Manzano, Sonia

Mami rues having left Puerto Rico when the Christmas Eve roast won't fit in the family's tiny New York City apartment's oven. Little José jokingly suggests they use a pizza oven instead. "That's not a bad idea!" says Papi, and the two head out, carrying the roast through their snowy neighborhood to Regular Ray's Pizzeria. Nearly everyone is curmudgeonly along the way—neighbors ("I thought someone's television was being stolen!"), kids bickering outside