our lady of guadalupe...

yesterday was the catholic feast day for our lady of guadalupe...

while i am not catholic, guadalupe is one of my all time favorites and constants...she brings me comfort daily, but i especially like to think of her on december, 12th...

in fact, the only photo i have of the lord of the ring and me (and i know that sounds like it should be the lord of the ring and *i* but i am just now teaching compound subjects and compound objects to the duke and it is in fact grammatically correct...even though i fall quite short in any sort of traditional rules of written communication, i do feel the need to attempt to practice what i teach...but, i digress)

so the photo in question is the *only* photo ever taken of the lord of the ring and me before i got pregnant the first time...which is only a distinction of any importance in that we actually look like *us*, rather than the shiny faced and sturdy peasant girl and the beefy marine that we somehow morphed into during pictures of my pregnancy and beyond...AND it just happens to be taken in mexico in front of the church of our lady of guadalupe in ON december, 12th!!..

ANYHOW, continuing on with why i am writing this post other than i LOVE guadalupe, is that i am preparing a meal in honor of the feast day...only it's a day late due to the fact that i am about a day late in life right now...

we are having

chicken and cheese tamales
rice and beans
guacamole
salsa
chips

and for desert homemade mexican hot chocolate and pastelitas de boda or mexican wedding cakes...which are actually cookies...they are so easy and so delicious...

i am preparing everything from scratch which only gives me pause when i think of the tamales...i have never made tamales and have always wanted to...i am a bit nervous about getting the wrapping right, but i chose the largest of the dried husks i got and feel like if i give myself plenty of room to work with i'll get the hang of it...that's the hope, anyway...

i've got the beans cooking and the husks soaking and the chicken is already done and ready to go for the tamales...but there's still everything to do...

i hope you enjoy the day and i will include you in my prayers of thanksgiving to guadalupe...

x.