My next door neighbor used to make absolutely wonderful tamales.
She made pork, chicken and bean varieties. While the basic ingredients are always the same, the spicing is critical, as is the skill of the maker.
For her grandson's fifth birthday she made three coolers' worth of tamales. As a guest I stuffed myself.
There's virtually no relationship between homemade tamales and the grocery store variety.
Unless you know where to shop. My wife and I winter in the Rio Grande valley and the local panderia has an icebox which sometimes has local made tamales. We serve them with fried egg, as a little running yoke goes well with the natural tamale taste. (I usually have them at breakfast, but per instructions on this post will serve them with beer.