<p>ReneeV, here’s my tamale recipe:</p>
<p>Call locally owned small restaurant.<br>
Order 4 dozen tamales, one pint red sauce, one pint green tomatillo sauce.
Pick up.
Tip generously, and tell the owner and his mother “Feliz Navidad”.</p>
<p>I have made them from scratch, but it’s just not worth it unless the making of them together is part of your family tradition.</p>
<p>We were still decorating the tree on Christmas Eve. Two new six month old kitties. Our last kitty climbed to the top of the tree and rode it down like Slim Pickins in Dr. Strangelove in one glorious blast of shattered balls hand blown glass ornaments collected over the years.</p>
<p>So we figured we’d take it in stages this time around. The lights were no good flashing, the kitties tried to eat the flickering glass bulbs, but solid glowing lights was OK. We dug out purple satin balls from 20 years ago because they are unbreakable, but the matching purple ribbons were long gone, so daughter went to work making new purple ribbons in two shades. Finally, after a week with no kitties climbing the tree, my wife worked up the never to put a few glass ornaments on the tree.</p>
<p>Best part of Christmas? Mother-in-law who had colon cancer surgery seven days ago was home baking cookiest three days later and joined us for Christmas dinner (filet mignon grilled outside, fresh sautee’d asparagus, Julia Child’s bernaise sauce) yesterday.</p>
<p>Our Christmas Eve tradition is dinner at a Chinese restaurant with extended family: anywhere from 15 to 23, then to church service for those who are interested and Christmas cookies at someone’s home.</p>
<p>After that I stay up late wrapping presents and preparing food for the next morning! I’m always the first one up in the morning, lighting a fire, making coffee, preheating the oven, and then I relax in the quiet living room with the fire, the Christmas tree, the dog, and my coffee.</p>
<p>Every Christmas Eve, I get out all the fancy serving dishes and china and lay out a huge spread of heavy hors d’oeuvres (though this year I had to cut back some faves since money is tttiiiiigggghhhhttt) and we have a Christmas party. Sometimes we have as many as 50 friends and family over, sometimes (like this year - I’m on bedrest) just a couple of grandparents, and sometimes it’s just our immediate family. We serve eggnog and Christmas tea (made from black tea, juices and spices), about 10 or 12 different homemade sweets we make every year, meat and cheese trays, dips, all sorts of yummy finger foods. Even the little children are served on glass party plates and they just <em>love</em> the formality of the occasion - makes them feel so grown up (and also makes them comfortable at adult receptions later). They also love that I pay no attention whatever to what they eat this one supper - they can eat sugar cookies and potato chips if that’s what they love 
We eat tons, sing every carol we know (and we know a bunch!), and dh reads the Christmas story from the Bible. It is merry and joyful and just great fun! Invitations to our Christmas Eve party are considered a real prize around here LOL</p>
<p>Then we generally end up staying up half the night wrapping, but this time for some reason, we stayed up the night before and got 95% of it done and it made Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so much more pleasant - got to remember that!</p>