This Weekend: Coro Hispano Celebrates Día de los Reyes

Last year, I told you about Coro Hispano's annual concert. This year is no different. In fact, this year they are celebrating 25th annual concert celebration in honor of Día de los Reyes. This weekend, if you are anywhere in the area, I hope you make time to attend. Their performances take place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Admission is free on Friday and Saturday, and the latter's performance is a concert created specifically for children. You can find more information on their website.

New App for Los Reyes Magos

Who's looking for an iPad/iPhone app on Los Reyes Magos? Right now I'm wishing I had one. I haven't used it, but this one looks fantastic! Available in Spanish only.

Happy New Year From Mommy Maestra!

Another year is gone and a new one begins. I cannot believe how quickly 2011 went by. Is it because this is my first year homeschooling two children? Or did life just get extra busy? I don't know where the time went, but this year, I'm hoping to slow things down a bit.

Our New Year's was quiet. The kids were sick with colds and stayed home with my mother, while my husband, stepdad, and I popped in to a party for a few hours at a friend's house. Home by 11 pm and a quiet hug and kiss with my mama at midnight ended the year for me.

Los abuelos are leaving in the morning and I am dreading the tears from my children that have already begun. For us, this week finds us settling back into our school routine and diligently working to make up the time we took off and to get ahead before we leave for another family trip to Texas.

Most of all, I am hoping for some quiet time to reflect on the changes, challenges, and accomplishments of this past year. I want time to set new goals for my children and myself, as well as educational goals for our second semester. Hopefully I'll be able to share these with you in a few days.

Until then, I hope you enjoy this week on MommyMaestra. We're concentrating on Día de los Reyes Magos!

Un abrazo fuerte...

MommyMaestra Wishes You a Feliz Navidad...

The abuelos have arrived and the presents are wrapped. Buenas noches to all and to all a....

A Song for Nochebuena {Video}

Last week, another Mommy Maestra, Sara Horlick, contacted me to tell me about her lovely music. How perfect, I thought, would it be to share this on Christmas Eve?

And yes, it is perfect. May you all enjoy a perfect Nochebuena with your familia....

Bilingual Christmas Decorations {Printable}

2011 has been an incredible year. I still can't get over how fast MommyMaestra has grown, and am so grateful for our growing community of Latina moms who are concerned and dedicated to their children's education.

I am going to end this year by spending some serious bonding time with my familia, so I will be mostly offline this coming week. I do have a few posts scheduled, but I'll be happily disconnected. Los abuelos will be arriving on Christmas day, and we have some serious fun planned for this coming week. I'll be devoting all of my attention to that.

I would encourage ALL of you to take this final week of 2011 and spend it completely, whole-heartedly, and joyfully focused on enjoying your families. Get away from the computer, get out, and make it a point to laugh 25 times a day.

But before I go, I wanted to give you all one last gift this year. It is a simple packet of bilingual decorations that includes:

• 1 reversible, bilingual banner (Merry Christmas on one side, Feliz Navidad on the other)
• A set of 4 napkin rings/water bottle labels
• A set of 4 place cards
• And 4 nutcracker cut-outs.

It is not fancy, just fun for the kids. Something to do to help decorate and prepare for Sunday's festivities. To download the pack, click on the image above.

Until next year, un abrazo a todos!

Felices fiestas....

Handmade Navidad: From la Cocina

Okay,  we're getting down to the wire. Time to raid the kitchen (and maybe the grocery store) and start a bake-a-thon in la cocina.

We're getting a little tired of the traditional chocolate chip cookies we usually bake (okay, we're not really tired of them, but we're trying to be adventurous!) so we are mulling over some of these fabulous recipes we've found online. Some of them have to be made outright and packed in a decorative container, but others could simply be gifts in a jar with the ingredients attractively layered.


Ingredients in a Jar as Gifts:



by Sweet Life Bake

Polvorones de Chocolate by Sweet Life Bake. I think these dry ingredients would look lovely layered in a mason jar. Don't forget to include a recipe card!


