ELA Magazine – Christmas Edition
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NOWCAP Torrington, Wyoming Family Literacy ELA Department Magazine A World of Diversity December 2015 Contents Did you Know That…………………………………………………………...pages 1-2 Our Christmas Stories………………………………………………………….pages 3-9 We Wish You a Merry Christmas………………………………………………page 10 Christmas is a time of sharing and joy. That is why most of the ELA students within the Adult Education Program at EWC and the NOWCAP Wyoming Family Literacy Center in Torrington came together and shared their Christmas stories in this special Christmas edition of the ELA Magazine. I joined them and shared my Christmas story in this edition as well. Enjoy! Have a wonderful holiday season. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Gabriela Banville – ELA Instructor and ELA Magazine Editor 1 Did You Know That? DECEMBER INTERNATIONAL HOLIDAYS 9 December International Anti-Corruption Day 1 December World AIDS Day 10 December Human Rights Day 2 December International Day for the Abolition of 11 December Slavery International Mountain Day 3 December 18 December International Day of Persons with International Migrants Day Disabilities 20 December 5 December International Human Solidarity Day International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development 25 December Christmas 5 December World Soil Day 31 December New Year 7 December International Civil Aviation Day 9 December International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime 2 These are the December holidays in the U.S. Dec 6 Sunday St Nicholas' Day Observance Dec 24 Thursday Christmas Eve Dec 7 Monday Chanukah/Hanukkah Observance, Christian (first day) Jewish holiday Dec 24 Thursday Christmas Eve State Dec 7 Monday Pearl Harbor holiday KS, LA, MI, NC, ND, OK, SC, TX, Remembrance Day Observance VA, WI Dec 8 Tuesday Feast of the Dec 24 Thursday Washington's Immaculate Conception Christian Birthday State holiday Georgia, Indiana Dec 12 Saturday Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Observance Dec 25 Friday Christmas Day National holiday, Christian Dec 13 Sunday U.S. National Guard Birthday Observance Dec 26 Saturday Kwanzaa (until Jan 1) Observance Dec 14 Monday Last Day of Chanukah Jewish holiday Dec 26 Saturday Day After Christmas Day Observance Dec 17 Thursday Pan American Aviation Day Observance Dec 26 Saturday Day After Christmas Day State holiday KS, KY, NC, NH, Dec 17 Thursday Wright Brothers Day SC, TX Observance Dec 31 Thursday New Year's Eve Dec 22 Tuesday December Solstice State holiday LA, MI, WI Season Dec 31 Thursday New Year's Eve Dec 24 Thursday The Prophet's Observance Birthday Muslim 3 Our Christmas Stories The next pages reflect Christmas memories of most of our ELA students at the Adult Education Program, EWC and the ones studying ELA at the Wyoming Family Literacy Center in Torrington, Wyoming. I, the ELA instructor, also engaged and shared my Christmas story with everybody. Here are our students’ Christmas stories: “This is a Christmas story of my childhood in my home country, Guatemala. I remember that there were many drinks, much food, new clothes we were wearing. My brother put up a real pine tree and the house had a pleasant pine tree smell. On December 24th we would fire some fireworks. The next day, my family and I travelled to the beach, 25 minutes away, and had a good time there. We thought only of the vacation because soon we were going back to school. It was a very nice time lived without any pressures or stress. The change for me happened when I came to the U.S. It was exactly the reverse, and the sad thing is that my and my husband’s families are far away, but we always celebrate with good food, drinks, Christmas presents, and decorate our house. We also send gifts for the holiday’s season to our families.” (Eva, ELA student at the Wyoming Family Literacy, Torrington) “Christmas in Mexico was way different than here, in the USA for me. I remember when I was a child in Mexico we lived in a small community; we knew most of the people there. When we celebrated Christmas my mother invited a lot of people to come over and celebrate with us. We all sang Christian songs and prayed for baby Jesus. After we were done with all that, we were given a small paper sack which had some candy, peanuts, and one orange. Then we all sat down and had something to eat. My mom usually made a big pot of tamales and a lot of Buñuelos and a big pot of coffee; when we were done eating we would go to a big Christian church and do the same thing: we were standing in line for a long time because there were a lot of people from different towns and cities. I remember building the Nativity Scene. We also used to help my mom mix mud and cut some trees which were called guayacan. They were really nice trees and they made a nice Nativity Scene. We also used to decorate it with spirals, stars, blinking lights and figures of Santa. For me, moving to the USA was really different. Christmas is different from Mexico to here in the U.S. because in Mexico we don't exchange gifts like we do here in America. But it's really nice to exchange presents with our family & friends .Otherwise, Christmas is the same here as it is in Mexico; we do get together with our families & friends to eat on the 24th & 25th.” (Eduardo, ELA student at the Adult Education Program at EWC, Torrington). 