Traditions

Saturday was all about Tamales, a Saldana Christmas tradition. My Mom and Dad spent all morning preparing the meat and chili, we only do it once a year so their was plenty of head scratching as to how we did it last year. But they came through and the meat and chili was amazing, thank you. Our friends, Kenny & Jill, came over to help and learn the art of tamale making. Here's a little history of the tamale: A tamale is a traditional, indigenous Mexican food. It consists of steam-cooked corn dough, called masa, with a filling, we used pork, chili & cheese, wrapped in a corn husk. Tamales were developed as a portable ration for use by war parties in the ancient Americas, and were as ubiquitous and varied as the sandwich is today.

I have to say Kenny and Jill are amazingly fast learners and quickly took the process and made it their own. We made 10 dozen tamales, some pork, some chili & cheese, and making a new appearance this year: pork, chili and cheese hybrids, courtesy of Kenny, thanks for thinking outside the box. A very welcome addition. We all had a blast.

During our fun filled, messy, and creative experience Jamie learned a new word - Kitty-Corner: located diagonally across from something, especially across an intersection. A word he couldn't figure out but one he'll always remember.

After that it was off to Pasadena for some Christmas traditions of Kenny and Jill's. We saw Christmas lights, decorations, and did a bit of shopping. It was such good fun and quite possibly a new tradition to get into the holiday season.

Jamie is struggling just a bit to get into the season without the cold weather but it was a chilly night with music, decorations, and hot cocoa. It seemed to have done the job.

So can we get a hoorah for new traditions!

and a hip, hip, horrah for good friends!!!

"It is said that the present is pregnant with the future." ~ Voltaire

Your wish is my command Mr. Griffin! XoXo