Fambook - like Facebook....but not...

My big, fat, Cuban family is made up of a ton of people. As you can probably imagine, we ditched having every single family member buying Christmas gifts for every other person a long time ago. The only exemption to this rule is my mom. Everyone buys her a little something.

We tried drawing names, but after a couple of years, we ran out of ideas and if you drew the name of someone you didn't see often enough, buying them a gift became awkward and difficult.

Gift giving, I decided needed to be fun again. Simple. Not crazy-making and stressful.

So, for the past few years, I've been making photobooks. I usually use Shutterfly to make my books, just because I like them and they turn out a good product. And no, they are not sponsoring this post (I wish!), but that's not important right now.

Given that most of the family was already on Facebook, I had a brainstorm.....

I give you:

FAMBOOK

It's a 12 x 12 digital scrapbook and there is a page for each family member. Each page is organized alphabetically, by first names.

I first sent out an email questionnaire to each person. I asked them for a favorite quote and some favorite photos. We even created one for the kids.

It took a lot of coercing and convincing, but I got most of them back in plenty of time to do the book. The ones who didn't respond, I just grabbed their photos from Facebook and made up stuff. (I know. But I was on deadline. Don't judge me.)

Here's my page:

Pretty genius, right?

To be crystal clear, they sent me the info and photos and I created the entire thing myself. I also had them send me $35 via paypal, which took care of their "family gift obligation," only I did all the grunt work.

I should add here that I am quite pleased with the outcome.

As you can see, each page resembles a Facebook Wall.

And includes a favorite quote, and favorite photos, and their personal details, such as birthdays and anniversary (if applicable).

I was quite pleased with the construction (I created each page in Photoshop Elements and saved all the images as .jpgs for easy loading), and everyone was delighted with the finished product. Their personal stress was reduced and when they left the party, they each had this fabulous gift in their hands.

There's also that very satisfied feeling I get knowing that this will quickly become a keepsake that they can enjoy forever. And everyone's $35 went to something they really, really wanted. Win-win.

This year I'm making a Family Calendar, also through Shutterfly. (Oh, why aren't they banging down my door to represent them? Why? *sigh*)

I just finished that today so I could take advantage of a sale they were having: buy one calendar for regular price and get the others for half-price. They have deals like that all the time, which not only motivates me, it makes me happy to feel a little push to finish the project.

Anyway, here's a sneak peek at the photo of the calendar I finished and ordered today. The beauty is that I just have to create one! Ah, Digital Photography gods....I bow down.

I'm so excited to see them open these on Christmas. I also feel quite accidentally cool for coming up with the idea. (Get the sandpaper!)

I'll be sharing more of our personal family traditions in the next few weeks. I thought I'd share this now in case someone wants to tackle the project themselves for their own family.  It took me about 20 hours (a lot of time!) because I had to hunt down the photos, but I seriously don't regret a single moment. It was indeed a labor of love.

So tell me... Do you make gifts? Do you buy? Do you order online? I do a little bit of everything....because I can.  =D

Where are you now, Gaspar, Melchor, & Baltazar?

Back in the day, (that would be Cuba, 1961. After Castro, but before he canceled Christmas) my family, like most other Cubans (and Puerto Ricans and others of Hispanic descent) celebrated El Dia de Los Tres Reyes Magos on January 6th.

The Day of the Three Kings.

The evening of January 5th, we kids would get ourselves to bed early and look forward to the magic that awaited us the next morning. You see, it was not Santa Claus who brought us gifts, it was these three.

I still remember the haul we would awaken to on January 6th (Feast of the Epiphany, established by the Catholic Church).

And these guys were KINGS. And there were THREE of them. And they had CAMELS! Which meant they could carry that much more loot. (Shut up. I know it's shallow. I was five, okay?)

We knew them by name and sang of songs of fervent praise to them, too. We loved those three: "Gaspar y Melchor y el Rey Baltazar..."

(Read more about the history and story of the 3 Kings here.)