Mexican Hot Chocolate by Una Taza de Chocolate. I would shave the chocolate tablets, put them in the bottom of an icing piping bag, and then sprinkle them with the salt, chile, and cinnamon with a final layer of the semi-sweet chocolate pieces on top. Don't forget a recipe card!



Ready-Made Food Gifts:

After reading Marta's post about how she likes to give Creme de Vie, or Cuban eggnog, I started noticing some of the posts my other amigas Latinas were sharing with their own versions of eggnog. Here is a little list of some great recipes for making this popular drink. Just package them in beautiful bottles from Pier One or World Market and give to your favorite amigos...

• Rompope: Mexican Eggnog from Sweet Life Bake

• Ponche Crema (Venezuelan Eggnog) from Mami Talks

• Coquito (Puerto Rican Eggnog) from Modern Mami

• Also, Sazón Boricua has several recipes for coquito - and they ALL look incredible.  



from Multicultural Familia


I also LOVE Multicultural Familia's recipe for Tortilla Snowflakes with Cajeta. And while I think these would be great to make and give, I also think it would be fun to put together a little kit for making these that includes tortillas, snowflake cookie cutters, your homemade cajeta from Monday's post, and the other ingredients!

Bizcochos by Muy Bueno Cookbook. I had a hard time deciding which category to put this in, but since the recipe makes 300 cookies, I thought it might be best to make them with your children and then slide the finished biscochos into an icing piping bag and close with a beautiful ribbon.

Happy cooking!

Handmade Navidad: 5 Fun and Easy Pine Cone Crafts

There is no scarcity of pine cones around our place. One little walk through our front yard will yield a bucketful of cones of all different shapes and sizes. This year we've decided to put them to good use and I've been searching the web for clever gift and decoration ideas. Here are a few of my favorites:


from MamiTalks.com

If you are looking for decorations, I love these little pine cone trees that my friend, Dariela, shared on her blog, Mami Talks. They are so simple to make, and yet they look lovely with the little splash of color from the small pom-poms.


Mummy's Busy World teaches you how to make sparkly, festive pine cones with just a little bit of paint and glitter. These could be used as decoration, or given as gifts.


Last year, The Magnifying Glass shared easy directions for making cinnamon-scented pine cones. We love this idea and are making some to give as aromatic fire starters. We've even gone a step further to create peppermint potpourri using the same directions, just a different essential oil and a variety of cones of different shapes and sizes.

from MarthaStewart.com

Also on the gift-giving front, I think these pine cone picture frames are genius! Naturally, they are from Martha Stewart (how does she make things look so classy and why can't I think of them first?!) Her site doesn't mention the hanging pine cone ornaments in this picture, but I think they would be terribly easy to make using real pine cones. A little white or silver spray paint and some velvet ribbon, no?


Have you visited The Magic Onions blog? She has two tutorials for creating wax-dipped pine cone ornaments. One of them uses crayons and the other uses beeswax. Both are beautiful and worthy of gift giving.

Con mucho cariño...

Latin-Inspired Ornaments

Today's post is a collection of my favorite Latino-themed ornaments on the web. I've been so pleasantly surprised by the creativity and the ingenuity that has gone into making them! I especially like how these can be given as gift sets, or used to decorate your own tree. And I think every child might love to make their own versions of these ornaments.

Happy crafting!

Muy Bueno Cookbook found some easy buñuelo tree ornaments on Chef Marcela's blog. I love how they turned out, and I think the red velvet ribbons go perfectly. Don't you think these would make a lovely gift set? Just carefully pile them into a decorative tin and give...

Ruby from Growing Up Blackxican recently shared her miniature posada piñata ornaments on Spanglish Baby. They are adorable and easy for your children to make.  

Oh Happy Day also teaches you how to make some adorable mini-piñatas. I think they could easily be made into ornaments with a little bit of yarn or twine. These are a little more complicated and probably best suited for older children.

First Palette has a simple poinsettia ornament craft that I really like. I'm thinking of having the kids make some of these using tiny, gold bells in the middle.

