Christmas a time for immigrants to share beloved customs

Christmas holiday season goes from 12 Dec. all the way to 2 Feb. for many immigrants who are celebrating their home customs.   - - Donna Poisl

Written by Sharyn Jackson

Kneeling on the floor at his father-in-law’s house in eastern Des Moines, in front of a manger filled with miniature figurines of Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus, Juan Carlos Oropeza helps his sons, nephews and niece write letters in Spanish to the Three Kings.

“How do you spell ‘I’?” Agustin Cruz, 9, asks his father.

“Yo: Y. O.”

The pronoun comes before “quiero ”— “want” — and precedes a list of extravagant gifts that might come from a zookeeper rather than a biblical wise man: a panda, two lions and one cat.
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