In early in 1961, when we left Cuba, The Three Kings apparently didn't get the memo that we had changed our address and were never to be seen or heard from again in my family. (*deep childlike sigh*)

Santa Claus took over the present delivery and I guess it seemed simpler to my parents to just embrace the Christmas traditions in this country. Although, for years, we still gave credit to "Los Reyes" for bringing our presents.

Sorry Santa! =(

And because I often wax nostalgic and I'm a little distracted and creative, I started wondering what it would look like if the Magi still delivered gifts to us on the morning of the Epiphany.

I think it might look something like this:

Happy Three Kings Day, Everyone! =D

(H/T Melek. Thanks for the wonderful reminder!)

The Best of MBFCF in 2009

Everywhere you hear about and see the flashbacks, the nostalgia, the reminiscing about the past year.

Well, today I look back on this blogging year and some of my favorite posts. (Yes, I do have favorite posts and lots of others that make me wring my hands and wonder why I do this in the first place, but that's not important right now.)

Actually, it's tough for me to choose my favorites, because I write about the comings and goings and uber-geekiness and silliness of my family. For the most part, I usually write from my heart about whatever is on at that moment. And that continues to be the Reason I Blog.

But here are the Highlights of MBFCF for this past year. (As voted on by a panel of Myself. =D)

Enjoy!

1. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

 

The time I was contacted by the producer for umm... Ramie Toliver. *sigh*

2. Pure Imagination

 

In which my son becomes the Greatest Candy Maker of All Time and leaves mom in a puddle of tears.

3. "Funny, but you don't look Cuban."

 

Celebrating my mom's 95th birthday with party hats and great style.

4. Breakfast of Champions

Café con leche. That is all.

5. No 'Flux capacitor' needed

 

In which I run smack-dab into an icon from my past in the unlikeliest of places: Washington, D.C.

6. Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos or What Cuban Music Heaven Looks Like

The night we got to see Andy Garcia up-close and personal at the Conga Room.

7. Miles of Smiles

 

I just really like that picture and all the comments that you shared on that post.

8. Pastelito Delivery Service

Me, Desi Arnaz, Jr. and my Pastelitos de Guayaba in the same area code, at the same time. =D

9. How Many Cuban Girls Does it Take to Get ONE Photo?

 

I laugh out loud when I remember this moment. So glad I caught in on film and blogged about it.

10. Gonna buy five copies for my mother...

The day my coming-to-America story came out in the O.C. Register. (*she wrote, proudly*)

11. My Man, Ron

An unforgettable visit to the Reagan Ranch.

12. Measuring Life

 

Celebrating MBFCF in this year's Christmas video.

These were just some of the highlights of my year. I think that 2009 will go down in history as the year in which I Blogged Once Again. =D

Thank you all for allowing me to share the ups and downs of my big, fat, Cuban family with you. I look forward with great anticipation towards 2010 and all that it may bring.

Prospero Año Nuevo!

The EPIC Mr. Don't Touch the Banana

The following post was written by Kikita, whose appreciation for bananas has led to endless laughter and entertainment.

I can't tell you where or how it all started, but it started. I can only guess it happened on facebook because that's where most things happen these days.
Let me be clear about something . . . I am not particularly fond of the taste of bananas. Ok, that's not entirely true. There have been several years where I absolutely loathed bananas, but now that I'm an immature adult, I have accepted them for the goodness that they can be.

It IS possible that the banana thing started shortly after the monkey thing. (I LOVE monkeys. I have several monkey stuffed animals and I can do a FABULOUS monkey sound, but that's not important right now.)

For all intents and purposes, I'm not sure that it really matters where the banana thing started. What IS important is that it DID start and was kept alive.

Typically, I will start working on the family Christmas video in late August or early September. As it just so happens, late August found me at a Willy Chirino concert.

It was there that I met my inspiration.

Every year I struggle with making sure the video is relevant to our Cuban-American family NOW while not forgetting and celebrating that we are still Cuban. But now the majority of the family prefers speaking in English, so they relate to a Cuban song in Spanish less and less. No, that doesn't make things easy.
But I had found my answer.