I also like these stained glass poinsettia ornaments made out of paper towel tubes on the Crafty Crow!! Gorgeous, no?

My friend, Lisa, who recently created a tutorial for MommyMaestra on making your own traveling nacimiento, has also created a tutorial for New Latina on making felt ornaments.

Con mucho cariño...

Handmade Navidad: Dulce de Leche

Madre mia! Do you realize that Christmas is only ONE week away?!? We still have people on our list that we haven't bought any gifts for! Two little problems: We don't know what to buy some of them, and we've run out of dinero. (Ay, that second problem really stinks.)

Okay, here's another problem: My kids are now old enough to want to give gifts, too. But they haven't got any dinero, either (or at least none that their mami will let them spend. "No, m'ija, you may not touch your savings."), AND they want to MAKE their regalitos.

What's a mami to do?

Lucky for me (and you), I have a magic list of ideas - all inexpensive or free, depending on what you have on hand around the house. So relax and enjoy this week of MommyMaestra's Handmade Navidad!

To begin, Marta shares with us her culturally inspired, super easy - yet classy! - handmade gift idea: Homemade Dulce de Leche...

Could it possibly be any easier? ¡Creo que no! This is such an easy gift to make with your kids. But please be careful and let mami be in charge of removing the cans from the hot, hot water.

Marta says:

"You can load up multiple cans in the crockpot. The time is the same. There's NO DANGER OF EXPLODING CANS. I make these ALL THE TIME. I sometimes use a pressure cooker if I'm in a hurry. No explosions yet.

Also, be sure to wait until the can is cool enough to touch. About 30 minutes. The may still be on the warm side, and the dulce may still be hot (it's amazing that way), but if you can handle the can, you can open it."

You can read more about what inspired Marta's making dulce de leche video in her article on the Tiki Tiki blog.

The amazing and talented Marta also gives Cuban eggnog, otherwise known as Créme de Vie, during the holidays. The recipe is also very simple (but includes a wee bit of rum, which I imagine you can leave out if you are making it for children).

And to make things even better, Marta has created and shared some free printable labels to attach to your Dulce de Leche and Créme de Vie regalitos. [Insert squeal of pleasure here.] If you download them, please take a moment to leave a comment on the blog thanking her for her generosity and creativity!


Con mucho cariño...

Beauty and the Beast Coloring Pages

Did you know Beauty and the Beast is coming back to theaters on January 13th? I'm so excited! This is my favorite of all the Disney movies. And I'm even happier to be able to share these coloring pages of your favorite Beauty and the Beast characters with you. 

Click here to download your free coloring sheets!

Thanks, Disney!

Con cariño...

3 Videos Teaching about Las Posadas Navideñas

Today officially marks the day that las posadas navideñas begin. I'm a bit nostalgic thinking about - and missing - the posadas of my childhood. I'm sad, too, that this is not something my children get to experience now. Instead, we rely on books and videos, such as these three videos teaching about Las Posadas Navideñas. And if you'd like additional resources, check out my Las Posadas Lesson Plans, Crafts, Activities, and Music.

3 Videos about Las Posadas

So instead I must be content to present the tradition to my children through videos and books. As I end this year's series on las posadas, I want to leave you with these beautiful videos that help teach children about the tradition. I hope you enjoy them.

The first comes from Twinkl Teaching Resources. This video is a basic but animated one on Las Posadas for Kids:

Next, Cultura Colectiva Plus has this "ABCs of Mexican Posadas"

I also love this picture documentary by Bob Carlton:

And finally, check out my post The Night of Las Posadas Read Aloud in which I share a video read aloud of Tomie dePaola's lovely picture book. 

May you all have a lovely weekend!

Other Posts You May Enjoy:

• Las Posadas Printable Resources
  
  
• Las Posadas Craft: Luminarias
  
  
• Las Posadas Craft: Piñata Ornaments
  
  
• 4 Children's Books to Celebrate Las Posadas
  
  
• MommyMaestra's Three Favorite Versions of the Las Posadas Song

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