OK, I'm now powerwriting to get this done. My goal? To have it done by January 1st. I will achieve it! Sorry for not updating. The holiday season is just packed!

This story relates to my family a lot. I have to go to my grandparents house to make tamales every year, and the troubles that Katie has does happen to me, though admittedly I've never had the accident she did. Originally there were a lot more descriptions about Katie's family, but they mirrored my family so much that I thought it might be a little rude to point out all the faults that they had, so I cut them out. I love my family, but you have no idea how awkward I feel when we have big family gatherings.

But enough about me, lets get on to Katie!

December 9

Katie

"Like, Oh my gosh, Sadie, today is going to be Soooooo lame!" I whined as I looked out at the road. After the Snack Shack incident, and considering it was winter, my parents made me pinky promise not to get in another crash. We could, like, totally die! I don't know what I would do without my BFFFL Sadie.

"Katie, they are your family. It can't be that bad" Sadie said simply as she flipped through the radio stations on my car.

"Sadie, you have NO idea how lame it is. I mean, I love the tamales, but its such a pain to make them!"

"Oh my gosh, I love tamales too! But I've never tried to make them…" Sadie hummed excitedly. I couldn't help but smile and groan at the same time at her ignorance.

"You have no idea, Sadie. Like, you have to spread the masa over the corn husks, and there's like, only one way to do it right. Then you have to spread the meat, then-UGH! I just hate it!" I grinded my teeth as I made a left turn. I was following my parents (whose van was cram packed with food for my huge family, my little brother and sister, and a couple of my cousins) to my Grandparents house, which was way out in the country.

"Look, Katie, I think you're overreacting a bit. Like, how bad could it possibly be?"

I felt myself growing more sarcastic in my answer as I went on. "Picture this, Sadie. Huge family. Only two pots full of masa. Loud, Spanish music playing over the radio that I don't understand. And everyone yelling at me that I'm doing it wrong."

Sadie winced and asked, "Is it really that bad?"

"It's worse…and there it is."

Sure enough, Abuelo's and Abuela's house had came into view. It was bump of bright canary yellow surrounded by white farmland. And most of my other family was already there. Prepare for a whole morning of family pain, everybody…

I pulled into the driveway and just sat there with Sadie. On the radio our new favorite song was playing, 'Waking Up in Vegas' by Kitty Platy, but even that couldn't stop my feelings of dread. I didn't hate my family. But they just didn't get me. If it wasn't for the fact that I looked just like them and I saw the video of my being born when I was eight (Like oh my gosh, that scarred me for life), I'd swear I was adopted.

It was Sadie who finally broke the silence. "Katie, we've got to get out of the car."

"Yeah, I know," I sighed before finally taking the keys out my pink bug, then stepping outside. Sadie followed as I made my way towards the front door. I put my hand on the knob, bit my lip, and then opened the door.

* * *

The morning was worse then I thought.

The second we walked in, Sadie and I were ambushed by my Abuela. She looks pretty much like me, since she has the same dark hair and eyes, but she smells like cigarette smoke, a habit she never really got over. "Katie! ¿Cómo estás?" She asked as she came up and hugged me. I hugged back and said "I'm good. How are you?"

Abuela said, "Bien. And this must be Sadie!" She greeted my friend with a warm handshake and then ushered us into the great room. That was Abuela for you. She wasn't much for conversation, at least not around me.

In the great room the stations were already set up. All of the little kids were playing with an unfamiliar black cat, and teenagers and up were making the tamales. Tamales are super hard to make, at least in my family they are. First you have to have a lot of corn husks. You then spread this weird goop called masa all over the smooth side of the husk (and I seriously can't tell the difference between the two sides, they feel the same to me!) completely evenly. And there can't be too much or too little masa on it, apparently. Most of my cousins were doing that, and my Tia Tammy was fixing all of them. I swear, she is like totally OCD.

The other adults were putting in the meat and filling (I really didn't know much about this part, because I was never put in that station) and then putting it in these huge metal pots and cooking them for who knows how long. In the end, we got absolutely to die for tamales, but it was always a frustration being around my family. I could never do anything right!

"Ok girls, here are your plates and spoons." Abuela was saying as she handed us our masa spreading tools and sitting us down at the table before walking off. In front of us was an absolutely enormous silver tub of the gooey stuff, and I stopped Sadie from trying to taste it. "Trust me, Sadie, that stuff looks good, but its basically just empty dough."

