luminaria

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Resolve to introduce the word enthusiasts in your family
to Merriam-Webster Unabridged this coming year.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged_sub.pl?refr=U_wod
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The Word of the Day for December 24 is:

luminaria   \loo-muh-NAIR-ee-uh\   noun 
     : a traditional Mexican Christmas lantern originally consisting of a 
candle set in sand inside a paper bag

Example sentence:
     More than one neighborhood in our Texas town is lit by luminarias lining 
the streets for the annual Christmas Stroll.

Did you know?
     "Luminaria" is a fairly recent addition to English; the earliest known use 
in our language dates from 1949, about the time that the old Mexican Christmas 
custom was gaining popularity among Anglo-Americans. In some parts of the U.S., 
particularly New Mexico, these festive lanterns are also called "farolitos," 
which means "little lanterns" in Spanish. We borrowed "luminaria" from Spanish, 
but the word has been around with exactly the same spelling since the days of 
Late Latin. The term ultimately traces to the classical Latin "luminare," 
meaning "window," and to "lumen," meaning "light." It is related to other 
light-bearing words such as "luminary," "illuminate," and "phillumenist" (a 
fancy name for someone who collects matchbooks).