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Shelly > November 24, 2009 Awww Shucks One of my former co-workers' mother makes the absolute best tamales around, but she only does it during the holiday season. Every year I place my order for 12 dozen and wonder if I should increase it. She cooks them up fresh, and then I meet her husband in a parking lot somewhere between our two homes. He gives me three plastic grocery sacks with foil wrapped tamales, and I hand him a check. I always wonder if we look like a drug drop, and one day anticipate being stopped by the police. When that happens, I'll just laugh and offer them a tamale. We always eat one fresh batch right away and freeze the rest until Christmas Eve. Anything we don't eat at Christmas is a yummy and simple dinner at a later date. Throughout Texas the traditional Christmas Eve dinner for many families is Tamales -- and I seriously believe that my family was one of the first white families to embrace the tradition. It was probably around 1928 or 1929 when all the kinfolks started showing up at my grandparents' front door in Austin to celebrate Christmas Eve. I believe my great grandfather had died and my great grandmother had moved in with the kids. The elder Porsch's had always hosted the whole family on Christmas Eve, and no one had talked about where they would gather that year. They all just assumed. My grandmother had not prepared for a crowd, so she sent my grandfather out to get anything that they could serve quickly -- and he found a tamale vendor. They rolled out newspapers on the table, and thus began a tradition that we continue to this day. I'm really glad others have caught on to our little secret. By the way -- I'll vouch for Ms Vicki and her tamales any day. (and yes Eddie and Carla -- Lucy is safe and healthy)
Shelly > Our first glimpse of the tree at Rockefeller Center. During the depression, I think it was 1931, most of New York's construction workers were unemployed when Mr. Rockefeller announced that he was going to build a huge new complex with nine skyscrapers. His project put countless men back to work. When December rolled around, the workers hopes were renewed and they brought the biggest most beautiful tree they could find to the center of the complex. That was the first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, and there has been one in the same location ever since. How cool is that?
Shelly > One of our first views of the crowded New York Streets. It wasn't like this everywhere, but this was just as I always imagined it to be. It got heavier as we moved toward Rockefeller Center. So heavy, in fact, that we almost had no choice which way to go. Wherever the crowd went, we were swept along. Had we jumped up in the air, we wouldn't have come back down. We would have just been pressed between people and carried away.
Shelly > December 15, 2008 The Snowglobe Next Door Okay . . . I know that 45 degrees is really not that cold, and I feel very badly for those in the northeast who are covered in snow and ice and without power this week. Seriously -- I can't imagine how they cope. For us . . . anything in the 40's is FRIGID! In the nine years that we have lived in Houston I have become terribly soft in regards to cold weather. That's why I turned our neighbor's house into a snowglobe. I finally figured out why it was so chilly inside, and it was that we had forgotton to turn the AC OFF and to switch over to heat. Actually nothing was running, so I suppose we'll appreciate the slightest benefit in our next electric bill.
Shelly > March 20, 2008 The Good China – For Holidays and Special Occasions. We Should Use it More Often. Once a young man celebrated the most important holiday of the year with his closest friends. He had always been an unusual but very intriguing person, and recently he had started causing a stir in every town he visited because he said and did things that went against customary thought. Still, the things he said and did were always – ALWAYS - good. That night as he gathered with his friends, he said and did some things that must have sounded absolutely crazy. He broke a piece of bread, said a blessing, and shared it with them. Then, when He told them to eat it, He said it was his body. Then he poured some wine and he told them all to drink it. That, he said, was his blood. And they ate it, and they drank it. He told them to do this often and to remember him when they did. As gory as this sounded, he explained that it was the next chapter of a story written centuries before, and that it was actually the reason they were celebrating together in the first place. See, one night their ancestors who had been held as slaves marked their homes with lamb’s blood. They did this so the angel of death would pass over them on its mission to break down their oppressor. That night they were celebrating Passover together, honoring God’s promise of protection, deliverance, and blessings for His people – forever. Later that night, the young man went outdoors to find a quiet place, and He was finally arrested for all of his crazy talk. The next morning He was brutally executed – but that’s not the end of the story. I believe we should all gather with those we love and celebrate what is important to us more often than we do. We should use the good china, say I love you, and watch for the signs that guide us along our journey.
Shelly > December 15, 2007 Keep a candle burning. It's hard to belive that not too many years ago, a single candle in the window could signal a warm welcome to travelers -- whether they were family or strangers. The candle meant a warm meal, a good night's sleep, and the company of good people. Most of all, it meant safety and a place of rest. Today -- I like the somehat parallel and quasi-eternal words of Tom Bodette, . . . "We'll keep the light on for ya." It's never too late if you're coming home.
Shelly > July 4, 2007 It's the American way! The rains finally let up a little bit in the afternoon and into the evening, and all the fireworks vendors I spoke with seemed pleased with the steady pace of business. At least the fire risk was low and the "cul-de-sac wars" could begin.
November 24, 2009

Awww Shucks

One of my former co-workers' mother makes the absolute best tamales around, but she only does it during the holiday season. Every year I place my order for 12 dozen and wonder if I should increase it.

