So, if you’re reading this, I guess the world didn’t end. I guess that deserves a massive YIPPPEEE!

Anyhow, on to our regularly scheduled topic…

Growing up in New Mexico, we had some unique regional skews to our holiday traditions…from dried chile ristras and biscochitos cookies to green chile stew (note the use of chile, it’s how you can tell I’m actually from the Land of Enchantment). But the one thing that I looked forward to every Christmas was something my Aunt made: A Tamale Frittata. Like Veronica’s Mom’s Habanada, this dish came without fail as we patiently (HA) waited to open presents. Over the years, I started looking forward to the dish as much as the packages.

Now, that we split the holidays between my wife’s family and mine, we celebrate every other Christmas in California. So on those years, I make my own Tamale Frittata to bring to the festivities.

I can’t resist sharing the recipe with you because it’s just so dang good.

AUNTIE CAROL’S TAMALE FRITTATA

• 3 or 4 Tamales broken into bite-sized chunks (husks removed)

Note: Use your favorite vendor or Costco carries some good ones out here.

• Hatch (aka New Mexican) Green Chiles ~2 cans or 2 fresh chiles chopped

Note: I’ve found many of the grocery stores in California – including Trader Joe’s – carry a canned version of these in the Hispanic/International food aisle. They don’t pack the heat of the fresh stuff, but they get the flavor.

• 6-8 Eggs.

            Note: The number used depends on how egg-y you want it.

• Cheddar Cheese (grated)

• Onion (chopped)

1. Preheat oven to 350^oF
2. In a greased, 9” round glass pie dish  or an 8”x8” ceramic baking dish, spread the Tamales out such that they cover the bottom, but don’t touch each other.
3. Sprinkle the chiles and onions over the Tamale (ok, go ahead and get some in between too)
4. Beat the eggs.
5. Pour the eggs over the Tamales. I like to have the Tamales completely covered.
6. Holding the sides, jiggle the dish to get the eggs spread throughout.
7. Top with the grated cheese until covered with goodness
8. Bake until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.
9. Broil for just a minute or two until cheese starts to golden (don’t walk away…it’ll burn immediately – it’s a law of nature)
10. Enjoy!

No matter where I am, when I bite into this awesomeness, I’m back in my Aunt’s house staring at all those lovely gifts under the tree and hearing the family chatter joyfully.

One thing you might now know about me is that I grew up everywhere. When I say everywhere, I mean Brazil, Mexico, New York, Connecticut, Miami, SF Bay Area, and Los Angeles. Oh, and there was even a year in Venezuela squished in there.

Many images come to mind when I think of Christmas. Many houses. Many hallways to trot down anxiously in slippered pajamas to see what Santa brought.

Christmas in Miami? Once the gifts are opened, usually we end up at the beach or in the pool. That’s where I’m headed this year, and you better believe I will be floating in the Atlantic on Christmas Day.

Christmas in NY or Connecticut? Snowman-building.

Christmas in Los Angeles? How about a movie in the afternoon?

That’s what you do when you move a lot. You adapt. Experiences are shaped by our environments.

But my family has many traditions that I hold dear to my heart. I don’t know what Christmas would be without all the special meals my Mom cooks. She makes a Brazilian treat called Habanada. Every year. Without fail. That is just an accessory to the traditional family meal. An encore, really.

Christmas Eve mass is another tradition. And for many, many years, my Mom was the official gift-passer-outer but that role seems to be shifting now. We’ll see what this year holds.

We play cards. The game of Canasta is big in my family. I have very clear memories of sitting on my grandfather’s lap as he taught me the game. I don’t think a Christmas holiday goes by without a massive family tournament in which I school both of my brothers and then proceed to lose to my parents. All right, all right. Sometimes my brothers win. The coolest thing is that now my kids are playing. I can’t tell you how fun it is to see my little guys in on the action. Nothing warms your heart like seeing your sons talking a little smack to their uncles—my brothers.

I’m raising them right.

That brings me to my main point. The places have changed. Many things have stayed the same. Honestly, I love the traditions, but the only thing that really matters is that I’m with my family. Everything else is just bonus.

Have a very Happy Holiday. Hold your loved ones close!

My family has always celebrated the Christmas holiday on Christmas Eve. On December 24, 1972,after the dinner dishes had been cleared, my mom herded my brother, sister, grandmother and me into a back bedroom to wait for Santa Claus. I was four and a half, and mostly excited about what Santa might bring me for Christmas. I hadn't thought about much else all day.

I just wanted to be out of that room already.

