Juarez Tamale Party

So far, this holiday season has been fantastic.  Last night was no exception; I went with Megan to the Juarez family tamale party, an annual event where everyone invited comes and helps make 200+ tamales, eats a whole lot of food, and enjoys good conversation, alcohol, and even some karaoke.  The Juarez family is very important to Megan (she tutored their kids and now is like an adopted member of the family) and I've gotten to know them better over the past year.  They are so warm and welcoming and there was a sense of comfort seeing everyone gathered around the table, hard at work.  One of the highlights of this party is the "Shot-Ski" which is exactly what it sounds like...a ski with five shot glasses attached to it.  Once filled, five people line up along the ski and everyone takes a shot together.  Every first time guest is required to take at least one turn before being allowed to eat anything and since I was pretty hungry I was "forced" to give it a go.  It was harder than I thought because everyone has to do it at the same time; there were a couple of people who got stuff all down their shirts, haha.

The party ended very late and I was crazy enough to hop in the car and drive all the way to Sacramento afterwards, arriving around 2am this morning.  I crashed in my bed as soon as I opened the door, only to wake up 5 hours later to my alarm.  I went for a run and then got ready for brunch with some of the Byers girls.  We went to Crepeville in downtown Sac and when I walked in I thought, "Hey, this looks familiar."  I think it's owned by the same people who have Crepevine located in downtown Palo Alto.  It was a good time talking to the girls, who I'll see again on Thursday for a potluck dinner at our old coach's house.

It's Christmas Eve and definitely a very different one than last year.  We will not be donning bathing suits this time around, unfortunately, but will still have fun getting back to the holiday traditions we missed out on last year.  I'm off to the grocery store to pick up a few last minute items and then it's cooking, movie watching, more eating, and just some good quality family time.  Can't wait!