Advent Calendar: babies

Advent Calendar:

Dec 4
In the same vein, a pregnancy was always big and exciting news. The Tias were all harpees, in both a good and bad sense, and they were all about a new baby. New babies and weddings, those were the major celebratory events around which our family revolved and each Tia had a special calling. My mother's was sewing and party logistics. For weddings she made everything from the dresses down to the little organza bags of white almonds that they stuck in the plastic swans. But a baby was their own little secret girl doings. They would have had by now their wedding shower. Bawdy little events. By the time of the baby's impending arrival the Mendez coven would be in full conspiratorial swing. One of the things leading up to it would be finding out the sex of the child. The PR version of the ultrasound usually happened as a parlor game at a baby shower but also happened spontaneously, usually a Tia instigating it. The baby's mami would come into the room and pick a seat. Every cushion had a fork or a knife hidden in it. Depending on where she sat, that was the baby's sex.