"What does that stuff even do?" She asked me, eyeing the stuff suspiciously. I shrugged.

"I think its supposed to keep the juices of the meat inside the tamale. But I could be wrong." I said as I picked up my spoon and dipped it into the tub.

When it comes to tamales, I'm not totally clueless. You have to scoop it up by the backside of the spoon, then spread it on the corn husk from the narrow end on. Unfortunately masa is so sticky that it can be hard to spread, especially if the spoon isn't dipped in water enough or you're spreading on the wrong side. And my Tia had no patience for my screw ups.

But this year was going to be different, I thought decisively as I carefully spread the masa. I was going to finish the job, and I was going to do it perfectly!

"At least, I hope so…" I murmured.

Sadie and I did our tamales at the same time, slowly and carefully. I actually found myself growing confidence in my abilities, thinking that maybe my wish was going to come true after all. After all, we had just each done eight tamales and nobody had complained. I reached for another pile of husks, but found I couldn't quite reach. I leaned over farther onto the table…then the black cat I mentioned earlier decided to walk over my feet. Startled, I lost my balance and fell just face first into the pot of masa!

Despite having masa in my ears, I could still totally hear the gasps and laughs coming from everybody else in the room. I picked myself out of the stuff and wiped it from my eyes. My mother was in front of me, asking if I was all right. Was I?

"I think…" I started to say, but Tia Tammy interrupted as she peered into the bowl. "Now we're going to need some more masa. She left her make up in it!"

Everyone except me crowded around and started laughing. I assumed that my lipstick, mascara, and eye shadow were now on the masa, and I felt like a total idiot. As everyone was laughing, I ran off to the bathroom to clean up and hide the tears that were brimming up.

I took a washcloth and started to wipe off the mush. Stupid! I could never do anything right! I started to cry, so I turned on the water to hide the sound. I would just be treated like a little kid if everyone knew I was crying over something that everybody thought was funny.

Over my sobbing and the sink, I heard a knock at the door. "Katie?" I heard my friend call out, "Can I come in?"

I wanted to just say 'No', but I found myself calling back with a choked voice, "Yes."

"Like, didn't I tell you this was going to be horrible?" I groaned and put my face in my hands as she came in. Sadie didn't say anything, so I went on miserably. "At least I got my parents to let you come, but this is still the worst day of my life!"

Sadie patted my back and said comfortingly, "It's alright, Katie…" She picked up the washcloth and wiped the last remaining traces of masa out of my hair. "C'mon, lets go outside." She said finally.

I wiped away the tears that had started to form and tried to smile. Even though I wanted to crawl into a hole and die, going outside didn't seem too bad, and at least Sadie was trying to make me feel better. "You're the best friend any girl could ever have!" I said before blowing my nose.

Sadie just smiled.

* * *

A couple minutes later Sadie and I were outside playing in the snow. We had just made a snow girl, and now we were lying down in the snow making snow angels.

"You know, Sadie, today was probably going to be one of the worst day of my life," I said seriously in the middle of my arm-sweep, "But you made it another great day. Thanks."

"No problem. I know you would do the same for me!" Sadie's voice giggled. Her giggling was contagious, and suddenly I found myself laughing. Then she started laughing harder, then so did I, and before you knew it we were dying of laughter in the middle of the snow!

I have the bestest friend anybody could ever have.

I wish that Katie would have the best Christmas ever thanks to her BF Sadie.

~ZaneKazama001

Thanks for your kind wish.

Spanish Tranlation:

Como estas = How are you?

Bien = Fine (roughly)

Abuela = Grandmother

Abuelo = Grandfather

Tia = Aunt

BTW: I was absoluly ecstatic about Duncan winning the million! Actually, I would have been happy if either one of them won, but I'm happy that its Duncan. However, I was just jumping for joy when I heard Gwen ask a question about the enviorment. My favorite character is an enviormentalist! YES! I swear I was all excited over that. My sister can testify.

Anybody else wondering what Courtney was going to ask?

On another note, I was not surprised to see Brady at all. I know how these reality shows work. Always build up doubt and then bam! Prove you wrong. :D I still liked seeing him and Beth together, it was sweet. Wonder if I should go back and fix the Justin chapter then? Or do you think "We broke up on the show" still fits?

All these mind boggling answers answered! By you! In a review of Christmas! Miracles!

*Theme song*