By Alexia Finney | Staff Writer
Nearly 35% of Waco’s residents identify as Hispanic or Latino, a demographic that comes to light during the Christmas season when families prepare festive food, drinks and decor.
Oklahoma City senior Andrea De Leon said her family’s Christmas preparations begin immediately after Thanksgiving when her father transforms their house.
“Our house is really wide, and we have a lot of trees,” De Leon said. “My dad does all the trees, so it looks like a Christmas light show. It’s like a full-on show.”
De Leon said her family keeps their holiday food and drinks traditional, ranging from hot chocolate to ponche, a warm fruit-based drink, to atole de arroz, which Deleon described as “a milky water you pair with sweet bread.”
“We definitely eat tamales,” De Leon said. “Sometimes it’s tamales with rice [or] tamales with potatoes. It depends on who’s cooking.”
As Christmas approaches, De Leon said her family’s kitchen becomes home to multiple generations preparing food and taking in each other’s company.
“When everyone comes together, it’s at least 100 people,” De Leon said. “You’ll see first cousins, second cousins, just everyone. Big families are normal. My grandparents had six kids, and that’s middle ground.”
Houston sophomore Yanira Leyva, a LatinX Coalition intern, said she enjoys her family’s tamalada, an all-day tamale-making tradition held every Christmas Eve.
“Whenever I think about Christmas, it’s always tamales,” Leyva said. “Everyone’s complaining while we do it, like, ‘Why couldn’t we just order them?’ But it makes the memories better. You look around and think, some of these people won’t be here one day. And one day, I’ll be the one teaching everyone else.”
Leyva said the tradition has taken on a deeper meaning as she watches her grandparents grow older.
“It brings them happiness because they know they’re not alone,” Leyva said. “Passing down traditions is how they stay with us.”
De Leon said many cultural events, like Fiesta or multicultural festivals, go unnoticed by a majority of the student body.
“You don’t hear about it unless you’re in those programs,” De Leon said. “If professors brought in speakers or if popular organizations promoted events, more people would know.”
But Leyva hopes to help increase cultural visibility in her role as a LatinX coalition intern.
“I know Baylor does Nacimiento for Christmas on Fifth, but I’m not fully informed on what else there is,” she said. “It would be nice to see more. Even something simple like a mini-posada with Abuelita hot chocolate. I think it would make people feel seen.”
For Leyva, continuing these traditions isn’t just about food, but about carrying her family’s traditions forward.
“One day I’ll be the one teaching everyone how to do all this,” Leyva said. “I think that’s really sweet — keeping the love going.”
