On the Sixth Day of Christmas...
A freebie and a sneak peek
Several years ago, I asked my mother-in-law if she'd teach us how to make tamales. As the kids have gotten older, I find there is more room for deeper traditions, and I am here for it. We spent all day in the kitchen. My husband's cousin showed up to help. It was a family affair, and take note, this is just as important as the tamales. Like other dishes my mother-in-law has taught me to make, I soon realized there was no recipe. This was something you felt and saw and tasted your way through. How did you know when the masa was ready? When you smacked it, and it left a glossy coating on your hand. You tasted the sauce along the way, adding more chilis or salt as you saw fit. How do you know how much pork to put into each tamale? You feel it just like you feel the slight difference between the inside and outside of the ojas, putting your masa on the right side so your tamales don't stick. In learning these things, together in a tiny kitchen, we learn of love, many different ways of it, and this is what Christmas is all about.
Since then, my children and I have attempted to make tamales on our own since we live away from my in-laws. My phone dings repeatedly as I send pictures of masa to aunts and call my mother-in-law to tell her how the chili was made and listen to her advice. Tamales have a way of bringing our family together even if we aren't sharing the same kitchen.
At the end of the day, we're exhausted. We read Too Many Tamales, understanding the book completely, but also—we're eating tamales.
This tradition is an important part of our holiday celebration. It's something my mother-in-law passed on to us, this is part of my children's heritage, and it has more to do with the spirit of the season than meets the eye.
: ) Mariah
Coming Up in CPQ
The last theme for our 2024 quarterlies will be Goodness. This year we looked at Beauty. It was the first of the three classical transcendentals we tackled because we realized Charlotte Mason has some things to say about them, too!
Next, we will take a look at what she has to say about Goodness. She says in Ourselves:
Therefore, I say that Love delights before all things in the goodness of the person beloved, and would not, for any price, make his friend less loving to all, less dutiful, less serviceable. To influence his friend towards unworthy ways would seem to Love like burning his own house about his head.
We have plans for articles about citizenship, mission work, characters from Dickens, and grief planned for this issue. It’ll be full of deep thoughts to chew on as we close out another year.
Sixth Day of Christmas Freebie