I fidgeted on the floor as my dad came in with his guitar and sat down in a chair. He strummed a few chords, then sang and played the hand-full of songs he knew. I don't think my dad ever learned any others, because he always played the same couple of songs.

Whenever I hear one of these songs I am transported to that small room, sitting on the carpet nestled between my older siblings. At first, I was amazed to discover that my father could play a guitar. Then I was amazed that he sang to us, because it wasn't something he usually did.

But I was even more amazed by the stories inside the songs. The songs transported me. I was no longer impatiently awaiting the arrival of Santa. I was listening.

The most Christmas-y of the songs in my Dad's repetoire was Joy to the World. Not the Christmas carol, but the seventies peace anthem. It was the most awesome thing I'd ever heard. I mean, my dad was singing a song about a bull frog named Jeremiah. How cool was that?

The next classic was "If I had a hammer," another song of its time about peace and love, that had a repetitive riff that was easy to follow.

But my favorite was the tragically romantic ballad "El Paso." It was a song about a man who falls in love with a girl named Felina with "wicked and evil" eyes. After seeing Felina drinking with another man, the singer gets into a fight and ends up killing the other man. The singer runs away, but his deep love for Felina brings him back. When he gets back to the bar, a group of cowboys is waiting for him and he is shot. Felina comes out and holds him as he dies.

Whoa. That was a story.

I was four. And I was hooked.

I have no idea what Santa brought me for Christmas that year.

But I remember the songs. I remember the stories.

Maybe I'll ask my dad to pull out the guitar again this year.

More often than not, my best holiday memories are associated with music. Does anything bring the spirit (or the terror) of the holiday season like the music? It's ever present, you can't escape it. And inevitably it works its way into your psyche and settles there like a benevolent dragon.

Now, I'm not trying to be exclusive here.  But my childhood was firmly middle-America, egg nog and pumpkin pie and Burl Ives, so most of my memories revolve around Christmas.  So forgive me!

First, there is the year my not-yet-husband came to visit for Christmas, all the way from England. He stayed with me at my parent's house. And he went with all of us on our annual traditional adventure to see the giant Christmas tree at the Eureka Inn (I grew up in a very small community–we took adventure anyway we could). The tree was huge and covered with presents and lights and streamers, and the evening ended with a sing-along in the hotel bar. All of us bopping along to “Feliz Navidad.” He still asked me to marry him. And that song will forever bring a smile to my face.

The song “All I Want For Christmas Is You” will always remind me of the movie Love, Actually and that magic–big and small–can happen at Christmas. And that the people you love are the most important things of all.

Silent Night, White Christmas, O Holy Night -  all have memories attached. But one of my favorites is the year my sister came to visit and showed me this: 

Doesn't that just say it all?  

What songs do you most associate with the holidays?  What are your favorites?  And why?

I'm fortunate to have wonderful memories of Christmas.  It was my mom's favorite holiday and she always made sure it was special.  I'm not sure I even remember one specific Christmas.  By  now, they have all blurred together in my adult mind into a fantastic array of food, traditions, decorations, and presents that was my childhood holiday season.

When I started to think back on holiday memories, however, there was one Christmas that came to mind.

It was the Christmas my new father-in-law invited me to Hawaii for Christmas.  I had always spent the holidays with my parents in Texas, even as an adult, so there was some angst to accepting the invitation.  But I was newly wed and anxious to impress.  Besides it was Hawaii!

We left the snowy, freezing cold of Colorado and arrived in Hawaii after dark.  The next morning, Christmas Eve, we woke before sunrise still on Colorado time.  Quickly putting on bathing suits, we headed down to Kailua Beach while it was still dark and kept walking right out into the ocean.  I still remember the wonder of watching the sunrise on Christmas Eve from  the warm waves.  Later that night, I attended Christmas Eve services in a tiny island church opened wide to the tropical breezes.  Seeing Christmas trees and palm trees together seemed strange.  Hearing Christmas carols while eating shaved ice was different. The setting combined the expected with the new--the familiar with a surprise.  The juxtaposition of my past lived experiences with this new world created such a unique experience, that it became totally memorable.

Why is this the Christmas I chose to tell you about when I had so many wonderful memories to pick from?   It's because I see some connections to my writing life.  Today, while sitting in my favorite coffee shop, I'm striving to create characters to connect as deeply to readers as the memories of my childhood holidays, but I also want to surprise like the tropical Christmas I experienced in Hawaii. I hope to take a familiar characteristic or setting and give it a twist to make it new and memorable.  

So happy holidays and good writing to all!  No matter where you might be spending it.