15 WINTER TEXAN TIMES www.wintertexantimes.com DECEMBER 20, 2023 2407 E. Griffin Pkwy. – Mission, TX GENERAL DENTISTRY EXCEPTIONAL CARE SINCE 1982 Now Accepting Allwell from Superior Healthplan New Patient Exams only $159 • Includes all necessary x-rays • Oral Cancer Screening • Intra-oral Photos • Comprehensive Exam • Periodontal Screening No Dental Insurance? NO PROBLEM! www.sharylanddentalcare.net 956-581-2773 For dental care you can trust and have confidence in Come See Us At Sharyland Dental Care We are quite traditional in our family. And I bet that you too have traditions. In my family, my children just won’t let me take the easy way out. It is no trouble to pull out the artificial tree still decorated with strings of lights and glittery ornaments. Well, not in my family – my children won’t let me do it the easy way. The tree has to be real, and the house has to smell like Christmas. Christmas Eve begins with the traditional homemade chili and delicious tamales. The tamales have become my responsibility. This year, I decided to try a different company – but which one? I had no idea where to begin, so I turned to the experts – my Mexican friends who know much more about tamales than I. After I narrowed down the recommendations to the top two, it was time to sample and make the final decision. Now the only way to make that decision was to sample the goods. For several days, we were eating tamales for breakfast, lunch, and dinner as we enjoyed the different flavors of cream cheese and jalapenos, chicken and cheese, pork, and spicy pork. Oh yum – Were they good! Finally, a decision was reached, and the order was placed for sixteen dozen. I will have to admit, only 15 dozen will make it to the family celebration. My oldest daughter and I will eat a dozen before we are out of the Valley. Now that is just the beginning. Christmas Eve is never complete until we all sit down to watch Dickens Christmas Carol with Tiny Tim and Scrooge. Christmas tradition we love Woe to the in-laws who have joined our family for Christmas morning and brings another tradition of gift opening. Gifts are opened only one at a time. The youngest of the family distributes the presents and waits patiently while the gift is opened and then passed around from one family member to another to oh and ah over the gift. This is not a quick process and generally is not finished until almost noon. While opening gifts, we all partake of the homemade sausage balls, orange juice, and coffee to sustain us through the process of enjoying Christmas morning together. Years ago, when the children were little, we had another tradition and that was to celebrate the Baby Jesus’ birthday. All their little friends were invited to the party. When all had arrived, we visited a pre-selected church to visit the Baby Jesus and give him a gift – sometimes it was a penny or whatever the child could afford. Before we returned home to enjoy the star shaped birthday cake, each child received their own gift of a small manger set with Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus. We need some great grandchildren to revive this tradition. See ON THE ROAD pg. 18
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