L'est We Forget--HAPPY THREE KINGS DAY!!

What is that? Well when I was a child it was merely another day to get more gifts!! Well and technically for many children, it still is!! Living in New Jersey and coming from descendants of Puerto Rico, as a child, I had the best time this time of year. It started Christmas Eve and ended in mid-January. It was the best.
Christmas Eve would usually be spent at my uncle Johnny's house (his was biggest). The adults all got drunk and danced the night away. The children ate more than they should and got to stay up all night!! Around midnight, the kids would open up their presents. We'd rest up Christmas morning and play with our new toys. Then on the 26th or 27th we'd be on a plane headed to the beautiful isla of Puerto Rico. There would be a welcoming party with great food! On the 31st the entire family would gather with a huge a@@ lechon (pork) and music. We'd ring in the new year!
Then we'd hang out some more but on the evening of January 5th, all the children went to gather some hay or grass and a bowl of water and place these under the bed before going to bed that night. These were intended for the camels of the Three Kings who would supposedly be exhausted after their trip from the Orient to Puerto Rico. The camels would eat and drink while the kings left you gifts. In the morning on the 6th, we'd awaken with the cockadoodledoo to get some more gifts.
This night would mark the beginning of the "octavitas" (eights) --8 nights of parties with "parrandas" (sort of like a chorus that got bigger as the night went on because they'd pick up more straggler chorus people from home to home; a group would go knocking on someone's house, usually unannounced and even sometimes wake you from your sleep, singing folk songs and start a party in your house that would last unil the wee hours of the morning; one or two people from your house would join the party and continue to the next house).

It was extra nice for me because Santa had given me gifts on December 25th and now the Three Kings on January 6th. I was doubly blessed. So Happy Three Kings Day everyone. May your blessings be doubled this year!!