Tagged: Christmas

tvOur friends at WUSF in Tampa have been collecting holiday stories and traditions from around the state for a series they call "Florida Holidays." The following was originally posted by WUSF reporter Dalia Colón.

Confession: Publix holiday commercials turn me to mush.

Maybe it's the music. Maybe it's because I'm already in the holiday spirit. Or maybe it's just good marketing.

LISTEN TO THE STREAMING JINGLE JAMS MIX HERE

For the last 14 years, WXPN host and producer Robert Drake has programmed and hosted a 24-hour holiday-music marathon called The Night Before, aired from midnight to midnight on Dec. 24. We decided this year to put more jingle in the jangle and create Jingle Jams on XPN2, a 24/7 stream of holiday music.

Today is Nochebuena, Christmas Eve, and for many Hispanics, that means roasting a whole pig. This Christmas tradition scared journalist and author Carlos Frias as a boy. But he got through it with one piece of advice: “Never look a pig in the eye.”

Frias told a version of this story at a Lip Service event:

South Florida shoppers wiped the turkey gravy off their lips and got in line to shop last night as Black Friday morphed backward into Thursday to kick off an ever-earlier Christmas shopping season.

Lines for the early deals began forming before sundown on Thanksgiving and the scenes at the big boxes and malls grew more hectic and even chaotic overnight.