The Colombian Christmas spirit begins when grandmas join in the kitchen to begin preparing all the delicious traditional plates and desserts for the holiday season.

One of the most popular dishes is buñuelos, originally from Jewish and Arabian culture. It came to Latin America during the Spanish colonization. These are cheese fritters made of cornstarch, butter and cheese. To prepare them, knead all the ingredients together and then form small balls. They are often served with natilla, a sweet dessert made out of milk, butter, panela, cinnamon, and lots of love.

The result is a milky jelly that can be eaten with berries, sauce or milk candy. At Christmas adults and kids love preparing this recipe and sharing it.

Another popular dish in Colombia is tamales. They are made of corn, wrapped in plaintain leaves, and boiled, although they vary according to the region.

For example, peanuts are used in the Cauca region, while tamales prepared in the Eastern valley used to have turtle meat. Some of them also have rice, peas, eggs, carrots, bacon and chicken.

While grandmothers cook, the rest of the family begins decorating the house, the streets, and the whole neighborhood. They decorate Christmas trees and the most important thing, the empty cradle where they place Baby Jesus on Dec. 24. The streets are normally decorated with plastic colorful flags and lights. On the streets, they do colorful drawings.

Many of the small houses are also carefully decorated. The government decorates streets, parks and buildings, and promotes contests to award the best block, home, neighborhood and mall, so everyone is encouraged to follow this custom.

Officially, Christmas begins on Dec. 7 when Colombian people celebrate Candle Day, an important festivity in which kids and adults join at night to light candles in the streets and windows. Offices and homes are decorated with lanterns and candles that welcome the holiday season. They are accompanied by fireworks.

The origin of this celebration was in 1854 when Pope Pius IX defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. In anticipation of this event, people started lighting candles. This Catholic tradition continues to be important in Colombia. The image of the Virgin Mary and the Baby Jesus are important figures, rather than Santa Claus.

On Dec. 16 the novenas begin, a special moment of the day in which families, friends and neighbors join to pray on nine successive days, commemorating the birth of Jesus. The last is the evening of Dec. 24, when everyone remembers that Jesus came to earth. These traditions are still celebrated and help people to keep in mind the real meaning of Christmas. During these special celebrations people sing Christmas carols, and read Bible verses, among other activities.

One of the funniest traditions are the aguinaldos, which are games that adults and children play, like Tres Pies. Each player tries to put one foot in the middle of the feet of the other players without being noticed. Another funny game is Si y No, in which you are not able to say one of those two words.

On Christmas night, families share special dinners, depending on which region of Colombia they are in. Some eat turkey, lechona (pork filled with rice and peas), among other typical dishes. They also give everyone the presents that the Baby Jesus brought.

Finally on Dec. 28 in Colombia, we celebrate the Innocent Days, a date full of fun and jokes because people use to do jests, like giving others fake food, inventing stories, and so on. On TV channels, they transmit the funny mistakes people do, and even newspapers create funny news. These are some of the important celebrations and customs people do in Colombia to celebrate Jesus’ birthday.

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Fernanda, Israel and David are going to their house. From the bus stop, they spent half an hour climbing. Already at the peak of the hill they can see the city.

Here the houses have one floor and are made from cardboard and plastic pieces. A few are made from brick.

Fernanda and her children have been living in this neighborhood since 1999. Since a year ago, she has been living with Antonio, a man about 15 years older, who owns this house. Antonio is a home builder and the stepfather of Israel and David.

Israel jumps to the neighbor’s yard and begins to search through the cornfield for the best corncobs to make donuts (bunhuelos).

Bunhuelos are Colombian biscuits typical for the Christmas season. Israel brings back some corncobs to make the dough.

Everybody is helping in the kitchen, while Fernanda grinds the corn and makes the mixture with cheese, a bit of sugar and salt.

When the dough is ready, they go down the hill to the main street of the neighborhood “Paraiso.” They walk half an hour to where the family has the frying cart, where they are going to fry the donuts.

Fernanda pulls the frying cart from a bus garage and parks it at the front of a warehouse. This place is visited a lot, and more at Christmas time. Fernanda moves her hands in the dough, creating balls the size of golf balls for each donut.

After about two hours she finishes frying the donuts and sends these with David to the student center, approximately five blocks away.

A few minutes later Marien, the director of the child development center, came to them and asked if Israel was ready to buy his Christmas gift.

Israel jumps with happiness. He puts his hands on his face. Just in front of him is the store where the director buys the gifts for all the children of the student center.

There Israel receives a t-shirt, jeans and sport shoes that he does not want to remove ever. Israel says that the last time he received a new pair of sport shoes was two years ago because the last Christmas was a black pair of shoes just for the school classes.

The director of the program tells Israel that within a few hours he will receive his gift formally in the Christmas supper, and she returns to the student center.

Israel has five years at the Compassion program and David eight years. They have learned to be obedient to their mom and they will collaborate in everything with her.

His mother helps to cook and clean up in the student center when it is necessary. Fernanda also appreciates that in the student center she was taught to brush her hair and make their beds. She did not know how to do it before.

Israel knows by memory the name of his sponsors and even has Legos in the original packaging and some cars that they sent on his recent birthday and Christmas.

He has waited for this Christmas Eve as never before because he knows that the angel of God always brings him just what he needs.

The dreams of Israel are alive on each Christmas, and his great dream is to be a firefighter. Being next to his mother on the street, he has seen three fires, and he dreams to help their community in case of a fire.

Fifteen minutes later, Fernanda, Israel and David move toward the student center where a Christmas dinner is prepared.

In November, the center director made a list of things to do with her staff to prepare the presentations for the great night.The youngest children were dressed as angels and followed their tutor Yuli to sing Christmas carols in the opening service.

Then the children from six to nine years old with their tutor Tatiana presented the Christmas drama.

Later the children of 10 to 12 years sang more Christmas carols, dressed in costumes of the Middle East. The adolescents group prepared special songs to recall the birth of Jesus.

Finally, the pastor Elvia Parra offers a sermon of hope in Jesus’ name. With prayers for the blessing of their food, everyone knows that it is time to sit at the tables to enjoy chicken, rice, and as dessert cinnamon pudding and Fernanda’s bunhuelos.

All the student center team are serving the tables. The teachers are dressed in Christmas costumes. Fernanda is in the kitchen helping in the midst of all the bustle.

The main room is decorated with Christmas posters. Children are laughing and talking. One can feel the atmosphere of Christmas, the musicians do not stop singing, while children finish eating dessert.

After the children have finished eating, Marien the director shouts, “It is time to deliver these gifts!” and with one voice they make their “Yesss!” strong, confessing with authority that God is faithful again.

All children receive their gifts with a big smile and with a hug for their teachers. They have already spent two and a half hours since the beginning of the Christmas presentations.

Israel also receives his package, and he decides to go to the bathroom and puts the new sport shoes, pants and t-shirt on.

Afterwards, Fernanda, David and Israel help to clean up the main room and they are prepared to return to their job in the street where Antonio is waiting for them.

There Israel and David show to their stepfather Antonio what they got for this year. It is 9 p.m. and they will spend Christmas selling donuts.

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