Time Spent Together

Picture: Christmas 2006, the last time we made Tamales with Nana

Growing up my Nana (my mom's mom) was always with us. She lived with us since I 11 years old and it has now almost been 4 years since she passed. She was the center of our family. Every day my uncle would come over to the house in the morning and have breakfast with her. He then also took it upon himself to wake us up (during the summer times) with a tall glass of cold water in our beds! My Nana loved to cook. She loved to feed our family and she did it well. Many times our time spent together was over a meal or making a meal. During Christmas time our whole family would gather to make tamales. And of course what is Christmas in a Mexican home without tamales and a Piñata. Both of which we usually had ever year. Since she has passed though no one has really taken the time to call the family together to make her tamales. I miss it a lot. I miss all the laughs and time spent putting these little pieces of awesome food together. It was community at it's best. We would make enough for most of the family to have a few dozen. I can still hear her voice telling me how to spread the maza or how much meat to put into the tamale. I miss her. She had a grand life full of love and craziness, and if you knew my Nana you knew she was crazy for sure. My hope is to make those tamales this year, pulling everyone together once again to share in the joy of our heritage, after all we are Mexican.