Keeping This Tradition

For many years my dad's many sisters have gotten together and made tamales at Christmas. This is my third year to help. I can remember being a little girl and watching them, though mostly getting in the way. They all would wear aprons and bandannas. My oldest aunt, who is Mary, passed the baton down to her youngest sister, my aunt Deb. I felt a little sad as this was done; she recently had a 7 heart bypass surgery. I found it interesting that she went to the youngest of the five sisters to make sure that everything was done just the way my grandma had done it. The other sisters have their favorites and tend to do things their way (they all know how to do it my grandmas way, but due to their diets and special needs they tweak my grandmas recipe ~ GOSH! I don't want to get in trouble with any of them, they read my blog! LOVE all of yous!! smile smile started to rethink that last sentence). My aunt Mary knew that my aunt Deb would do it her way and knowing that she had done it my grandmas way. However, my aunt Deb would tell me that she had to get the meat at a certain time, then these specific peppers and spices, the corn husk and the masa. Deb was feeling a little overwhelmed and we both could not help feel the importance of keeping on the tradition of grandma's tamales. It was up to us now (more or less ~ being that she was the youngest of that generation and my sister and I are from the next. We were the ones that would be keeping carrying on this tradition).

I loved every second of this day and felt as if my grandma was right in the room with us with her bandanna wrapped around her head.
:)