As the year wraps itself up in the twinkle of holiday lights, I find solace in embracing traditions that weave through the fabric of my Puerto Rican heritage. This Noche Buena, the night before Christmas, is a celebration of comfort, nostalgia, and a generous sprinkle of irreverence that only a dose of Die Hard can provide.
The centerpiece of this festive tableau is a succulent pernil, slow-cooked to perfection, evoking childhood memories and the comforting aroma of home. Empanadas, each one a pocket of nostalgia, join the culinary symphony, and the velvety embrace of homemade coquito completes the trio of traditional indulgences.
Why Die Hard, you ask? Well, because nothing says “Christmas spirit” like Bruce Willis battling Hans Gruber in Nakatomi Plaza. It’s a quirky tradition, a cinematic masterpiece that defies conventions but has become a staple in my holiday repertoire. And who knows, Home Alone might make a cameo appearance, offering a double feature of festive merriment.
This year, it’s more than just a celebration; it’s a return to the roots, a pilgrimage to the familiar in a world that has been anything but. The comfort of pernil and coquito becomes a blanket for the heart’s aches, a reassuring embrace that transcends time and trials.
As the aromas waft through the air, I’m reminded that tradition isn’t just about following a script – it’s about crafting a narrative that resonates with the heart. So, do we open gifts at midnight, a tradition steeped in anticipation? Perhaps, but the lure of a cozy couch, belly full of delights, and the glow of Die Hard might just postpone the unwrapping until dawn.
In the warmth of love and the glow of twinkling lights, Noche Buena becomes a canvas painted with the hues of tradition, the strokes of familiarity, and the laughter echoing through the years. This year, as we bid adieu to the challenges, we embrace the simplicity of comfort food, the magic of movies, and the timeless embrace of tradition – a fitting feast for the soul.
Categories: Culture, current events, food, identity, Pop Culture, Psychology, society
psychologistmimi 
¡Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo! May 2024 be a blessing for you and your son.
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Aww. Thank you so much! Igualmente! Likewise. Wishing you a wonderful, joyous 2024!
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Kind of you – I’m looking forward to writing, and to marketing my first two trilogy books – I’ve been doing a non-existent job on promotion.
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Happy holidays!
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Happy holidays and best wishes!
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Unlimited Ways to Create Give Share Care and Heal
With Christmas Spirit Every Day We Come to
Naturally BRing LoVE iN Peace
Oh How i Love Dancing
Free in ‘Ross Dress for Less’
in the Mall As it Attracts So
Many Colors of Humanity in
Immigrant Way Truly Enriching the
Blood of All the Diversity of HumanKind Dear Miriam
(Trivia Note: i Am the ‘Anti-Trump’ And Nah Hehe Not even Kidding HAha)
Dear Lord Among All the Immigrants is the Place my Moving Meditating
Blissful FLoWinG Dance On Terrestrial Land Store Floors is Welcome Most
It Almost Feels Like i Have a Place to Rest my Head at ‘Ross Dress For Less’
Yet True
Walmart
Comes in
Second Place
Even in ‘Trump
Town USA’ Home
of ‘The Grinch Matt
Gaetz’ too It’s Truly
Quite an Achievement
(Yuck DeSaTaNiS too)
Getting Accepted There
As Even Social Sciences
Suggests it is the Hardest
Place for Folks Who Are Different
to Be accepted in the United States for Real
Factors Include Multiple Military Bases and Stations
And of Course the Locality Once Awarded With the
Most Christian Churches Per Capita By Guinness
(The Cosmopolitan Mall is in A Bigger City Down the Road)
Word Record
Ironic That’s
The Hardest Place
to Be Accepted Yet
If You are the (A) ‘Little Drummer
Boy’ And You Don’t give up the
Dance Beat Amazing What May
Be Conquered
Still in LoVE iN Peace
And Simple Joy of Dancing With No Lessons
Hehe Forget About the Free Verse Poetry Most
Of Them Will Never Even Know i can Talk hehe
And If they Get the 6,000 Word Version of a ‘Fred Talk’
IN 10
MINUTES
Generally
Speaking
They Won’t
Be Back For More
And True They’ll Never be the same Hehe…
It Was a little bit Sad As One of the Locals Who
Had Lost His Legs Was in a Wheel Chair His Daughter
Was Sitting on His Lap And She Was Absolutely Glowing (at Ross Dress for Less)
Today Like She Was in Disney World Watching me Dance for at Least 30 Minutes
So i went Up to Wish them a Merry Christmas And the Man With No Legs
Just Said GET AWAY FROM ME
Of Course i’ll Never Know His
Personal Circumstances So i
Just Said Sure As His
Young Daughter
Continued to Glow
Later on at StarBucks
They Were Getting Ice Cream
Next to StarBucks in the Mall
She Saw me Dancing And Tugged
On Her Father’s Sleeve to Tell him i was
Back He Didn’t Turn Around to See me Dance
And i’ll Never Really Be Sure Why He Seemed to Hate me so much
Yet What i Was going to tell Him about the ‘Little Drummer Boy Story’
It’s Not So Much About Making The Baby Jesus Smile at You For
Whatever Gift You May Be able to offer With No Monetary Value
It’s About Seeing Everyone As Even Greater Than the Jesus
Story
IN Terms of
LoVE iN Peace
And Doing Our
Best to Lift Everyone
Up And Understand There
is No Way We Will ever be
Able to Fully Walk in Their
Shoes For the Darkness
They May Be Experiencing
In Life Already Been to Below
The Basement of the Pyramid
True i Have a ‘Dante Idea’ of Where
Souls Do Go in this Life now Far
Beyond Fires to the Place
of FRoZeN SoULS Living
DEAD
And the
Other
Place
TG too
Presently Now
The Best Present
New Just to Give Away Free
When Possible of Course Near and Far…
Merry LoVE iN Peace Dear Miriam to You And All You Love..:)
-me
(‘Die Hard 2’ or 3
Or 4 Whatever
The Next
Christmas
Movie
Plays
For Real hehe)
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