{"id":495276,"date":"2025-12-21T16:43:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T20:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/romo-roasted-pork-and-hugs-dominicans-return-home-to-enjoy-christmas\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T16:43:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T20:43:11","slug":"romo-roasted-pork-and-hugs-dominicans-return-home-to-enjoy-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/dominican-news\/romo-roasted-pork-and-hugs-dominicans-return-home-to-enjoy-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Romo, roasted pork, and hugs: Dominicans return home to enjoy Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Santo Domingo.\u2013<\/strong> Amidst hugs, smiles, suitcases loaded with gifts, and much excitement, absent Dominicans continue to arrive at the <strong>Las Am\u00e9ricas International Airport (AILA) to<\/strong> celebrate <strong>Christmas and New Year<\/strong> with their families, in an atmosphere marked by joy, nostalgia, and a deep love for the land that saw them born.<\/p>\n\n\nThe Dominican tradition and human warmth were also present in the testimonies. <strong>\"Nothing, sharing with my family, lots of cooking, lots of rum and roasted pork,\"<\/strong> commented another visitor, who had been away from the country for approximately a year.\n\n\n<p><strong>You may be interested in: <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/President Abinader delivers 180 homes, inaugurates school and hospital in Santiago}\">http:\/\/President Abinader delivers 180 homes, inaugurates school and hospital in Santiago}<\/a><\/p>\n\n\nFor many, this reunion has a special meaning. <strong>\u201cI hadn't come at Christmas in 25 years, so we are going to enjoy ourselves very much with the family,\u201d<\/strong> expressed a visibly moved Dominican, as well as others who assured that beyond any economic situation, the important thing is to be alive and share with family. \u201cI'm definitely going to have a good time because I'm alive, right? That's how it is, with family,\u201d she added.\n\nOther visitors said that, although they return frequently, these dates always have a different value. \"I come all the time. I was here in September, but at Christmas it's different. They don't want to let me go, they don't want to let me,\" said Norma, one of the newcomers, laughing.\n\nFrom San Juan, Puerto Rico, Eddy \u00c1lvarez sent a clear message to his compatriots: \"Nothing better than always coming to your country. Here you truly enjoy it.\" Meanwhile, another Dominican highlighted the emotional value of returning. \"It's a blessing from God. Arriving in your land, feeling the warmth, the people, the harmony... it's totally different from any other country.\"\n\nThe arrival of absent Dominicans marks the beginning of the traditional celebrations, where music, typical food, the reunited family, and the joy characteristic of the Dominican people are not lacking. Once again, AILA becomes the scene of reunions filled with emotion, confirming that, at Christmas, the best gift is to return home.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Santo Domingo.\u2013 Amidst hugs, smiles, suitcases loaded with gifts, and much excitement, absent Dominicans continue to arrive at the Las Am\u00e9ricas International Airport (AILA) to celebrate Christmas and New Year with their families, in an atmosphere marked by joy, nostalgia, and a deep love for the land that saw them born. The Dominican tradition and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15239,"featured_media":495277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40216],"tags":[37853],"class_list":{"0":"post-495276","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dominican-news","8":"tag-christmas"},"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-12-21-at-4.41.37-PM.jpeg","dum_api":{"author_name":"Diana S\u00e1nchez","author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f59b43b8ac3b90c90647c435915330a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","categories_name":["Dominican News"],"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cdn.deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-12-21-at-4.41.37-PM.jpeg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15239"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}