Hello dear HIVERS and beautiful people of HOLOS&LOTUS my name is Elianis and this is my first post here. Thank you Hive account@pannavi for inviting me to participate in the "Mi yo navideño".

  Here I arrived a little late to the call precisely because my Christmas self in these times always has many things to do, I hope to still be in time to join this initiative which I found super interesting ❤️ because I love Christmas 🎄 and although it is a little late for the post I decided to do it because I wanted to tell a little of my Christmas experience 🥰.

  For me Christmas has always been a very beautiful time, with a meaning far beyond the commercial, a time to be with family, to create beautiful memories, to make happy the little ones of the house, to decorate, to make seasonal meals and most importantly to celebrate the birth of the child God.

  My Christmas self learned from a very early age that beyond the commercial this is a time of family togetherness and celebration for the greatest historical fact of the Christian faith which was the birth of our savior and although perhaps December 24 is not the exact date on which Jesus was born is a date that is used universally as a reference to remember and celebrate that event.

  I love to decorate the house with whatever I have on hand, usually there are many ornaments and lights from previous years that are always reused and here the economic issue is not an impediment to decorate beautifully for Christmas.

  Even in times of extreme crisis there has been no lack of decorations in my house, I feel that fills the atmosphere with joy and although the economic issue sometimes is not entirely encouraging the fact of decorating the house makes me feel like I get to not be robbed of my Christmas.

  At this time of the year there is usually more work for my business, which is a blessing because it allows me to have more economic resources for extra expenses. In addition to the birthdays that are always there for this time of year, there are also the Christmas cakes and jellies that besides being delicious are so beautiful that they look like ornaments 😍😍 and I also make ham breads to sell and for my house ❤️ I always have something productive to do at this time of year.

  Another of my family's traditions is to make the traditional hallacas and as they say over there: “the best hallaca is my mom's” ❤️ this year thank God we were able to make them 🙏and they were really delicious 🤤 they give me the most despicable department of all, washing the leaves 🥹 since I was a child I have had to do this work and although I was also promoted to the department of assembling and tying they do not want to take me out of that position 🤣 Does anyone else like to wash leaves to help me? I can't take it anymore hehehehe

  Really making the hallacas is a job that we do with great pleasure and illusion, to enjoy this delicious Christmas dish is worth all the effort it takes ❤️ I confess that when I make them I feel very nostalgic because usually my grandmother who is no longer with us helped us, she was the general director of this work and she made them delicious and organized us all so that everyone could do something and participate in as she called it “the making of the hallacas”.

  This year we were helped by a very special neighbor who is like another grandmother to me ❤️ and although she does not replace my original grandmother Estelita del Táchira, she helped us a lot, I feel that the older ladies have much more experience and talent for these things and they add a lot to this work, they give a special touch with their invaluable experience.

  Among my family Christmas traditions is of course the Christmas dinner, December 24th has always been a special night in which no matter if we have a lot or little we have dinner as a family.

  When I was a child we would gather at my grandmother's house with the whole family, we would travel to Maracay, my uncles, cousins would go there, everyone would bring things to share, usually there was so much that there was plenty of everything, we would burn fireworks and they would send us to sleep so that the next day we would find the gift of the baby Jesus.

  For some years now we have been alone, we can hardly travel to visit relatives, most of them are out of the country, but nevertheless we try to keep the tradition of making our Christmas dinner, even with an arepa and with the nostalgia of past times, we sit down as a family, as one more dinner, but on a night that celebrates something very special, the birth of the child God.

  This year we had a nice dinner, with my nephews, our neighbor and I was blessed to be able to share with each of my loved ones little gifts for Christmas 🙏 to each one I was able to give something, maybe not so expensive but with much love and gratitude because they exist for me special person ❤️

  Another of my Christmas traditions is to go out to see lights, to see nativity scenes, this is another custom we used to do with my grandmother, going out for a walk to simply see the decorations is something I always loved to do. I remember in Maracay we would go to visit the nativity scenes that were made in the different churches and when she came here to Anaco we would go for a ride in the car and where there were lights we would stop there to see and take pictures.

  This year I went out to do this with my nephews, my dad, my sister in law, my boyfriend and my mother in law 🥰 here are some photos of this activity that I also enjoy very much ❤️🎄

  This is how Christmas has been for me 🙏🎄 full of blessings, of beautiful moments to remember, of delicious meals, of gratitude, of getting closer to God through traditions such as Christmas Eve masses, making the nativity and the Advent wreath.

  For me Christmas is a time with a very beautiful meaning and year after year I try to pay tribute to these celebrations and to those who taught me to live it beautifully ❤️🙏🎄 I keep in my heart very nice memories of every Christmas and I want my loved ones and especially my nephews to have many nice memories of this time also for when they are adults they will be as excited as I am with the arrival of Christmas.

  One of the people responsible for making Christmas a special time for me was my grandmother and although these last photos are not recent because she is no longer with us, I want to share them in honor of her, I want to share them to finish honoring her who taught me to live Christmas in a beautiful way and with a meaning far beyond the material ❤️ she was the pillar and engine of my family and I feel that it is largely thanks to her that I love this season so much and although she is no longer physically she is always in our hearts ❤️🎄 although for me Christmas is also nostalgia for those who are no longer with us, in honor of them and their traditions I try to continue having nice Christmas ❤️

  Thank you for reading me 🙏❤️🎄 hope you all had a beautiful and blessed Christmas and that far beyond the material I hope that the beauty of the season and the true meaning of these days was present in your hearts and homes 🙏❤️

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