Q: How does your Center/re show festive spirit?
A: I love our Game Nights! Our last Game Night was Halloween-themed and we rotated through STEAM-based activities. My favorite activity was the Jumping Spiders. In a jar, we added oil, water, plastic spiders, and an Alka-Seltzer tablet. Once the tablet started dissolving, the spiders began jumping. It was so cool to see the kids' faces react to the reaction! I love how we help kids see the way science and math work together. The students' favorite is our theme-based Lego challenges. We've got some pretty creative kids here at the center.
Q: What’s your favorite holiday tradition?
A: Thanksgiving provides us with time to show our gratitude and love for others. This year, we did both a food and blanket drive at the center. It's so much fun watching the kids bring in their items for donation and seeing the boxes fill up. They always come in with a smile because it feels good to give. Those donations go here locally and make a direct impact on our community.
Landon, Mack, and Michele love slowing down and spending time with family. There is usually some cooking and lots of game playing involved too. Kofi's favorite holiday tradition is watching holiday movies with his family because it's a time full of laughter and love. Kristine's family tradition is to hang a Filipino parol in the front of the house which is their own cultural ornament and Sofia's favorite holiday tradition is making paper snowflakes with her cousins on Christmas Eve to hang on the windows so it looks like it's "snowing". Thien and Tony's family usually eat rice with braised pork, especially during lunar new year. My favorite holiday tradition is getting lucky money.
Q: What does your family like to eat during the holidays?
A: Most of us here do a traditional turkey for Thanksgiving so we go a different direction for Christmas. Mack and his family stay in their PJs all day, make homemade lasagna for Christmas, and open their presents at midnight. Michele makes enchiladas with her family. Landon's family makes Ritz crackers dipped in chocolate for a tasty dessert. Thien, Tony, and Huy usually grill meat and eat traditional Vietnamese food. They also have sticky rice cake, but the holiday is celebrated based on the Lunar New Year tradition, so they have lucky money (red envelope) as well!
But one common thing every Vietnamese party has is hotpot😆 During the holidays, Kristine's Filipino family likes to eat pancit and lumpia. Two food staples in Kofi's home during the holidays are jollof rice and bofrot, which is fried dough. They eat it on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and those two are so good! Sofia's family likes to eat Ropa Vieja Empanadas that we make from scratch.
2104682433
