Christmas Magic

Putting my feet up, I have officially shopped for everyone on my naughty and nice list. 😉

Today is Christmas Eve and in my family we celebrate Christmas at midnight of Christmas Eve. I was raised in a Salvadorean home where we had different traditions than what my husband was raised with, but Christmas magic has been in both of our up bringings.

In Latin America, posadas are an important part of Christmas traditions. Celebrated from December 16 to 24, this religious celebration symbolizes the story of Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem to search for a shelter while awaiting the birth of baby Jesus. The festivities start with a procession where participants hold candles and sing Christmas carols. Individuals either play the parts of Mary and Joseph or they carry images representing them. The procession ends with a celebration inside someone’s home – usually with tamales and a hot drink such as ponche (punch) or atole (chocolate). My parents throughout the years have blended both the American and Salvadorean culture and it’s a blessing to celebrate Christ’s birth along with great memories made around the Christmas tree.

This Christmas season both my husband and I love watching Hallmark movies, but we gave other holiday movies a try like, “Love Actually” which we loved again as we had forgotten that it was a holiday movie. Due to curiosity we ended up watching “The Man who Invented Christmas” and thoroughly enjoyed it as my husbands favorite Christmas movie is Christmas Carol. The plot follows Charles Dickens at the time when he wrote A Christmas Carol, and how Dickens' fictional character Ebenezer Scrooge was created. It was interesting how Dickens started the Christmas magic it is today.

Did you know that Germany is credited with starting the Christmas tree tradition as we now know it in the 16th century when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes? Some built Christmas pyramids of wood and decorated them with evergreens and candles if wood was scarce. As I stare at my Christmas tree with awe, I am grateful for all these traditions that have been passed cultures and centuries down that I can celebrate now.

Allow a little magic to touch you and celebrate JOY this Christmas.

Comment below on your Christmas tradition. 😊

xo

Xiomara