My Operation Obligation Journal

Christmas Tamale Basket Dinners

A meal of specially prepared tamales with seasonal trimmings is the traditional Christmas dinner of the indigenous Guatemalans. But many families cannot even afford to feed themselves nutritious daily meals. Mayan Families prepares and gift wraps baskets containing enough food to prepare a festive Christmas dinner for as many as 12 people.

Each basket contains oil, 15 lbs of rice, a block of drinking chocolate (the traditional drink at midnight), a loaf of bread with which they eat the tamales at midnight, raisins, grapes, apples, sugar, 5lbs of meat, tomatoes, 1lb of coffee, leaves to wrap the tamales, cloves, pepper, sesame, pumpkin seeds. As an added value, the plastic bucket that holds the groceries is a useful household item after the holidays.

The ladies who sponsor Oscars siblings have purchased a tamale basket for Oscar and his family...

This morning, I purchased Tamale Baskets for Marcos and his family as well as Rafael and his family.

This is great news! All three of our families will have their bellies full this Christmas!