child will be delighted to find the gift and candy that the Three Kings left behind!
6. Don’t forget to explain that Los Tres Reyes left a gift for him/her the same way they brought gifts for baby Jesus when he was born. That is the meaning behind all this and why we celebrate the holiday.

Los Tres Reyes (Three Kings’ Day) is a fun holiday and one I plan to continue celebrating each year so my kids can create their own memories and embrace this Latino tradition.

Have you ever celebrated El Día de Los Tres Reyes? Do you think you might next year?

Top photo: Cryo Mariena/Flickr

Photo from Photobucket - Click on image for original source

Happy Three Kings Day! Feliz Dí­a de los Tres Reyes Magos!

We did it. Last year, after not celebrating, I resolved to celebrate Three Kings Day this year. And, though it’s a normal work day and baby girl is at preschool today, she did get her gift this morning and participated in the traditional Three Kings Day festivities.

It’s nice for me to share this tradition with her and remember my own childhood memories of celebrating El Día de los Reyes. I remember making my basket with my family, filling it with grass on La Víspera de Reyes (the Eve of Three Kings Day), and being excited the next morning when I found the grass had been replaced with candy and the kings had also left me a gift.

There was one particular year that I remember vividly because I did something that I regret to this day. I can remember that I wanted one of those Barbie motorcycles; I think they were a hot item back then. When I opened my gift, it was a Barbie scooter instead, or maybe it was a moped. What I know is that it wasn’t the motorcycle I wanted. And I said, in my little whiny voice too, “Esto no es lo que yo queria!” (This isn’t what I wanted!) I was of course quickly reprimanded and told to appreciate what the kings had brought me because other kids may not have gotten anything. But, I can still remember my mami’s face right before she scolded me. When I was old enough and learned that my parents were the ones that actually provided the gifts and that it wasn’t actually Los Reyes, I felt horrible. I know that I apologized to my mom at one point or another, maybe even multiple times. I will probably apologize again today and we’ll laugh it off.

So, how do we celebrate Three Kings Day? I believe that each Latino culture has their own special way of doing so. I can only tell you how we personally celebrated in Puerto Rico and what I am passing down to my baby girl so that she can learn about the tradition.

Celebrating Three Kings Day (El Día de los Tres Reyes Magos)

1. First, you will need either a plain shoebox or a basket made from a shoebox. Here is a picture of the basket my brother and father made for my daughter a couple of years back:

   

   The basket is normally decorated with bows made out of wax paper, but we’ve had trouble finding such paper. So, we also used regular wrapping paper.

2. Then, the night before Three Kings Day - La Vispera de Reyes – have your child collect some grass from your yard and put it in the basket. The grass is for the kings’ camels. This is analogous to setting out milk & cookies for Santa or carrots for his reindeer.
3. The basket then goes under the bed (or next to it if it doesn’t fit).
4. In the middle of the night, after your child is sleeping, throw out the grass and replace it with candy. Place a gift next to the basket.
5. The next morning, your child will be delighted to find the gift and candy that the Three Kings left behind!
6. Don’t forget to explain that Los Tres Reyes left a gift for him/her the same way that they brought gifts for baby Jesus when he was born. That is the meaning behind all this and why we celebrate.

It’s a fun holiday and I’m so glad that we pulled it off this year. I plan on continuing to celebrate each year so that baby girl can create her own memories and embrace this Latino tradition of celebrating Three Kings Day.

Speaking of memories…I caught a little video of her preparing to collect the grass last night. Listen closely around the 14-second marker as I try hard not to laugh.

Have you ever celebrated El Dia de Los Reyes? Do you think you might next year?

Have you played Guitar Hero? I didn’t get into it at first; it was mostly my husband who played. But, then we bought Guitar Hero World Tour, which has not just guitars, but also a microphone and drums. Now we all get to play along.

It’s like our own little band. Me on vocals and baby girl on drums accompanying the husband on guitar. (Shhh…don’t tell her the drums aren’t actually connected!)

Last Thanksgiving, some extended family visited and we had a great big karaoke party playing Guitar Hero. It was probably the most fun Thanksgiving I’ve ever had. The kids were not just in a corner playing on their own while the adults talked. It was one big collaborative effort with the kids and adults actually engaging with each other.

But, then our family got to thinking. What if there was a Guitar Hero Latino version? How awesome would that be? We could sing and play along to some great Spanish songs.

You know how certain songs are introduced to the new generation either because an artist they know redoes the song or they hear the songs in video games or TV? For example, Guitar Hero World Tour has songs like Beat It and Livin’ on a Prayer. These are songs that I’m sure my 12 year old nephew or my own daughter would probably not know if it wasn’t for this game. I mean, she might hear the songs from us playing them around the house, but she wouldn’t know them. At the very least, they probably wouldn’t think it was cool since “the old people” listen to them.

The same could happen, but with Spanish songs. And it would be fun!

Of course, some modifications need to be made to the system. The drums would probably need to be more like bongos and you’d probably want the guitar to sound more like a Spanish guitar, not an electric guitar.

What do you guys think? Have you enjoyed Guitar Hero? Wouldn’t a Latino version be fun?

Any Guitar Hero folks out there? How about it?

Today’s post is a hodgepodge (who thinks up these words anyway?) of updates. Hence, the title.

By the way, “un poco de todo” means “a little bit of everything.”

5 Resources for Raising Bilingual Children

First off, it’s another Wednesday where you’ll find me at the Family Eden blog.

Today’s post – 5 Resources for Raising Bilingual Children

Here are the resources I listed, but for a bit of back-story on our family, you’ll want to click over and read the full post. (I also included more information on each resource in the post.)

1. Colorín Colorado – A bilingual site for families and educators of English language learners.
2. SpanglishBaby – Raising Bilingual & Bi-Cultural Children
3. Cody’s Cuentos – Classic children’s fairytales…in Spanish.
4. Latin Baby Book Club – Celebrating our Culture
5. Circletime Kids - A global gathering of children and the people who love them.

Contests

I also wanted to remind you about the two contests that are currently running.

1. There’s only 3 days left to enter to win a free ticket to the Florida Conference for Women. I will be attending and hope to learn, reflect, and network with other women in the area. Doesn’t that sound like something you ABSOLUTELY want to do also?
2. You can also enter to win a Mother’s Day makeover courtesy of a new salon in town, Adore de Salon. If you win, you can opt to hand over the prize to your mom. So even if you don’t live in Central Florida, but your mom does, you can still enter the contest and treat mom to a nice gift!

Meetups/Tweetups/Fun

There are several events happening in April and May in the Orlando area. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make them all. If I did that, my kid would probably forget who I am. Here are the ones I do plan to attend.

• Orlando Tweetup II – Hosted by Etan Horowitz of the Orlando Sentinel on April 30th. A recap of the first tweetup he did can be found on his blog. More info on round 2 & RSVP on the Facebook event page.
• National Mom’s Nite Out – This event is one of many around the country and will be held at the Seminole Towne Center Mall on May 7th. More info & RSVP on the Facebook event page.
• Market Leverage Women Bloggers Meetup – If you’re a woman blogger or Internet marketer in the Central Florida area, you can join us on May 8th for a meetup with the Market Leverage company. More info & RSVP on the Facebook event page.

And please? No more events need pop up in the months of April and May. I’ve got enough going on before my :ahem: birthday and oh yea! – trip to Puerto Rico.

If you’ll be attending any of these events, let me know! And be sure to enter the contests!