Jan. 1—Pete and Lynda Martinez of Mesa breathed a sigh two days before Christmas.

They, Pete’s 88-year-old sister Virginia Guerreo and several of the Martinez’s children and grandchildren had just completed this year’s installment of a family tradition that dates back nearly a century: making scores of tamales for relatives, friends and neighbors.

Pete’s mother, Adelaide Martinez, taught Virginia and two of his sisters how to make them and “when she passed away the girls tried to carry on this tradition,” Lynda explained.

Though other members of their extended family also made their own tamales, Adelaide’s recipe was considered the best.

“You can smell them as soon as you walk though the door and the grands and now the greats will ask ‘how long until they are done and we can have one?'” Lynda said.

Lynda said she and Pete started the 2023 batch only about a week into December and by the time they were done, they had made over 100 dozen tamales.

Despite her age, Virginia jumped in to help — as did the Martinezes’ granddaughter Tovia Gough, her husband Paul and their children Elijah, Anaiya and Eden and another granddaughter, K.C. Stanley.

“All gathered for a day of making tamales and, of course, eating them,” Lynda said.

Lynda said she and her husband of 39 years “are trying to make sure this tradition keeps going” and are teaching their grandchildren and great-grandchildren how to make tamales.

She said she shops for different ingredients at different stores and said their green tamales are the favorite with those who share their bounty.

“I hate making those,” Lynda confessed. “They’re just a lot of work. You got to clean and cut the green chili. You’ve got to roast them, then you got to put them in the bag and let them stain. Then you’ve got to peel that off and you got to clean them. They’re more work than any of them, but they’re everybody’s favorite.”

And that last sentence points to why the Martinezes have kept Adelaide’s legacy alive: They enjoy giving them away and relishing their beneficiaries enjoyment of their holiday gift.

When Pete and Virginia were young, they could hardly wait to eat their mothers tamales. When we gather each year to make them, we all remember Grandma Adelaide and all the love she would put into her tamales. Now Lynda and Pete and Virginia carry on this tradition. They share with the family and friends; this is their gift of love to the family. They want to teach as many of their family as they can how to make tamales in order to keep this tradition going.

This year they had an old poster of Adelaide and her daughters making tamales years ago to inspire the grands and the greats and to bring back the memories of long ago. Now they are making new memories that will hopefully live on another 50 years. It is always fun to get together and make and eat and share the love and memories of being with family.