There is nothing quite like the sound of Christmas in our home. It’s the crackling from the fireplace, while sipping a warm cup of champurrado and vibing to “Father Christmas” by The Kinks (we’re cool like that). It’s the scent of freshly steamed tamales intertwined with the fresh pine scent coming from the Christmas tree. This is what a bicultural “Spanglish Christmas” looks like in our home. This is one of the beautiful challenges of what it means to be first gen Mexican American, figuring out ways to honor the Mexican family Christmas traditions we grew up with while embracing American Christmas. We don’t choose one or the other, we simply make room for both. Continue reading to see how our family blends our Mexican Christmas traditions with our American traditions.

From the Christmas Tree to Las Posadas & Arrullamiento

Our Christmas begins with a tree. On November 28th we set out to buy our christmas tree from the local tree farm. Then we decorate our tree with ornaments we’ve carefully collected since Marty and I started a family of our own. This is a tradition he started and quickly became one of our favorite things to do. The fresh scent of pine is the perfect way to get into the Christmas spirit. 

El Nacimiento

Once our tree is up and the halls are decked, we move onto setting up our Nacimiento, or Nativity Scene. This is a long standing tradition on my side of the family. In our home we place a small nativity scene in our home to keep the tradition alive, but it does not compare to my Nana’s or mom’s set up. So, we also take a trip down to Mexico to see my nana’s beautiful Nacimiento every year. My Nana’s favorite part of the tradition is El Arrullo. This is the ceremony of putting Baby Jesus to sleep. On Nochebuena, Christmas eve, we wrap Baby Jesus in a blanket, sing lullaby’s, and take turns rocking El Niño Dios. This is done in preparation for his birth.

Las Posadas

Days before nochebuena and the arrullo of baby Jesus, there are posadas. Traditionally, this is a 9 day community celebration. My family did their best to keep up, but as the kids became adults and moved further and further away the tradition began to change for our family. But if enough of us are in Mexico the week of Christmas we all gather to sing villansicos, share foods, and drinks like champurrado. And of course, the kids favorite part, la piñata. At the end of every posada the kids get to hit a pinata and collect the candy and goodies we filled it with. It’s just a beautiful way to honor our Mexican Christmas traditions and to just be surrounded by the people we love. 

The Magic of Santa & Nochebuena

In this home we believe in the magic of Santa. Though my older kids know Santa is not actually delivering their gifts through the fireplace they choose to keep the magic alive for their younger sister who still believes in Santa and all his friends. The night before Christmas we set out milk and cookies for Santa and even sprinkle “reindeer food” in the yard for Rudolf and the rest of the crew. 

This was a difficult tradition to blend. But as a Mexican American household, we had to come up with a way to incorporate our Mexican nochebuena traditions. Afterall, nochebuena is the biggest night for us. We stay up all night by the fire, listening to music, dancing, and playing games. Just to wait until midnight so we can open gifts. We settled on letting the kids open one gift at midnight and the rest in the morning. How did we keep the magic? Well, we told the kids that Santa knows we’re Mexican so he sends them a nochebuena gift. I know, genius!

The Elf on The Shelf

Yes, even this Spanglish home has a little duendecita (little elf) named Holly. The girls love waking up to see where Holly will be hiding in the mornings. Our duende isn’t too mischievous, but sometimes you’ll find her riding the camel in the Nacimiento or eating tamales in the kitchen. This tradition requires some work, but it makes the holiday season that much more magical. And I am so glad we started this family Christmas tradition with our kids.

Blending Mexican Christmas Traditions in The Kitchen

As much as we love our christmas rituals, the heart of our spanglish holiday is the food. The kitchen is where a lot of our time is spent and the food is what we all look forward to enjoying on Navidad. 

Los Tamales

It all starts with the most anticipated Mexican Christmas tradition, la tamalada. Whether we’re at my family’s house or my husband’s, every year there is a mandatory tamale making day. A good group of us gets together a couple days prior to assemble this staple holiday food. One person spreads the masa, the next spreads mole, then someone adds the filling, and the final person in the tamale assembly line wraps them. It’s a lengthy process but eating this delicious Mexican Christmas food makes it all worth it. 

TIP:  As much as we love this tradition, we also like spending time away from the kitchen. So when we’re preparing for a larger gathering we begin cooking and freezing our tamales a couple weeks earlier.

Our American & Mexican Christmas Table Spread

Our Christmas eve dinners feature the best of both worlds for us. We’ll have Mexican Christmas traditional foods like tamales and posole. But we also have honey glazed ham, mashed potatoes, and green beans. And of course the same foods would be served on Christmas day’s recalentado. Recalentado can be loosely translated to leftover day.

The Sweets & Warm Drinks 

No holiday is complete without festive drinks and desserts. And here again we double up on goodness. For dessert our spanglish home bakes Christmas cookies to decorate together as a family. My daughters have always loved this tradition and look forward to baking cookies every season. We also have some fun decorating and eating gingerbread houses with the kids. My mom makes delicious sweet tamales, raisin tamales to be specific. My sister usually makes a pineapple upside down cake that is to die for. But the star of the show are my tia’s buñuelos. These delicate fried fritters coated in cinnamon sugar or miel de piloncillo are a must every Christmas. 

The Christmas Drinks

On noche buena while we wait for midnight we stay warm and sip on hot drinks like champurrado. This Mexican traditional christmas drink is a thick and rich hot chocolate made with cookies or flour and added flavors of cinnamon and piloncillo. My aunt makes hers with cookies and it is perfect. It’s far from healthy but one sip and it soothes a part of your soul you didn’t even know needed healing. 

Feeling the Christmas Spirit all Month Long

Christmas Movie Night

Even though the big days are noche buena and Christmas day, we stay in the Christmas spirit all month long. We make sure to carve time throughout the month to pile on the couch and watch our favorite Christmas movies like Home Alone and Krampus. I make a batch of fresh home made popcorn and hot cocoa to sip while we cozy up by the fire. I love doing this and try to squeeze as many movie nights as I can during December. 

Christmas Light Drives

When we were kids our parents used to pack us in the car with a pile of blankets and just drive around town so we could look at Christmas lights. Now that we’re parents ourselves we like to do the same thing. We drive around looking for the most over the top decorations. If we’re feeling fancy and in the mood to spend some money we visit places with holiday light displays near us like the LA Zoo Lights, Universal Studios, or Disneyland.

Conclusion

The best part of having a family of your own is that you get to write your own rule book. In our home we chose to not be divided by culture, we chose to embrace them both and create our own Spanglish Christmas traditions. We’re fortunate to indulge in the delicious flavors from our Mexican heritage and embrace the fun tinsel covered decor of American Christmas. Whether your family is rocking baby Jesus to sleep on Noche buena or leaving milk and cookies out for Santa, the goal is still the same: to create memories and spend time with the people you love the most. 

Tell me, what is your favorite family Christmas tradition? Do you have a favorite dish, movie, or activity? Share it with us below!

Wishing you a Christmas full of tamales, love, and magic! Feliz Navidad!