I started story-boarding and planning and ran into a few hiccups such as "what about the family that will NOT be at Thanksgiving?"
But I did what I could with what resources I had.

I am so grateful that my big, fat, Cuban family will do what I ask of them without question and will go for it. Participation was key in pulling this one off. And I knew it would be EPIC.

After Thanksgiving, I got to work. And, thanks to the help and support of some "real, live" editors (Thank you Mr. Simpson, Mr. Young, & Mr. De Castro), my plan was coming to fruition in ways that were even better than I could have expected.

 

This has to be one of my most favorite pieces that I have ever cut together. I love it because it's wholly Cuban (every good Cuban-American knows this song), it's fun, it's Spanglish, and it's . . . well, it's EPIC (even if I do say so myself).

It even inspired the title for this year's video: "ORO PARECE"

That is the beginning of a Cuban riddle that goes:
ORO PARECE
PLATA-NO ES

It's a play on words. "Oro" is gold. "Plata" is silver, but "platano" is banana.
IT LOOKS LIKE GOLD
SILVER IT IS NOT / BANANA IT IS

So, ladies and gentlemen, without further ado . . .

Measuring Life

This is Kikita here to wish you all a Merry Christmas!

As I'm sure most of you know by now, every year I cut together a family Christmas video. This year marked the 10 year anniversary of this tradition so I knew I had to really step things up. When looking back on all the things that happened in our family over the past year the re-occurring theme I kept seeing was "LOVE." Plain and simple.

In one of those midnight-hour moments of inspiration, I knew what song would be perfect to end my video with. Something to make us stop and remember the sweet moments. Yes, some moments of our lives are big . . . but then there are those quick ones that unexpectedly stick with us.

Anyway, I wanted to share the ending of this year's video with my blog family because you readers have been sharing these moments with us as well. We are happy that you, too, are a part of my big, fat Cuban family.

FELIZ NAVIDAD!

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

We say "Merry Christmas"

Merry Christmas!

We like to say Merry Christmas.

And so we say it. Often. In stores, and to passersby. "Merry Christmas!" I exclaim.  They look a little shocked most times. And shyly offer it back (while surreptitiously looking over their shoulder): "Merry Christmas."

In Spanish, of course, it's Feliz Navidad.

And we say that, too. Often and loudly! But mostly we say Merry Christmas. Because we celebrate the birth of Christ and therefore Christmas.

Almost 50 years ago, my family fled Cuba when the communists took over.  One of the very first thing the commie atheists did was to stop the celebration of Christmas. I refuse to cave to today's fear-based political correctness.

So, to all of you from me and my big, fat, Cuban family, we wish you a very Merry Christmas!

 

Let the Noche Buena Preparations Begin!

It's time to get ready for Noche Buena at the Darbys!

 
I wish you could all come. It's going to be such a fabulous event!

We've been up to our eyeballs in party preparations and I'm totally excited.

This year we are hosting my big, fat, Cuban family. And our house is small. Freakishly small when I think of the logistics of serving 30 people at a sit-down event, but that's not important right now.

So we are figuring it all out, or as we say in Spanish, "resolviendo."

Me (a little distraught and a little whiny): "But it's just going to look like our little house is just over-crowded. I want it to be magical!" *sigh*

To which my family responded by jumping into action. (I can be very persuasive when I'm whiny. =D)

Amy came up with the idea to cover all the pictures in Christmas wrap to make them look like gifts. And that made me happy. I think it's starting to look pretty festive.

 

Eric added greenery and lights to every corner of the room.

It's coming together quite nicely. It seems that every spot downstairs (including the bathroom and kitchen) has been touched by Christmas and this makes me totally happy.

Today is the day I send the boys out to pick up the extra tables and chairs from my mom's garage. We are enclosing the back patio with a heavy canvas curtain. And we'll have to move out all of our living room furniture to have room for the tables. (When I say we, I mean Eric. =D)

And no, there's no room for the Christmas tree. (I know. Shut up.)

