Grandma begins preparing for the Christmas holiday long before the month of December. She earns the money needed to put presents under the tree for her children and grandchildren by selling tamales made in her kitchen, “the heartbeat of our familia.” The escalating tamale count is tracked through the fall, from an initial 15 dozen tamales to 150 dozen by Halloween to 575 dozen by early December. When she reaches 850 dozen, Grandma’s earned enough to start shopping, but she’s not done yet. As the household holiday preparations progress, Grandma works relentlessly, until she’s made 1,000 dozen tamales. Grandma’s gift is much more than the boxes under the tree in this celebration of work undertaken with love, and a large, multi-generational Latine family that appreciates and supports one another. An affectionate tone permeates the text and the warm-hued illustrations.