So a little more about our Spanish T-shirt and onesie B de Burro, V de Vaca. Some people get it, immediately. But for those who may not have heard the saying, here's a little background on this Spanish saying.

In a former incarnation right out of college, I was a high school Spanish teacher, and one of the common mistakes that I saw amongst my native Spanish speaker kiddos was their confusion between the letter B and V. I'd often see words like "haver" instead of "haber" or "travajar" instead of "trabajar" or "escrivir" instead of  "escribir." So why are the B's and V's so hard to nail down for those of us who grew up speaking Spanish? Here's an explanation:

B and V are pronounced exactly the same. In fact, one of the few spelling problems that many Spanish speakers have is with these two letters, because they don't distinguish them at all from their sound. Generally, the b and v are pronounced like the "b" in "beach." When either of the letters is between two vowels, the sound is formed kind of like the English "v," except that the sound is made by touching the lips together instead of the upper teeth and lower lip. 

And I am the last person to be teaching phonetics, as I remember sitting in a college class and not being able to distinguish sounds. My ears apparently cannot fine tune. But here's more on that. And more.

Yesterday was a rite of passage for the toddler: her first visit to a mall Santa. My mom and I took her, and I turned to my mom at one point and asked if we, meaning me and my three brothers, ever went to see Santa, because if I had I don't remember and she answered in four words: "I had four kids." Okay, fair enough. Plus, the nearest mall was 60 miles away, and we saw the Santa that came to the school, anyway. 

I hadn't planned on taking K this year but I got totally sucked in by a Groupon ad, and since I'm totally a Groupon and Living Social junkie I couldn't pass the deal up. I decided to go mid-day, mid-week because I had seen the crowd of frazzled families waiting patiently between velvet ropes at this particular mall last year. We went through the mall beforehand looking for new shoes, to no avail, (how hard is it to find size 7 black shoes de charol? Impossible!) and when we finally got to Santa's little village I almost had an attack when I saw it was totally empty. No one in line, but wait. Is that really Santa chatting it up with the two young girls working there? What the Herman? I was still a little confused when he started to wave us in. At first the toddler K was pulling back as we got closer. Even I felt nervous for her. But he spoke gently (not like that loud Santa in a Christmas Story), and as he asked her more questions, "What do you want for Christmas? What's your name? Do you want Santa to bring you a doll?" she loosened up and didn't even seem to realize I had lifted her onto his lap. She was soooooo serious and would not crack a smile. But Santa kept on with his questions and the camera clicked and clicked and then he asked if she wanted a tickle on the knee and there it was and bam, SMILE! Aw, trick from Santa school. Smooth.

Check out the scene as it unfolded:

Our holidays have always been a mix of culture and traditions, but they're blended so well that it's sometimes hard to separate where one ends and the other begins. We eat tamales (de venado), with ketchup. Yep, ketchup (it's a habit leftover from childhood). We drink Abuelita hot chocolate. We make lots of fudge. We wait and wait and wait until we hear Last Christmas by Wham! play in some retail store so we can be filled with nostalgia. 

When I was a kid we never missed going to las posadas, and I remember whoever happened to be hosting always gave the kids paper bags full of hard candy, apples, oranges and cacahuates. Yes, we were happy to get fruit! I'm also old enough to remember perusing the Sears Christmas catalog and picking out a Strawberry shortcake bike. And a five-piece furniture set with canopy bed that must've been too big for Santa Clos to transport.

Of course, behind every good memory is a soundtrack, and in our house, the soundtrack happens to go from English to Spanish and back and forth. So I decided to make a mix-tape of what we like so that I could share with others. I call it a 'Mi Spanglish Holiday Mix Tape.' It's a mix that goes from Spanish to English, from grown-up songs to tunes that delight toddlers (or mine, at least). Hope you enjoy. I've linked most of the songs to iTunes in case you want to download.

1. Mamacita, Donde Esta Santa Claus, Augie Rios
2. Baby, It's Cold Outside, A Very She and Him Christmas (Zooey Deschanel)
3. Christmas in Harlem, Kanye West
4. Los Peces en el Rio, Gipsy Kings
5. Feliz Navidad, Tito el Bambino
6. Come on! Let's Boogie to the Elf Dance! Sufjan Stevens
   
7. Run Run Rudolph, Los Lonely Boys
8. You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch, Glee
9. Party Hard, Little Isidore
10. Todo Lo Que Quiero Eres Tu, Kabah
11. El Burrito de Belen, Juanes
12. Miracle, Matisyahu (feat. Shyne)
13. Star of Wonder, Tori Amos
14. The Chipmunk Song, Christmas Don't Be Late
15. Rill Rill, Sleigh Bells
16. Lechon, Lechon, Lechon, Victor Manuelle
17. Feliz Navidad, Jose Feliciano
18. Christmastime is Here, Charlie Brown Christmas

We decided to go "green" again this year and spare the life of a Christmas tree by putting up our little artificial one. Well, it's not so little. It's medium-sized, I'd say. But it fits perfectly into our smaller (than in Texas, for sure) Northeast-style house. The toddler reveled in all the decorations and re-arranged about half of the ones I hung up. I knew this would happen, which is why I bought new toddler-proof decorations two years ago from IKEA. Dog-proof, not so much. I'm just waiting for the tree to topple over within the next few weeks.