But my Creative Team made the executive decision that we will put it out on the front lawn and bring it in on Christmas morning. I kind of like the craziness of that. At least this is one Christmas we won't soon forget!

[Side note to all of you who start decorating back in November: I have nothing against decorating your home early, if that's what you like to do. I, personally, don't. I prefer decorating a few days before and turning it into An Event. It keeps me focused on Christmas itself. But that's just my way.]

Meanwhile, I'm in the kitchen with Adam cooking up batch after batch of our fabulous Creme de Vie. (Click here for my famous super-secret Creme de Vie recipe.)

 

I finally gave up buying the beautiful bottles at Pier One (plus it was getting a little expensive). The local wine shop was glad to give us (as in free!) their empties and I just made personalized labels for the recipients. (I like how the snowflakes on the tablecloth reflect onto the bottles and enhance the snowflakes on the labels.) Pretty sweet, no?

I have found that after a few cups of this wonderful stuff, everything seems so much more....I don't know...magical?

How are your preparations coming along? Do you host? Do you travel? (Do you drink?) ;-)

Making believe.

{Oops! TypePad techno mix-up.. Here's the original Believe post....}

Isn't it gorgeous? I sit and stare at it up on my hutch and I feel both peaceful and inspired.

And I remember that I BELIEVE.

I believe in Santa Claus and I believe in Christmas miracles.

I do.

I was once a struggling, working single parent with two small children and no child support.

And then it was Christmas. And my paycheck didn't stretch any further than it usually did. And so I worried and stressed and prayed. But I knew that Christmas was going to be brutal that year. With a 7 year old princess and a 4 year old tough guy. And no extra money for gifts. I can barely stand to remember.

A few days before Christmas, an anonymous cash gift showed up in my mailbox. It wasn't a lot but it was enough that I was able to buy my kids a few toys. And make it look like Santa visited our modest home. 

I never found out who that gracious and generous soul was. But every Christmas I think of them. And their unselfish gift that meant everything to this poor, harried, single mom.

And I believe that it was God himself who whispered my need and my desire into their ears. And I am forever grateful that they listened and played Santa Claus to the single mom and her two kids.

That was one of many Christmas miracles I've experienced.

And so I tell you unashamedly that I believe in Santa Claus. And Christmas miracles. But mostly I believe in a good and generous God who doesn't forget "the least of these."

And so I listen. Just in case he's whispering someone's need in my ear. And I get to play Santa Claus and be a part of someone's Christmas miracle.

Do you believe?

Making it up as I go...

When I was about Jonathan's age (soon to be 14) the place to see movies was at the dome. The Cinerama Dome. It was an amazing architectural feat. The screen swept across a geodesic dome and you'd have to turn your head to see the action on the gigantic screen on the other side.

It was THE theater to go to for The Ultimate Movie-Watching Experience.

We lived in Santa Monica back in the 60's and going to the Dome was The Thing To Do. Totally Epic.

Every year at Christmastime, I try to go see a show or a live performance of some kind with my two girls, Amy and Lucy. Sometimes (when our paycheck is fat) we even see a couple - that happened last year. This year, however, was feeling a bit lean.

So we opted for a movie instead. And not just any movie. A one-time screening of "White Christmas" with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye.

And not just in any theater either. We went to see it at the Arc Light Theaters which is part of what was once The Cinerama Dome. (Which brought back many wonderful childhood memories, but that's not important right now.)

We do so much generally year-round, you can probably imagine what the holidays look like. But we still have a few traditions that we like to fit into our busy got-to-get-stuff-done schedule, too.

The Girls Holiday Theater Night is super important to me and the girls. And this night was no exception.

We dressed up. Had dinner at El Floridita Cuban Restaurant on Vine. (Yes, Cuban food. Of course.)

 
And celebrated being together and sharing our secret language and inside jokes. The stuff that comes easily from shared familiarity.

Our only tense moment was when they tried to keep Lucy from entering the theater because they happened to be showing White Christmas in the ONE theater in the entire complex that serves alcohol. Yikes! I started to panic.

