Our Dia De Los Reyes Family Gathering

Qué te trajeron los reyes?

In Mexico, kids eagerly await the morning of January 6th each year.

That’s when they wake up to find gifts delivered by the Three Kings or Tres Reyes Magos, in the same fashion that kids in the U.S. wake up on December 25 to find gifts delivered by Santa.

If I may suggest— doesn’t it make MUCH more sense to convince kids that the Three Kings are responsible for dropping off gifts on Christmas? There’s a direct correlation to the Bible stories that depict these Three Wise Men as guests who followed a bright star that led them to Bethlehem to deliver gifts for Baby Jesus. The Santa Claus story just doesn’t add up!

But I digress.

Mexican Families generally gather in the evening to celebrate the arrival of the Three Kings and enjoy something called a rosca, which is like a giant pan dulce (Mexican sweet bread) donut.

Enjoying a Rosca at my parents’ house

The rosca is usually sold at Latinx grocery stores and bakeries and a small baby plastic figurine is placed inside the bread.

At the family gathering, whoever ends up with the slice of rosca that contains the plastic figurine has to host a party on February 2nd, which is the date of another Catholic celebration called El Dia de la Candelaria.

At my parents’ house, one of my cousins ended up with the figurine!

Dia de los Reyes dinner

Before enjoying the rosca, my dad made a delicious Enchilada dinner for everyone.

Unfortunately, our young children are picky, difficult-to-please eaters and opted for pizza instead of my dad’s enchiladas.

The enchiladas were stuffed with a blend of Mexican cheese and Feta cheese. The sides included Mexican rice, beans and we garnished the enchiladas with onion, crumbled queso fresco and sour cream.

Talk about a rich and filling dinner!

A Dia de los Reyes Toast

But the celebration couldn’t end with enchiladas.

We brought out a bottle of bubbly and toasted (again) to a great year and reaching our individual goals!

By the time we finished the bottle of champagne, my mom brought out a bottle of whisky and I’ll just say, we all camped out at Mama Lupita and Abuelo’s house Friday night!

I hope everyone enjoyed the first weekend of the New Year!

Thanks for reading!

Xo,

-Anabel M.