1 Day Until Christmas!

One of the best things about the holidays is all the food! While it may not seem like it to the rest of my family, food is an important tradition to our family Christmases. I have already mentioned baking cookies and eating posole for Christmas breakfast, but there are so many other great things!

Another favorite is making tamales. We have attended and hosted tamale making parties. Tamales are a big deal. The best tamales are made from masa (the corn-meal type mix that is stuffed with meat and wrapped in corn husks) from El Modelo, in Albuquerque. It is probably the best because it is made with lard. It's Christmas, deal with it.

New Mexican food is served on Christmas Eve. Fajitas, enchiladas, chip, salsa, and queso join the tamales. I am sad that I did not get to make tamales this year, but I am serving my favorite, green chile chicken enchiladas, with chips and homemade salsa for dinner tonight. Along with all my baked goodies.

Christmas dinner is generally traditional, turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole (which I actually despise!), and my grandmother's famous fruit salad. I say famous because there has not been a single holiday, or big family get together, where she hasn't made her fruit salad. The salad is made with segmented oranges, bananas, apples, mini-marshmallows, and whipped cream (Dream Whip for the big bowl, and Cool Whip for my aunt and brother). While its not necessarily a favorite of mine, I can't imagine a family dinner without it!

Christmas dinner will just be Marshall and I, so we got a small spiral-cut ham. I'm planning to make cheesy scalloped potatoes, roasted asparagus, and rolls for our dinner. I am sad to not spending this Christmas with my family, but I know they are with us in spirit, and we are with them as well!