4 Our ELA Instructor joined us and her Christmas story is reflected below: Christmas in Romania is a major annual holiday, celebrated on the 25th of December, as in most countries of the Christian world. The Christmas holiday was introduced once with the Christianization of Romania but it was then interrupted during the Communist period (1948— 1989), as concepts such as religion, Jesus Christ or the Church were banned. In the post- communist Romania, Christmas started being celebrated again more festively. (source: en.wikipedia.org). I personally love Christmas; it is my favorite time of the year. It is a time of sharing, reuniting, and joy, the joy of Jesus Christ’s birth. One of the dearest childhood memories related to Christmas is the decoration of the Christmas tree which was usually a real one; I love the pine-tree smell, and I also like Christmas decorations. I remember getting so excited about Santa’s coming on the night between Christmas Eve and the first Christmas Day, as well. Why did I mention the first Christmas Day? One of the Christmas traditions in Romania is having three days of Christmas celebrations. It is almost like in the English Christmas Carol entitled The Twelve Days of Christmas, but Romanians reduced that timeframe to three days only. ♫ Another aspect of the traditional Romanian ways of celebrating Christmas that I miss here in America is the Christmas Eve caroling: Romanians go from house to house, and sing Christmas carols. There’s a wide repertoire of Romanian Christmas songs that people choose from when caroling. Romanian communities in America keep this tradition as well, but the state of Wyoming doesn’t have a Romanian community. In a way, this aspect is balanced by the fact that there are a lot of Christmas concerts and Christmas Tree Fairs, even a Christmas parade, here, in Torrington, and I like all these celebrations of the Christmas spirit. The Romanian cities (as seen in the photos below) are beautifully decorated for the winter holidays; it’s the same Christmas scenery that you would see in American rural or urban areas. 5 The traditional food that Romanians eat at Christmas time is based on dishes made of pork; my mother is an expert at cooking delicious traditional Romanian Christmas food, but I remember switching to dishes based on chicken mostly and less on pork during the past 15 years because of health reasons. I also love the American Christmas tradition of families gathering around the Christmas tree to see and unwrap their Christmas presents. This tradition is currently seen more and more in Romania as well. I can’t wait for this winter holiday season! Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! A part of my parents’ house in Romania in winter time “I love Christmas and my family does too. When I was young, on Christmas Eve at night, all my family including uncles, aunts, cousins, and grandparents came together to celebrate Christmas. We all enjoyed homemade food, and then we used to break a piñata. We usually stayed up until midnight so that we could welcome the Christmas Day with a Feliz Navidad (Merry Christmas in Spanish) greeting. All the years my mom, one of my sisters and I put a real Christmas tree up. Many times Santa brought very good candy. When I moved to the U.S. it was different from Mexico, my native country, because families here buy presents for Christmas. Sometimes my family and I keep our Mexican tradition and we cook tamales for Christmas. My kids always get excited about Christmas: they want to see the Christmas tree up and help to decorate it and can’t wait for Santa (they even write letters to Santa Claus). Look forward to this Christmas.” (Maria, ELA student at the Wyoming Family Literacy Center, Torrington) 6 “I think the Xmas celebration is my favorite time. I remember when I was younger, how we were waiting for the month of December to celebrate with our family. I don’t forget when my parents said to us all the time: “If you are not a good kid, Santa Claus will not be coming this year,” so we tried to obey.