Three Kings Day - Los Reyes Magos

how cool is it to have an extended Christmas?

i knew there was more to my liking G than his good looks and charm. being mexican, he grew up celebrating Los Reyes Magos, which to us proddy plebs is translated as Three Kings Day. to those aetheists among us, it'd be another reason to give or receive a gift. 

the 12th day of Christmas, 6th January, is when los reyes visit. instead of a tree to put gifts under, they leave a gift for lucky recipients in their shoe. or boot. or slipper. they're not fussy. just not flip-flops.

mexican children write to los reyes - Melchior, Balthazar and Gaspar - in the same way they might write to santa claus. except it's in spanish. duh.

my first letter to los reyes was a bit of a disaster due to my spanglish issue. i am lucky they were able to decipher anything i wrote and probably left me gifts out of pity for a 30+ aged woman who was clearly illiterate.

this year, we are celebrating the day a few days late - on Saturday to be precise. it's due to the terrible weather the kings encountered over Europe - mucho snow-o etc. it held up their camels. santa has a sleigh that he can fly through the air; the poor kings have camels who don't do well in ice. this is what i am going to tell my nephews anyway...ahem.

last night, we had rosca de reyes - a traditional bread shaped like a crown that is eaten for the celebration, along with hot chocolate.

the rosca was bought (as it is each year) from a bakery in maryland. it contains one baby Jesus. a plastic one. the baby is hidden inside the rosca to represent baby Jesus being hidden from King Herod. whomever gets the slice that contains the baby must cook a feast, often of tamales and hot drinks, for the entire family. the meal takes place the next year or, for some, on Feb. 2, the Day of the Candelaria, when Mary presented the infant Jesus to the temple.

G and i managed to eat half of the rosca last night. he was hungry, i wanted the baby. i could have eaten the entire thing but just about held myself back. neither of us found it. sigh.

this is what my plate looked like after the first slice. can you tell i was searching very very diligently?