The way my family and I celebrate Christmas is by going to Posadas at church (usually a week before Christmas) and we invite all our friends and family to celebrate with us and do a secret Santa. Every Christmas we will hang our Christmas tree and decorate it with many ornaments and decorate outside the house with Christmas lights. In addition, the whole family gets together and we all drink Champurrado, have some s’mores, have a nice warm fire by the fireplace, and watch TV or talk about stories and memories about “back then.”
Every year, my parish organizes a “Caminata” to Mt. Rubidoux to celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe. We usually have it on the Saturday closest to the Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Dec. 12). In this main event, we have a huge walk with a large crowd of people who go to the Mass and there is a group of people who are in costumes that do a dance for us. This group of dancers are known as “Matachines” and we will walk from the church to the top of Mt. Rubidoux and we have Mass there. These past few years, our youth group has been in charge of providing hospitality to volunteers, dancers, and participants in the “Caminata.”
Finally, in the adolescent group, we will have a Christmas party and we have a secret Santa between the current and newest leaders. I’m very thankful and blessed to be in this youth group because it has changed my life since the day I lived my retreat. I want to give thanks to the leaders that were there for me when I needed them the most. They are Guillermo Parada, Adriana Baltazar, Rosangelica Martinez, Jesus Parada, Jessica Martinez, Angelica Baltazar, Cindy Penal, Gerardo Baca, and Juan Lopez. These are only a few of them.