Mom revives New Year’s Eve traditions

Mom's delicious buñuelos

The phone rang a couple of minutes after midnight. It was Mom calling to say “Happy New Year!” The call was a welcome surprise. Mom staying up late on New Year’s Eve? It’s been awhile since she’s done that.

In fact, in recent years, numerous traditions have faded away, including the annual call at midnight to my parents on this holiday. I don’t remember exactly when the tradition started. But I do remember countless calls to them, often while attending New Year’s Eve parties or simply hanging out with friends.

There was the call I made from a hotel in Fort Worth where some college friends and I attended a party. Another time, I called from the streets of Delray Beach, Florida as fireworks lit the sky. After I got married, my husband would often join me in shouting “Happy New Year” into the phone.

It didn’t matter if the place from where I was calling was noisy, if the call lasted only a few seconds or if it was obvious I’d had one too many glasses of champagne. What mattered was that I kept the tradition alive. But after my dad had a stroke, he could no longer stay up till midnight. My mom, tired and run down from taking care of him, stopped staying up late, too.

Another New Year’s Eve tradition my mom stopped taking part in: the annual making of buñuelos, a Mexican pastry that is essentially fried dough with cinnamon and brown sugar on top (I’ll post my mom’s recipe soon). As I child, I watched my mom prepare the batter and dip the dough in the frying pan. I often helped out by sprinkling the topping over the buñuelos. It was a time-consuming process, but she enjoyed making these every year. So, it was sad when she told me a few years ago that she no longer had the energy to make them.

Last night was different. During our conversation, I told Mom I was surprised she had managed to stay up past midnight. She explained she’d decided to make buñuelos. She said she didn’t think they turned out that great, but I’m sure they did. I’ll get to sample some later today.

After making the buñuelos, Mom received a call from a friend who wanted to stop by to drop off some food. The friend left after 11 p.m. My mom sounded happy she’d had a visitor. At that point, she said she figured she might as well watch the countdown to midnight on television (like she used to do) and give me a ring.

I’m glad she did.