Christmas "Memories, Joys and Holidays".

Happy day Read.cash community, wishing you a great day and having a great time. Continuing with the festivities of December I am excited to participate in this challenge, a little late but on time, these days have passed galloping we are in the middle of the month and just a few days ago the month began with great expectations. Thanks to @gertu13 for this opportunity to participate. This is my entry for "Christmas contest."

Our Christmas we have always tried to be very cheerful, when I was a child we had a very dangerous Christmas (I know that now, hehe), although the use of explosives has been prohibited for many years, for this month there must always be explosives, so they were bought in any clandestine place, These explosives were known as traqui traqui, they came in a package with 16 units, these came with a wick sometimes very short so it did not give time to throw it and it exploded in the hand, many injured for these reasons, but the game was to throw it to the other guys, what fun, there were other explosives of greater power but never use that type. At present there is another type of explosive that is safer called rayaito, this is because you rub it on a rough surface and it ignites, but it is more powerful.

Photo by: Traqui traqui, Mata Suegra, Fuegos Artificiales

Another thrill I had was skating, for the time there were no inline skates, to learn with this type of skate was more complicated, once you did it you were unstoppable, but always taking risks, first no helmets were used, no gloves, no protective measures, but the worst thing is that we did it on the road, when passing a vehicle we stuck in line one behind the other, there were conscious drivers and slowed down to give us a ride, several times I left my knees stuck in the asphalt, but it was fun.

December is the month of painting the house, Christmas music everywhere and premiere of clothes and toys. What I was most excited about was preparing the Christmas dishes, our Christmas dish consists mainly of a Hallaca, for us it was a ritual to make the hallacas, the shopping was done by my mother, what I remember: beef (round boy), pork, bacon (pork fat), chili peppers, tomato, garlic, onion, Worcestershire sauce, pitted olives, capers, salt, Tabasco hot sauce, banana leaves, string, for the dough she used corn kernels and processed it at home or bought corn flour. It was my job to arrange the banana leaves, separate them from the center and wash them, this was done during the day, for the night the meats were cut into squares, why round boy? Hallacas can be made with any piece of meat, I like the pieces called "round boy" or "square boy", because they are lean meats (with little fat) are a little firmer and do not fall apart during cooking.

Photo by: Round boy, Square boy, Meat in cubes

That same night the seasonings were cut and left ready for the next day. I still don't know the reason for doing it at 4 or 5 in the morning, but at that time my mother would get up to prepare the stew, which was ready when I woke up, maybe there were already some hallacas ready and that was the breakfast of the 23rd, at that time the hallacas were waiting for me to tie them.

Procedure: place 2 squares of banana leaves, grease them with achiote oil (onoto, color, caituco), put a ball of corn dough on top, flatten it with your fingers, place the stew, stuffed olives, capers, raisins, boiled egg, fold the dough so that everything is inside, wrap it in the banana leaves, now I have to tie them. There is a very famous song by the interpreter "Nancy Ramos" that says the best hallaca is made by my mother, certainly I have not eaten another hallaca similar to those made by my mother, although the hallacas we make at home are very good, never with the touch she gave it.

Photo by: Hallaca venezolana, Caribe News

Now we distributed hallacas, I don't remember how many were made, but the distribution was for many people, we gave them to the neighbors, every person who came to the house had to eat a hallaca. From that moment on there was no other type of food, hallaca for breakfast, lunch and dinner. On the 24th, ham bread was prepared, a pork leg stuffed with vegetables, olives and capers, chicken salad was baked. Panetton was made, we almost always bought it and the Christmas cake.

My mother was very cheerful, although none of us in the family were musicians, nor did we know how to play any musical instrument, we always had a cuatro, I played the cuatro as it came out, the important thing was to enjoy, my mother began to improvise and she would get a verse out of anything, we were very happy in those moments.

We have followed the tradition but without so much ritual, we always decorate before the 20th or 21st, when the spirit of Christmas arrives, I used to buy toys in October or November, I have never liked having to go out on December 24th to buy something that was missing, that day is to be at home. For the day 21 hallacas are made, always with music and liquor, while everything is prepared, we also take hallacas to some selected neighbors, there is not enough for everyone, hehe. For the 24th of December, we make the "black cake" (Christmas cake), ham bread, panetton, sweet milky, pork leg (I hope to make it this year), chicken or hen salad. Dinner is always with family or neighbors, my sister-in-law lives nearby so we get everything together to celebrate.

My house has 2 entrance doors, the main one and through the kitchen that goes out to the garage, we would put the presents on the tree at 12 am on the 25th, the kids never saw us put the presents on the tree. The kids always watched us but we distracted them to place the toys, the surprises to see the tree with gifts was unique.

We are not musicians but we are preparing a parrandon for these holidays, we will start a novena on the 16th, visiting some neighbors and singing aguinaldos, we hope to enjoy as we do every year. The plan is to visit 2 houses daily and sing aguinaldos, taking the baby Jesus and leave him in one of those houses, pass him looking for him and take him to another house the next day, until the nine days are over.

There was a lot left to write, so I'll supplement it with the next TengoLoTodo challenge. Thanks for making it this far.

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December 15, 2021