This was our night. Our one big Christmas event for the season. And they were trying to keep my daughter out? (They did not know with whom they were dealing!)

The bottom line was that they agreed (*ahem*) to let Lucy in and the staff steered clear of the crazy Cuban lady for the rest of the night.

 

So we watched White Christmas and sang along and got weepy at the part with the General and we clapped loudly and "awwed" when it finally snows in Vermont on Christmas Eve and all that.....

Did it really matter what show we saw? No.

Did it matter if we even saw a show? No. Not at all.

The goal was to celebrate the Christmas season with my beautiful girls. To be together and celebrate the fact that we share DNA and sometimes a brain.

Because you see, we all absolutely agreed that Rosemary Clooney's wardrobe in this movie was totally EPIC! (I know. Never mind. It's a chick thing. =D)

Making Christmas

"Making Christmas" is usually the mom's job.  At least it's always that way at my house (I'm guessing it's that way in most homes).  I do a lot of stuff anyway, but in December I kick it up to Warp Nine.  =D

This year I was especially busy because I took the time to make some special homemade gifts:

1) The Quiz books.  (Remember the quiz about the Best and Worst?)
Well,  I did it. I sent quizzes out to each member of the family.  Then I took their responses and created a page for each person. The quizzes varied from person to person.  I was very pleased with how they turned out.  Here's a sample page:

I made them for both sides of the family.   The 12x12 I bet you didn't know book for the Darbys.  The smaller 8x8, Family is something everyone can relate to  for my big, fat, Cuban family (it had to be smaller to keep the cost the same - that book had 43 pages, which means between the two books I created almost 70 pages, but that's not important right now).  All were created using Photoshop Elements 6 for the Mac. I saved the pages as jpg images and uploaded each page to Shutterfly.

The small one on the front left, 2008 - The Year of Improv was for the friends of Lucy and Jonathan who have been here every week of 2008 playing Improv games with them. I created that in iPhoto using their drag-and-drop-into-a-cute-little-book feature with short captions on a handful of pages.

They were all a huge hit. (she said modestly, polishing her nails and then admiring them.... =D)

2) Homemade Cuban egg-nog or Creme de Vie.  You can find my recipe for that right here.  Or go visit my friend, Adriana, for the Puerto Rican version which involves a coconut flavor and is called Coquito. (In fact, just go visit Adriana and educate yourself on what a Cuban-Rican Christmas looks like. =D)

The bottles are just empty wine bottles we picked up at a local wine bar (they were happy to have us recycle them).  Michael's craft store had clean corks (which made me wonder what exact craft one uses bottle corks for, but that's not important right now).  The labels I ordered from Wonderful Graffiti (I will post another day on all the writing that I have up on my walls). 

I just loved that my bottles were so decked out with those fabulously 80's looking butt-bows.  ;-)
The hanging tags I also made using Photoshop Elements 6.

3) Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies - that recipe can be found here.

We made dozens and dozens which we packaged and gave away. But we also kept a few dozen which we froze so that in January when I get post-New-Year-Christmas nostalgia we can thaw and enjoy. =D

4) Of course, we (Amy Kikita and I) made a 20 minute film (part of which you saw yesterday) and I duplicated 17 dvds and created the cover art (again using Elements) - we had to make copies for everyone and ship a few to Texas and Miami.

 

The very best part of all this Christmas-making activity (which is a lot! I realize now as I'm writing this):

I didn't have to do it all.  =D

Okay, well...yes, I did do all the graphics for the books & dvds. But because I was occupied with creating those books, my kids all stepped up and did the baking and creme-de-vie-making and packaging.  Which I thought was very cool.

They all helped bake and mix rum and condensed milk and wrap packages and make tags and all the other things that are usually Mom's domain.  I don't think I ever stopped and said specifically, "this is how you make Christmas happen..."

But obviously my love for all-things-Christmas was catching.

Which is cool because I believe that "making Christmas" is more caught than taught.  ;-)