A New Tradition - Tamales

 Let me clarify, "Tamales" are not a new tradition in the Flores family.  Every Christmas Eve, it is tradition to eat Tamales with the Flores beans and rice (a top secret recipe).  I found out recently that the tamales we always ate were purchased from friends of the family, not actually made by the Flores women.

Last year my mother in law, Debbie, thought it would be a fun idea to make our tamales.  The process was a little challenging, as we all had no idea what we were doing, but we got a good rhythm going and the finished products were DELICIOUS.  With that said, of COURSE we continued the tradition this year.

Two assembly-lines...Monica and I made dessert tamales (on the right), Debbie and my sister-in-law, Dee, made chicken.

The trick to making the process more efficient is teamwork and preparation.  We all were assigned parts to bring, and we brought homemade masa as well.  The corn husks must be soaked overnight, so the host (Deanna) is in charge of that.

Hard at work, and you should hear the stories being told! 

The assembled tamales must be steamed for an hour.  As we made countless tamales (chicken, pork, chili cheese, and new this year, dessert), they are done in shifts.

The finished product (these are only the dessert tamales) - Dozens of delicious Christmas gifts

I *accidentally* dropped a dessert tamale when pulling it out of the pot, and though it was protected by the husk, we decided to just save our guests the trouble of eating a *bad* tamale and split it.  It was YUM!

My sister in law (Danny's twin), Deanna, with her doggy Sawyer.  Isn't she just gorgeous?!

I have to say, I love this new tradition.  What is not to love?  I get kid-free girl time, yummy snacks, gab time, and at the end an amazing Christmas Eve dinner to look forward to!  (BTW, in case you were wondering, tamales are extremely economical to make.)