Feliz Navidad to you and your familia, amigo! It's time to sit down and let the rest of the family pick up the slack--you earned it, hon!

Sending you big ol' Texas-sized hugs from the Lone Star State! :-)

--TwoDragons

Val, you may be exhausted preparing your Noche Buena party, but my friend what a joy it is to be with family and friends. To enjoy Noche Buena without having to lack for anything, and in the freedom that every human deserves.

¡Feliz Navidad y Próspero 2006!

Let's say a prayer for our enslaved brethren in Cuba. May this be the last Christmas they are under the yoke of a God-less and evil system.

Val, we'll be there around 5 for a taste of the chicharrón and a cold one or two with you and your familia.

Feliz Navidad, amigo. Have a great day and don't worry about us.

We'll be here when you get back. Just sitting here. With no roast pork, or black beans and rice, or fried plantain.

feliz navidad freedom fighter!!!!!!!!!

Feliz Navidad a todos!

Happy Christmas Val - you are the best! Please don't stop what you are doing with Babalu - it's a slice of my heritage that I go to everyday at my computer in cold NYC - you have kept that alive.

One great Christmas gift would be one day in a free Cuba with a sledge hammer to all the momuments and statues of the castro regime - especially the ugly Che mural.

you are our freedom fighter, El Cid, hermano, big bro all rolled up in one!

I second what George is asking for - say a prayer for the enslaved, ask the Christ Child to give them the great gift of freedom. And to all of you, my blood brothers and sisters of bloggerdom, Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas, to you and your families;
los quiero a todos y a todos un abrazo Navideño, the Cuban backslapping hug type!

Amen, Alberto.

Feliz Navidad, Val.

Feliz Navidad Val, a ti y tu familia.

Bah Humbug! Where's the pigcam?

Merry Christmas to all you Babalu regulars. And to all, a good night.

Feliz Navidad to Val, his family and all of you. Here in Europe the lechón is already gone gone gone... pero que sabrooosoooo.

Next year in Havana!

Merry Christmas everyone!

A very Merry Christmas to all and a very special one to Val and his wife. This great deed you partake of with this blog will be rewarded one day and is greatly appreciated by those of us of high integrity. You are a great Cuban and a great American and a great Human. Merry Christmas again and may the new Year bring us the justice the Cuban people deserve.
Frank

Feliz Navidad and thank you for your blog.

Stealing from CTG, Feliz Navidad a todos! Hope the party was even better than it sounds, and that today is filled with joy, love, and all manner of good things. May the New Year bring you and yours Health, Happiness, and Prosperity!!

Desde la bella ciudad de Nueva Orleans,nosotros les deseamos unas Felices Navidades a la familia Prieto . Y espero un dia conocerlos personalmente. Val, que siga la lucha y la tradicion. Desde el barrio frances , en New Orleans. Felix Monrabal Navarro.

Folks,
Shall we start a betting pool to try to determine how long it will take Val Prieto to sober up and be lucid enough to post something about his family's latest Nochebuena bacchanalia?
Suggestion: We put in a dollar each, on the honor system, and venture a specific time of day when the first post-Nochebuena posting appears in Babalublog.com. Whoever is closest to the actual time, without going over it, gets the money, which the winner can determine how to use it.
For my part, if I were to be the winner, I would donate it to the Babalublog.com CubaNostalgia Fund, so Val will have some seed money for that extravaganza next May.
I'll throw the first buck into the kitty, along with a guess of 3:31 PM (all guesses in Eastern Standard Time).
Any other takers?
JulioZ

Count me in Julio, I'd say tomorrow morning Val will return to the living, but I want to know when he's going to make good on that promise to shave his legs. Sorry Mrs.

Ziva,
You forgot to make a specific "time" guess!
Think about it, and then forward it... already, we have a whole $2 in the pool!
Come ON, everyone, send in your guess(es)!
Rumor has it that Val is still undergoing first aid, so there's plenty of time... :)
Merry Holidays!
Julio

gkhgskewkbwej kihdeihwdihew
hjdshdsjdsk
ldjwdwdjdljd[

;kweojeoj

OK?

不锈钢反应锅
低温试验箱
减震器

That post does NOT count, Val.
Just not *lucid* enough.
I advise you to sit down, lower your head and take deep breaths... for a day or two... and from time to time, sip some cafecito. Aspirin might help, too.
Please try to hold onto your sanity during the New Year's Eve extravaganza, because I don't think your weakened system can take two serious "achaques" so close to each other.
And does anybody know what "bfxdhg" tried to say, above?
Was he (or she) censored?
Julio

"Bah Humbug! Where's the pigcam?"

I'm sorry...I should be better, but that cracked me up.

I'd scribble "Merry Cristmas" in Gaelic, but I can't remember it. So I'll stick to the local lingo:
GABBA GABBA HEY!

Merry Christmas to you and yours, Val.

Love the blog, especially the stories about family, etc. Have a great Christmas; how I wish I could go to ManCamp; you make it sound like heaven on earth. Well, close.

Julio, Sorry, I was taken out by a nasty stomach virus and missed the action. I like the idea of a Nostalgia fund, last years event was just great!

And wouldn't it be fun if Chanukah coincided so I could put up KosherCamp next door (OK, upwind) and celebrate with you.