Thanksgiving 2007 is now a wonderful memory.  However, at the time my daughter was struggling with life a bit, something she rarely does.  As a single mom she was attending law school and had moved many miles and hours away from her support system.  Law school is grueling at best but for just that moment in time, I think she was trying to stay afloat and hanging on by a thread.

She was home for Thanksgiving and the kitchen was alive with the sound of laughter, spoons scraping pans and stories of past escapades.  My children had taken over my kitchen and I was standing outside the door, loving the scene in front of me.

Kat had asked for tamales to round out our normal Thanksgiving fare and we had not been able to find any.  Although tamales are a staple over the holidays in much of Texas, we had waited too late to order them.

My son, Rich proclaimed we would just make our own tamales.  In our family, we tend to think we can tackle anything, even though none of us had ever attempted to make homemade tamales.  So after a trip to the grocery store we were ready to get started.  The plan was to get things ready the night before Thanksgiving and then assemble them on Thanksgiving Day.  Making tamales is a lot of work! While we didn’t follow a recipe for making the tamales, we did look up how long they should be cooked.

Up at 6:00 AM on Thanksgiving morning, we set up an assembly line.  Richie made all the fillings and was in charge of preparing the husks and spreading them with masa.  The rest of us assisted with the actual assembly.  We made traditional pork tamales for the kids and black bean for me.

We had a wonderful time stirring, mixing, rolling and wrapping tamales, but most of all, we laughed and talked and made unforgettable memories.  All because a sister wanted tamales and a brother was determined she would have them.   We haven’t had a Thanksgiving without tamales since that year.

We skipped the Black Friday sales and opted for family time all weekend.   That is a tradition, I hope we can continue always and forever.