I have to start the series discussing the holiday season. Growing up in Puerto Rico, the holiday seemed all about food and decorations. My dad killed and roasted full sized pigs in our backyard. My mom and aunts made tasty pasteles to share throughout the season. The “parrandas” (friends who come to your home playing live christmas music in the middle of the night) were always fun. We set the tree on thanksgiving evening and took it down sometime mid January after Three Kings Day. We wrapped the palm trees which hugged our home in Christmas lights.
During my high school and college years in Upstate NY, I wrestled my brother in the snow and ice skated with my friends downtown. We shoveled snow some new year mornings and had big Christmas parties with my family. So big, we organized a secret Santa. On Christmas day, my dad plays his guitar and sings parranda songs from Puerto Rico.
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| My parents bringing PuertoRican flavor to Upstate NY Christmas |
In Belgium and Germany I fell in love with the Christmas markets. I loved how the Schloßplatz in Stuttgart came alive with little wooden huts filled with food, nutcrackers, and wooden gifts. I can vividly recall the smells of Gluhwein and bratwurst mixed in the crisp cold air of the Schawben Valley. In Brussels, I loved the market in Saint Catherine, with pieces of all the cultures: warm kriek next to oysters and champagne followed by paella.
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| Manneken Pis all dressed up… |
All these memories I hold very dear. That is why I can’t accept what I have come to see this holiday season in the US. I arrived October 22nd to find Christmas decorations in shops. What I found even more appalling is the fact stores opened on thanksgiving night. Some of my relatives had to cut their holiday short as they work in retail. I always found Black Friday ludicrous, but this thanksgiving shopping unsettled me. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday as it is about giving thanks and sharing a meal with family. If there is a shopping activity I’m going to indulge on, it will be cyber Monday. All the low prices from the comfort of my own home.
As I reflect on my holiday memories whether it is in the new or old world, I reflect on the intangible things shared above, not on the material gifts received. I don’t remember what I got for Christmas when I was a kid (or 2009 for that matter) but I remember singing Jingle Bells in Spanish with my Aunt Lucy when I was 10, getting body slammed into the snow by my brother at the age of 16, getting tipsy with Gluhwein at the Köln Christmas Market with my best friend Jaime in 2010. I relish beautiful memories which did not involved leaving my friends and family mid thanksgiving to buy presents. Those moments of simple laughter with the ones you love are truly priceless.
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