Tamales & Trees

 This last weekend was a busy one... aren't they all in December?
My family gets together at my grandparent's house (Molles Manor) every year to decorate their tree in the "Big Room". It's tradition that they guys (my uncles and oldest male cousins) string the lights around the tree first, while the rest of us hang out and clean up from dinner.


Then it's time for the women (my aunts and oldest female cousins) to hang the popcorn chain on the tree. Our family has been decorating the tree this same way for at least 50 years... we don't mess with tradition. 

Then it's finally time for the kids to hang the ornaments. I wish I would have taken pictures of some of the ornaments. There are a lot that us grandkids made in school when we were little and gave to my grandparents as gifts. Also, most of our bulbs are glass.. the old school real thing glass bulbs. (and we always break at least 2 a year) 

Another tree tradition is tinsel... lots and lots of silver tinsel.... and when it's in the hands of my crazy cousins, it's EVERYWHERE. Decorating the tree is always a process, but we all love it and look forward to it each year. 

Best Grandparents EVER

One of my favorite tree traditions is our own personalized ornaments. Each member of my family has a small gold ornament with their name engraved in it. Once the tree is all decorated, each individual family takes turns taking a picture posing with their ornaments in front of the tree before they actually hang them. 

Unfortunately Drew was with his dad this last weekend so he missed out on the festivities... and I really missed having him there. 

The morning after the tree (Sunday) we all come back to my grandmas to make tamales. I found out this tradition started the first year my grandparents were married.... so we've been making tamales every December for the last 62 years. 

People start showing up around 4:30am (but not me... in all honesty I didn't get there till about 5:30 and I live right next door) and the process begins. It's like an assembly line of masa spreading, leaves being cleaned, meat being made.... This year we made 92 DOZEN tamales!! and that's actually a small number for us. We used to do about 125 dozen a year. It's a long day... we're all tired and complain the whole time... but it's a great day where we're all together catching up on each others lives and sharing a ton of laughs. We take a lunch break on In & Out burgers and hang out until the last tamales are cooked and every things cleaned up. This year we finished at 3:00 and I was SOOOO happy to get home to my nice warm bed and was asleep by 6:00 that night. 

My little cousins Seany & Corey