Juliana is very excited because today is December 16th, a special day for her and her family for two reasons. The first reason is that today is her 9th birthday so she gets to celebrate. The second reason is that it's the first day of Las Posadas. This is the Mexican celebration of Christmas that lasts for the 16th until Christmas Eve.

While she is excited, this time of the year is hard for Juliana, because her family lives in New Mexico and she has many American friends. Their families don't have the same traditions, so while her friends are out skating, drinking hot chocolate, and having Christmas parties, Juliana is helping her family out and participating in their traditions. She feels left out and like she doesn't fit in with her classmates and friends.

In the days leading up to her birthday, Juliana had a lot of work to do around the house to help her parents. They first decorated their house with moss, evergreens, and got paper lanterns ready. These decorations will mark their house as one of the stops for the children on the night of the 16th. On each night after that leading up to Christmas eve, the children will gather for a Posada where they walk around the town singing a song asking if there's a room for them. They get turned away, signifying Mary and Joseph trying to get a room in an inn.

Juliana has always enjoyed these nightly traditions despite the distance it put between her and her friends, but this year she felt even more left out as she heard her friends plans for sleepovers she wouldn't be able to go to. She was feeling really sad when she got home from school and her mother asked her,

"What's wrong? Did something happen at school?"

"No Mama, I just can't spend the night with my friends until after Christmas and they're making plans without me," replied Juliana.

Her mother knew that there would come a time when she would feel this way, as she felt the same things when she was growing up. Juliana's grandma had explained everything in a way that had made her feel much better as a young girl. She grew to appreciate the time she got to spend celebrating this holiday with her family and community. She told Juliana that she would have her grandma come over and they would talk to her together and try to help her feel better.