I still haven't heard my favorite Spanish Christmas song yet this season. Con mi burrito sabanero voy camino de Belen! The toddler K's favorite is the 1950's classic Mamacita, donde esta Santa Claus? I've got it on a Christmas mix CD (yeah baby, blast from the past! and the only CD player I have is in the car) and we've been listening to it since Halloween. It's that damned snow that fell at the end of October. Confused me and my holidays.

How do I explain to my toddler what Christmas is really about? Last year, she was 17 months, so it didn't matter much. She liked the sparkles and the lights and playing with wrapping paper. But this year she is just bursting with curiosity and she loves a good pachanga, especially birthdays. And that's where all this confusion started, with her 2nd birthday party back in July, when I think we created a little monster. Since then, every time she hears the word birthday she wants to claim it all for herself, especially the cake part. 

Birthdays make kids happy, so leave it to abuela to indulge her princesita and throw her a full-blown birthday party two months after her actual birthday, when we visited Miami. Of course, I didn't protest since she got her my favorite cake in the world, made by a Nicaraguan lady who owns a bakery in Miami. It is seriously better than anything made by Sprinkles or any fancy cupcakery. I would kill for this cake. 

So I let the second birthday party slide. Then I didn't really make a big deal when she claimed her great-grandmother's 89th birthday as her own, either. Last week was her father's birthday, and this time she actually shared the day, telling me, "It's papa's birthday AND my birthday." Progress.

Anyway, so now we're at Christmas time, and it seems that she thinks all these events and holidays are one big fiesta. She was thrilled about Halloween, although she really didn't understand what we kept telling her we were going to do 'til we actually went from house to house. And she called that exciting adventure a 'pick-o-peet birthday party' at first. Other kids and candy, hmmmm, can you blame her? Only difference here is that everyone is dressed in a costume. Kind of like Santa! Oh yeah, so he's doing Halloween, too, right. And that Frosty and the elves and that lady and man on a burro. So anyway, that's how we went from birthday to Christmas in one fell (and muddled) swoop. Looks like mama's got some 'splaining to do. 

If I can't explain something right, I'll just have to rely on a children's book to help me out. Time to dust off 'The Night Before Christmas' and hit the library for other Christmas theme books. If you have any favorites let me know.

Last year I was so excited about supporting small businesses (go Etsy-ers) on Small Business Saturday, and this year I'm ready to do it all over again. This year I'm looking at it from the other side, as a small business owner. We hope you come on over (and send your friends, too) to shop Dos Borreguitas. We're offering 20 percent off with coupon code JINGLE2011 plus we'll have free shipping all throughout the holiday season. So whether you're a parent, tia, abuelo, abuela, compadre or comadre of an adorable kid who's growing up bilingual, hook them up with a shirt that fits their style.

So no long lines, no pepper spray, no elbow in your ribs from the same kid-now-turned-adult who'd push you when the pinata burst. 

For gifts made with heart, shop mom and pop this holiday season. 

This is an epic moment for Dos Borreguitas -- we've officially launched our online store! We're starting out small, but check back soon for more t-shirt designs with our signature Spanglish style.

Our launch is coinciding with the start of the holiday shopping season, which can be frenzied and headache-inducing. But it doesn't have to be either. Get your cafecito, open the laptop and do some online shopping with your favorite small businesses. And remember:

I started this blog over a year ago just after my baby girl turned one, and with the intention of sharing my hunt for cool, nostalgic, kitschy, iconic and hip Latino children’s products. Along the way I've found some really awesome T-shirts and dolls, great music and kids shows, sweet vestiditos, excellent Spanish or bilingual books and more. But the truth is, these products are few and far between or just not so easy to come by unless you have the money or time to be an adventurous traveler.

There are just so many things that inspire me about our culture that I want to share with my child. Since I've been writing, I've had a ton of ideas for kids' shirts and other cool Latino-ish products. Eventually, I started keeping a list of my ideas, which kept growing and growing and is still growing. And a few months ago, I finally decided to take the leap and turn my fun ideas into a reality. So the news ... next week DosBorreguitas.com will be turning into an online shop where, for starters, I'll be selling T-shirts and onesies that are Latino/bilingual-inspired. Or as I say, this is "Spanglish Style for Kids."

I'm totally stoked about doing this. I can truly say this is a family business, as my daughter has been right by my side through each step of this process, literally. I wouldn't have it any other way.

If you like what you see please help spread the word to other comadres and compadres. I'll be posting special offers on Facebook, and for starters I'll have free shipping during the holiday season. And of course, if you have ideas for something you'd love to see on a shirt, let me know. I'll be starting out small -- and for now I just have two designs in a few colors and sizes. But I have a few others already on the way so I expect to expand quickly. So excited!

Oh, and of course, the blog will still be a part of DosBorreguitas.com and will be a place where I can share cool finds or just write about raising my little girl with Spanglish style.

Earlier this month I picked up a few children's books about Dia de los Muertos from the library. This one, El Dia de los Muertos by Ivar da Col, is in Spanish, and I love the illustrations. It breathes life into everything about Day of the Dead: papel picados, calaveras, pan dulce, cempasuchil, fruta, altares, cemeterios and more than anything else, celebration.