She cooks them up fresh, and then I meet her husband in a parking lot somewhere between our two homes. He gives me three plastic grocery sacks with foil wrapped tamales, and I hand him a check. I always wonder if we look like a drug drop, and one day anticipate being stopped by the police. When that happens, I'll just laugh and offer them a tamale.

We always eat one fresh batch right away and freeze the rest until Christmas Eve. Anything we don't eat at Christmas is a yummy and simple dinner at a later date.

Throughout Texas the traditional Christmas Eve dinner for many families is Tamales -- and I seriously believe that my family was one of the first white families to embrace the tradition.

It was probably around 1928 or 1929 when all the kinfolks started showing up at my grandparents' front door in Austin to celebrate Christmas Eve. I believe my great grandfather had died and my great grandmother had moved in with the kids. The elder Porsch's had always hosted the whole family on Christmas Eve, and no one had talked about where they would gather that year. They all just assumed.

My grandmother had not prepared for a crowd, so she sent my grandfather out to get anything that they could serve quickly -- and he found a tamale vendor.

They rolled out newspapers on the table, and thus began a tradition that we continue to this day. I'm really glad others have caught on to our little secret.

By the way -- I'll vouch for Ms Vicki and her tamales any day. (and yes Eddie and Carla -- Lucy is safe and healthy)
Shelly > November 24, 2009 Awww Shucks One of my former co-workers' mother makes the absolute best tamales around, but she only does it during the holiday season. Every year I place my order for 12 dozen and wonder if I should increase it. She cooks them up fresh, and then I meet her husband in a parking lot somewhere between our two homes. He gives me three plastic grocery sacks with foil wrapped tamales, and I hand him a check. I always wonder if we look like a drug drop, and one day anticipate being stopped by the police. When that happens, I'll just laugh and offer them a tamale. We always eat one fresh batch right away and freeze the rest until Christmas Eve. Anything we don't eat at Christmas is a yummy and simple dinner at a later date. Throughout Texas the traditional Christmas Eve dinner for many families is Tamales -- and I seriously believe that my family was one of the first white families to embrace the tradition. It was probably around 1928 or 1929 when all the kinfolks started showing up at my grandparents' front door in Austin to celebrate Christmas Eve. I believe my great grandfather had died and my great grandmother had moved in with the kids. The elder Porsch's had always hosted the whole family on Christmas Eve, and no one had talked about where they would gather that year. They all just assumed. My grandmother had not prepared for a crowd, so she sent my grandfather out to get anything that they could serve quickly -- and he found a tamale vendor. They rolled out newspapers on the table, and thus began a tradition that we continue to this day. I'm really glad others have caught on to our little secret. By the way -- I'll vouch for Ms Vicki and her tamales any day. (and yes Eddie and Carla -- Lucy is safe and healthy)
November 24, 2009

Awww Shucks

One of my former co-workers' mother makes the absolute best tamales around, but she only does it during the holiday season. Every year I place my order for 12 dozen and wonder if I should increase it.

She cooks them up fresh, and then I meet her husband in a parking lot somewhere between our two homes. He gives me three plastic grocery sacks with foil wrapped tamales, and I hand him a check. I always wonder if we look like a drug drop, and one day anticipate being stopped by the police. When that happens, I'll just laugh and offer them a tamale.

We always eat one fresh batch right away and freeze the rest until Christmas Eve. Anything we don't eat at Christmas is a yummy and simple dinner at a later date.

Throughout Texas the traditional Christmas Eve dinner for many families is Tamales -- and I seriously believe that my family was one of the first white families to embrace the tradition.

It was probably around 1928 or 1929 when all the kinfolks started showing up at my grandparents' front door in Austin to celebrate Christmas Eve. I believe my great grandfather had died and my great grandmother had moved in with the kids. The elder Porsch's had always hosted the whole family on Christmas Eve, and no one had talked about where they would gather that year. They all just assumed.

My grandmother had not prepared for a crowd, so she sent my grandfather out to get anything that they could serve quickly -- and he found a tamale vendor.

They rolled out newspapers on the table, and thus began a tradition that we continue to this day. I'm really glad others have caught on to our little secret.

By the way -- I'll vouch for Ms Vicki and her tamales any day. (and yes Eddie and Carla -- Lucy is safe and healthy)
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