Sharing Holiday Traditions from Real Latino Families with JCPenney

This is part of a sponsored collaboration with Latina Mom Bloggers and JCPenney.  However, all opinions expressed are my own.

A few weeks ago I shared with you how my family celebrates holidays in a unique way. I talked about our Thanksgiving traditions  and how JCPenney is celebrating what the REAL holidays are like for Latinos through stories by Latino children and their families.

This time I want to share with you a little about how our family celebrates Christmas and about our traditions.  We moved to the United States from Guatemala only 6 years ago and the holidays are always a time for me to remember my family back home and a time when I miss my country dearly.  That is why I enjoy sharing with my children so many traditions from when I was growing up.  We make ponche de frutas together, bake holiday cookies, make holiday cards for the grandparents and we love to listen to Christmas music in Spanish.  We celebrate Noche Buena eating glazed ham and tamales and open the presents at midnight. Then on the 25th we celebrate Christmas morning by visiting the grandparents and opening presents there as well.  The kids also get a visit from Santa and we get a holiday picture with Santa every year.

For us holidays are a time for sharing with family.  We talk with my parents in Guatemala on skype and we share holiday moments. We try to make Christmas about love, sharing and about giving instead on focusing on the presents.

The Holidays are celebrated in a unique way by each family, each family adding their own personal touch, focusing in what is important to them and blending traditions, foods and music just as we blend our different cultures and I love that JCPenney recognizes this.  JCPenney Latino is here to help families find the things that make their holidays special and making my life easier during the holidays.

I want to share with you  a great video from JCPenney from their “Real Holidays by Real Families” video series.

JCPenney will be the first retail brand that celebrates what a REAL Christmas is like for Latinos through stories by Latino children and their families. JCPenney Latino is here to help families find the things that make their holidays special.You can visit the JCPenney Website and like JCPenney Latino on Facebook to watch other videos in the series.

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Paula Bendfeldt-Diaz

Paula moved from her native Guatemala to SW Florida with her husband and two children and together they are discovering what it means to live life between two languages.

Paula studied architecture and now makes a living as a freelance writer,traveler and amateur photographer.She started her writing & publishing career as the editor of Bebé y Mamá, the first parenting magazine in Guatemala.She is the founder of www.GrowingUpBilingual.com and www.365thingsswfl.com and writes articles in Spanish and English for both magazines and the web on travel,food and bicultural and bilingual parenting .

When she is not on a plane or road trip she likes to create recipes inspired in the flavors of her native Guatemala.

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