The holiday season in Colombia

Seasons greeting to all. Spending Christmas in Colombia is unlike anything you're likely to experience anywhere else in the world. There is a real emphasis on family during Christmas in Colombia and that means there are loads of opportunities to get up close and personal with the locals during the Christmas season. Unlike other parts of the world, Christmas and New Years in Colombia is basically a month-long holiday that goes from the beginning of December around the 7th!  until well into January, so New Year actually becomes part of the festivities. Here in Manizales, and I imagine all over Colombia on December 7, Colombia celebrates Dia de las Velitas (Day of the Little Candles)?   On Dia de las Velitas, people place candles and luminaries all along the streets, outside their homes and in their windows. It's quite a beautiful and tranquil sight to see all of the twinkling lights around my neighborhood.  The holiday celebrates the eve of the Immaculate Conception and also marks the unofficial start of the Christmas season in Colombia.  In true Colombian style, neighbors, family and friends gather to celebrate together, enjoying food and drink on the street with one another to mark the start of the long Christmas season..
The second Colombian Christmas celebration I want to mention is that of novenas. The word novena literally means "ninth," and it is used to describe a certain type of Christmas gathering that happens over the nine nights before Christmas, finishing on the ninth night of December 24th when the birth of Jesus is celebrated. That being said, each novena that occurs from December 16th to the 24th has a special prayer that is devoted to holy figures such as baby Jesus, Mother Mary, and Joseph, among others. While the novena tradition began in South American Catholicism, it has developed into something much more than a religious celebration. Here in Colombia,we host a novena for close friends, for family members. Interestingly, there really is no limit to whom you can invite to your novena and no rule about who you should invite. And, while you may certainly host a novena it is more than likely that you will attend more novenas than you host. During a novena,  you guys should be prepared to eat traditional Colombian Christmas foods and to sing traditional Christmas music, known as "Vllancicos"!,   Christmas itself. While in North American, Christmas is celebrated on December 25th (Christmas Day), in Colombia, as in many Latin American countries, Christmas is celebrated on December 24th at midnight and into the wee hours of the morning on December 25th. Children receive their presents from el niño Dios (God Child), not Santa Claus or Father Christmas, at midnight and oftentimes families will sit down for their Christmas dinner very late as well. Like mid-night,  I've haven't missed a Christmas here in Colombia for 8 years and I hope I never miss one again. Best Regards to all and Season greetings.. God Bless..