La Night Before Christmas: A Christmas Cuento

By Italo J. Zarate

When my father passed away, he left behind some old newspaper clippings. One was a poem that was printed in 1948 in the Brownsville Herald. It was a version of “T’was The Night Before Christmas” in Tex-Mex lingo. In South Texas, a great majority of Texans are of Mexican descent and most are also bilingual. Mixing both English and Spanish words in their conversations is very common. We call it Tex-Mex.

When I saw the poem in the clipping 74 years later, I decided to try my spin at it. My project evolved into a much longer and very humorous poem with illustrations. The ending where the wife tells her hubby to “Tocame el Wiwicho” is hilarious. In Spanish, “tocame” can mean to touch or it can also mean to play, like a musical instrument. What is El Wiwicho? Well, that’s something you’ll figure out when you read the poem.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9781665563932

Italo J. Zarate

Italo J. Zarate was born in Brownsville, Texas on November 24, 1936. He became what some call a “Jack of all trades.” As a youngster he worked as a soda jerk. As a teen-ager he flipped hamburgers at Whataburger. His first job after graduating from high school was in a clothing manufacturing company. At age 25 he was activated into the Army during the Berlin Crisis. When he came back home, he worked at the fabulous Fort Brown Hotel as a front desk manager. That’s where he met his beautiful wife, Perla. He later became a fire-fighter and then a life insurance agent. The American National Life Insurance Company offered him the opportunity to see the world and he took it. Italo and Perla visited Madrid, Paris, Sydney Australia, Hong Kong, Mexico, Rome Italy and enjoyed several Caribbean Cruises. They have been married for 54 years and they raised three wonderful children; beautiful Yvonne and two handsome sons, Italo Jr. and Zachary. Author House helped Italo publish his book in 2005, “Ever Since Eve.” He also loves writing letters to the editor mainly about politics, which some people love and others abhor.

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