Happy Festivus!

Happy Festivus people! In a Telemundo version of the Airing of Grievances and Feats of Strength, it never occurred to me that I would get sick this holiday season, but what’s Festivus without the added bonus of a migraine followed by nausea and killer stomach aches.

Yup … there I was … scavenging the medicine cabinet for Sal de Uvas–you know my people’s Alka-Seltzer– during the Broncos vs. Chiefs game and praying that I wouldn’t throw up on the floor.

Ho. Ho. Ho.

It’s a terrible feeling when you know you have to but it’s not happening, your whole body is going through an internal battle, and you can feel its losing, and there on the horizon is bed time routine … just waiting to start.

I held out as long as I could, but in the end my son finished reading How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Both kids went to sleep quickly as they could tell mom was losing the battle, we all managed to fall asleep until my phone rang and it woke me.

I’m still losing the battle but feel that if I lay perfectly still with no sudden movements  it’s not that horrible. Listening to some tunes and watching The Ref helps. Slipper socks … medium. Ha! Dennis Leary cracks me up.

So I thought I’d try to pass along the good cheer … you know, just in case some of you were battling the Festivus nausea this year and needed some Christmas spirit headed your way … you know in case you wanted to feel like Hugh Grant dancing to  The Pointer Sisters in Love Actually.

Hope your Festivus was merry and filled with laughter … not nausea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buen Camino my friends.

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El Burrito Sabanero and Christmas Song Power

It takes a while for it to hit me, because my dad’s not walking through the door with the Christmas tree.

But it hits me … eventually.

It hits me when I see Charlie Brown and the rest of The Peanut Gang. It hits me when I see my kids decorating cookies with green and red M&Ms. It smacks me in the face when I’m laughing my ass off at Pete Schwetty, Mary Katherine Gallagher, and Justin Timberlake‘s Junk in The Box skits on Saturday Night Live.

It helps.

It builds.

But the one thing that always kicks it up a notch is the song. The song for my Guat People.

No it’s not I Wanna Wish You a Merry Christmas a.k.a. Feliz Navidad.

Nope. That’s too commercial.

This is Old School.

It’s more powerful than Mariah Carey, Michael Buble, Kelly Clarkson, or Jennifer Nettles Christmas Specials.

This is El Burrito Sabanero.

The Donkey Song.

 

The Donkey is a powerful thing.

No one would think a donkey song could bring out the ho-ho-ho spirit, but it does. It crushes whatever Grinch-like tendencies I may have had about Christmas trying beat down my beloved Thanksgiving Holiday.

I hear it and the Christmas Spirit is jumping. I hear it and it takes me back to my five-year old self, when I had pigtails and enjoyed waking up in the morning. It takes me back to my Union Elementary Holiday Program Days and wearing red. It takes me back to hanging out with my dysfunctional family, eating tamales, and playing Loteria. It takes me back to drinking that famous Guatemalan Ponche that my mom made every year. It takes me back to opening presents in my pajamas at midnight. It takes me back to La Vecindad — the old neighborhood and its people.

It rocks my Guat world and every year, Christmas doesn’t seem to start unless I blast that tune and do my little dance. I could be in the middle of a George Costanza life episode, and when I hear that tune the frustration, the anxiety, the anger, the whatever-it-is-I’m-feeling-at-that-moment disappears.

I raise the volume. I tap my feet. I nod my head, and it’s on.

The Christmas spirit is upon me. The Donkey is pretty powerful stuff.

Do you have any Christmas song power?

Bring it!

Let it smack you in the face and enjoy the eggnog. Being at the overcrowded mall fighting for parking is so much easier when you got it.