23 Nov Holidays in a Small Mexican Town

By Betsy Romero

The holiday season is here again and it’s probably my favorite time of year.

It’s the only time of the year when I get to see my whole family.

I love walking into my grandparents’ house and smelling the amazing food my grandmother has cooked. On Thanksgiving she makes turkey, ham, mashed potatoes with gravy and spinach dip. On Christmas she makes tamales.

There is laughter and a spirit of joy around the whole house. The adults talk about their jobs and their families, while the kids run around the house and the teenagers are on their phones texting or on social media.

Every family has a holiday tradition, whether it’s wearing ugly Christmas sweaters or taking a weird family photo.

In my family, our holiday tradition is to go to Mexico.

We go at the beginning of December because that’s when my small town throws parties. Everyone in my town and all the nearby towns come and have fun. There’s a live band playing music, and there are games and rides for kids.

For me, being able to go to Mexico is special because I get to see my relatives who still live there, and I get to see where my grandparents grew up.

Whenever I go back to Mexico, I learn something new about my family and how they lived. For example, I learned that when my grandparents lived in Mexico, they had to go to work at a young age to help their family with money. I learned that they have a limited amount of water, which means they have to conserve water in everything they do. And I learned to appreciate the little things in life.