- The holidays are upon us, so that means lots of laughs,
lots of family, and hopefully, a lotta good food.
Some of us have super big families
with (speaks in foreign language)
and crazy ass fancy cousins, while others
of us have tiny families with two or more.
And others of us never get invited anywhere anymore.
Well, I mean, I don't really go anywhere,
even if they do invite me, so I guess it's okay
that they don't invite me anywhere, but it's fine.
Either way, celebrating holidays in a Latino household
can get a little tricky.
(Spanish music)
- One of my holiday struggles is when I celebrate
with my family.
So, I celebrate Christmas on the 24th.
And, when the 25th comes around,
and I wanna hang out with my friends,
everyone is just doing their own thing
'cause everyone celebrates it in the morning.
- Struggles of being Latino in the holiday is the drama.
(groans)
- Everybody's so emotional and sensitive.
There's always drama, like...
- Everytime family gets together, I don't know what it is,
(speaks in Spanish)
- My (speaks in Spanish) didn't show up.
Why didn't she show up?
Well, I don't know.
She got too drunk at the club last night.
Why is she going to the club?
She's 57.
I don't know her life.
- So, right now I'm at the age where I am the gift giver.
- I have a big family and Christmas shopping
for my family takes months in advance of preparation.
- When it comes to buying gifts,
I don't know what to buy anybody.
So, I buy no gifts.
- Because all the kids are kids.
And it's like, you thought it was two
and then all of a sudden, mommy's like, (speaks in Spanish)
and your like, that's a lot of money.
- You know, my family's picky as hell.
If I buy my mom the wrong gift,
she'll be like. (speaks in Spanish)
- We try to celebrate with the whole family.
The whole family comes together.
Our table is now not becoming big enough
because my siblings are having kids.
- There's always gonna be a bunch of people in the house
and that is a struggle within itself.
- I don't like to invite friends
because it is wild and I don't wanna have to explain
to them, like, this is my cousin,
this is my cousin, this is also my cousin,
we're actually not related, but he's still my cousin.
- The fact that you have to hear everybody talking.
The fact that you can't take your 30 seconds of silence
and you wanna just walk away and just go to the room.
Nope, 'cause there's a kid in there sleeping.
- There's always the question of (speaks in Spanish),
and it's like, (speaks in Spanish),
you know what's been goin' down on my timeline.
Nothing.
(laughs)
- Let me tell you something, once you bring
a significant other, everybody could be dancing,
the whole music stops and everybody's
just gonna look at you and who you with
and they gonna judge that person.
(speaks in Spanish)
That's my mom.
(laughs)
- If I ever brought a boy home,
I feel like I'd just turn red 'cause everyone
would just be like, she has a boyfriend, like what?
- (speaks in Spanish)
- In the holidays, I don't go to New York
'cause every time I fly to New York to see my family,
nobody could take a day off to see Gadiel, right?
So, on the holidays, I drive down to San Diego,
I spend time with my friends. (speaks in Spanish)
- Honestly, I wouldn't change anything of my family
and the way that it is and that I was born into a
large Dominican, crazy ass Hispanic family.
I love it.
At the end of the day, I wouldn't want
peace and quiet during the holidays
'cause I'm used to the loudness, and fun, and crazy.
It reminds me that it's the holidays.
- But either way, it's a great time to be with my family
because we just get to spend that good QT, quality time.
We get to exchange presents
and we get to yell at each other,
but we love each other, so it's fine.
Anyway, there's nothing in this.
- No matter what you're doing this holiday season,
do whatever feels right to you.
If you wanna hang out with your crazy tia
and your crazy tios and your little cousins
with boogers in their hair, then fine.
Go for it, do you.
And if you wanna stay at home, and put a mask on
and order in, and watch a movie, that's totally fine.
Do whatever makes you happy.
But either way, I hope you have a great time.
We hope you have a great holiday season.
Let us know what some of your holiday struggles are.
(speaks in Spanish)
(Spanish music)