Holiday Traditions

[YOhio]

Our annual Christmas Eve Eve Tamales Party starts in an hour. I've been cooking meat all day, and Mr. & Mrs Tim have been here to keep us company. I forgot how awesome it is to have Tim around. This should be a fun party; we've got Mexican Cokes en botellas de vidrio chilling on ice, pork and chicken, green and red sauces, and Tim made a tres leches cake.

Vamos a gozar.

Sounds great, Wuap. Hope you all had a grand time.

[wuapinmon]

I would just like to add that I have busted my ass to keep in the Christmas spirit this year and I think I succeeded.

My recipe:

1. Sing in the Ward Choir.
2. Participate in Hallelujah Chorus for the Stake.
3. Bake 600+ cookies and organize them into 40 plates for members in the ward.
4. Don't go overboard with gifts. Keep it small and simple.

I'm glad it worked for you this year. You didn't sound very optimistic a few weeks ago.

Sounds great, Wuap. Hope you all had a grand time.

We did. Tim's wife is truly a great person. I'm so happy that my best friend married someone that I don't have to pretend to like so I don't offend him. The tamales were absolutely out-of-this-world, and we have about 60 left over. Too bad the Tims had to leave before the pork ones were done, because they were better than the chicken/salsa verde ones. Man, oh man! What a great time. This might just be my favorite holiday tradition other than Christmas Day!

[Uncle Ted]

I think I will break the normal Uncle Ted family tradition and show the following instead of reading it tonight...

[YOUTUBE]sghwe4TYY18[/YOUTUBE]

I think my kids will get more a lot more out of it since it is in their native language.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

I think I will break the normal Uncle Ted family tradition and show the following instead of reading it tonight...

Is it wrong if that was the most spiritual thing I have watched in the last year?

Nice find, Ted. I enjoyed that.

[Surfah]

Thanksgiving is usually your typical fare. We usually go around the room and say something we're thankful for. We stuff ourselves and watch football.

I like Christmas. My mom goes nuts for Christmas. Decorations everywhere. They usually go up the weekend after Thanksgiving. Christmas Eve is a big dinner with all the trimmings. Usually ham or prime rib since we do turkey for Thanksgiving. Some years we have done a gift for Jesus type thing. One present under the tree is for Jesus and in it we put something we're going to do for Him. We read Luke 2 before doing presents. After opening presents we usually have a big breakfast. It's followed by playing all day, napping, and watching the Lakers.

New Year's isn't anything special except a few years ago my dad told us a story about my grandfather. He was fresh out of the military, newly married and not a buck in his pocket. All they had in the cupboards and fridge were some potatoes, milk, and canned corn. So he made a humble corn chowder for dinner. He promised himself and my grandma that they would never eat like that again. He made himself into a successful rancher, farmer, police officer and businessman. And though he never needed to again, he continued to fix himself some corn chowder on New Year's to remind himself of that promise. So now we do corn chowder on New Year's. I think it's pretty cool. New Year's eve we've been doing Chinese food lately.

I thought I'd bump this after an email I received from my grandfather today. He had sent out a New Year greeting to us and my dad replied that he had made his corn chowder.

Thank you for remembering having "corn chowder" on New Year's eve. I still make corn chowder every year, and this year is no exception. Years ago your brothers would come to the house and have a bowl of chowder with me but they don't come by anymore. This tradition started on the eve of 1953 with mom and me. I was in the army then stationed in Schofield. We rented a tiny apartment in Wahiawa and Chongie was just born. My pay was just enough to pay the rent and note on our car. I worked part-time on Post after duty, setting bowling pins in the alley, after that in the beer garden to make ends meet.

Our first New Year's eve together since our marriage was celebrated with corn chowder. We had one can of corn, milk and few pieces of bacon that mom put together for our dinner. After we ate what we had, I looked at and mom and promised her that next New Year's, we would eat steak. She just smiled and we were comfortable. Through tough times and support from each other we prevailed. The next new year, we went out and had steaks for dinner.

Over the years we were able to provide better things for the family and had a more comfortable living. I always look back and reminince over those hard times and never will forget them. Having corn chowder on New Years eve has a special meaning for me and should be for the family to remind us of our beginnings and thank the Lord for blessing us with what we can enjoy today...and NEVER FORGET WHERE WE CAME FROM....

[FN Phat]

Your sister read this to me tonight. I guess I wont be doing ribs for NYE again.

[wuapinmon]

Mexican tamales, with Colombian pico de gallo, Costa Rican Salsa Lizano, and Honduran crema, cooked by gringo, Japanese, Ecuadorian, Peruvian, and Mexican "chefs." One of my favorite Christmas traditions.