Viva Mexico

September 15th is Mexico's Independence Day.

Since I became a mom, holidays have become more meaningful. Raising kids in a household with two different cultures, and living in the US, I feel the need to work extra hard in sharing the holidays from my culture, such as Independence Day. I want my kids to learn and celebrate Mexican holidays as much as we celebrate American holidays. It also helps that I love planning parties and I have house full of festive decorations.

We were very lucky to have my family come this year to celebrate Mexico's Independence Day with us. They brought decorations, Mexican flags, our favorite candy, and the most amazing tostadas which I can't find anywhere here.  My brother won the kids over by bringing the kids a piñata! My kids love piñatas!!!

Last year, when we were visiting my family, we made our very first piñata and invited all our cousins to join in on the fun. We had a great time and so of course, when my kids saw this beautiful hand made piñata, they were beyond excited and couldn't wait to finish dinner and have a go at it.

For Independence Day, we usually eat "tacos de guisado". This is a great way to try a little bit of everything, since all the food is served in bowls and you get to build your own taco. The spread usually consists of:

chicken tinga (shredded chicken in tomato sauce)

rajas con cream (poblano chile, with onions and sour cream)

pollo con mole (shredded chiken in mole sauce)

refried beans

rice

chorizo con papas (chorizo and potatoes)

skirt steak

salsas

tostadas and tortillas

Chicken Tinga

I have to say, breaking a piñata is not typically part of our celebration on Independence Day, but since we had both sides of the family with us, we decided to celebrate my son's birthday a month early. Kids and adults had a blast.

This year it truly was very special to celebrate Mexico's Independence Day with both sides of the family, and hopefully start a new tradition with the kids. They might be too young to understand the whole meaning of this holiday but little by little I hope they get to appreciate their family's heritage and culture.

Maybe we will add the piñata as a new tradition to our Independence Celebration every September 15.

VIVA MEXICO!