Hallacas and Family travel - LOH #62

Hello Hivers, and members of the Ladies of Hive community, last week, my friend @princessbusayo invited me to participate in the weekly community contest. I was unable to respond in time to the call for entries. But this week, I'm joining in to answer both questions.

2️⃣ Do you like to travel during the holidays or stay close to home?
For either answer, please tell us why!

I love to travel, and a trip during the holidays is always a good option as long as it is with the family. Because above all Christmas for me is a celebration of family.

For many years, when I was younger, my extended family used to travel within my country to the Andean mountains to celebrate Christmas. Then for many reasons related to the country's situation, we stopped doing it. But I have the best memories of that time.

My last holiday trip was two years ago at Christmas time before the pandemic. We traveled to Spain to spend the holidays with my sister-in-law, who we had not seen for six years. She lives in Santiago de Compostela. It was a somewhat different Christmas, I would say more relaxed, but it was very nice to gather with our family and some friends we had not seen for years.

^{Praza do Obradoiro, Santiago de Compostela - Christmas 2019}

So yes, I love to travel during the holidays but as long as the family is part of the plan.

2️⃣ What is your favorite holiday food, and why?

I love all the food we usually eat in my country at Christmas. Chicken salad, ham bread, pork leg. But above all, I love the Hallacas because besides being delicious, their preparation has a meaning beyond the mere making of a recipe.

Hallacas are a traditional Christmas dish in Venezuela. They are a kind of corn flour tamales but filled with stew and some other ingredients and wrapped in banana leaves.

Making Hallacas, at least in my family, has always been a family gathering tradition. Although it can be exhausting, making the stew and assembling the Hallacas is also a time to celebrate.

^{My Hallacas - Christmas 2021}

These pictures are of the Hallacas I've been making with my family in the last two days. We finished making them yesterday, and of course, after a long day, I enjoyed a tasty Hallaca and a couple of sangrias. And we will eat some of them at our family lunch on Christmas day.

I want to invite @beautifulwreck to join the contest and the community.

This is my entry to Ladies of Hive Community Contest #62. If you made it this far, thank you very much for reading.