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LAS CRUCES - The Castillo kids didn't leave cookies for Santa Claus when they were little - they left tamales, creamy masa sweetened with brown sugar, anise and raisins.
Sweet holiday tamales are in high demand this time of year, and not just from Santa, but the Castillos are still trying to make sure no one goes without the traditional Christmas staple.
"(My kids) always want to come help," said Karla Barela, 38, on Saturday morning as youngest daughter Ashley, 8, peeked through the swinging doors into the kitchen of El Indio Tortilla Shop, on Madrid. "Even my brother, in the Army, is back there. He's at Fort Bliss and he uses his vacation to come work. He's going to Iraq and that's what he worries about - 'I don't know if I'm going to be able to help!'"
It's a labor-intensive process the family's been perfecting for nearly a century, said Barela, the oldest of the five siblings. Her father, Rene Castillo, still wakes up at 2 a.m. to grind corn, which soaks in 300-pound batches (with lime, to loosen the skin) before going into a volcanic rock grinder and then being mixed with shortening, baking powder and salt in a mixer watched over by an Immaculate Heart of Mary candle.
"I still, to this day, remember my dad making his tamales on Christmas Eve. I used to hate it!" Barela admitted with a smile. "It's the weirdest tradition, but this is what we do. Sometimes, this is the only time we are together."
Julian Castillo, 37, a Patriot Missile crewman, is savoring
"I like to come help out my parents because they're getting old," he said. "I think I work more here than on post."
Once he's in Iraq, he worries not only about the effect his absence will have on the business but also how a lack of New Mexico chile will affect his diet.
"Heck yeah, that's all we talk about - coming home, eating some chile," he said. "In Korea, I had tamales mailed to me. We had like, a little party in our barracks room."
As in any Las Cruces kitchen this time of year, though, no one in the family sees their long hours and hard work as toil, though, just the necessary effort for a scrumptious result - especially during the holidays.
"It's part of everyday life," Julian Castillo said. "My parents are here. My brothers are here. It's like being a little kid again."
"It's not an easy job," Barela admitted. "I used to complain. But it's just part of our family tradition. I just could not imagine not doing it."
Without tamales, she added, "it wouldn't be Christmas."
Ashley Meeks can be reached at (575) 541-5462.
