When I was a kid, every Christmas I'd buy a box of chocolate covered cherries for my mother. They were cheap for my childhood "budget" and she made such a big deal out of them, year after year. I was so proud to give my mother such an important gift! Even after I was all grown up and had a family of my own, I'd make sure there was a box of chocolate covered cherries for my mom. Mama died in 2001, and the chocolate covered cherries still appear during Christmas... it wouldn't be Christmas without them. I'm enjoying a chocolate covered cherry right now with a cup of coffee. Thinking of you, Mama. Do you have a special memory or Christmas tradition?
We always got an apple, an orange, some nuts and a dime in our stockings. I think it was because our mother carried that tradition with her from England. Funny, I recall there being a box of chocolate covered cherries kicking around during the holidays. I have no idea why, or if they were for a specific person. I never really liked them as a kid, and have not tested that dislike as an adult. I searched on "1960s box of cherries" to see if I could find a pic of the ones we had, but none are really ringing a bell...and there are way more brands that I was aware of.
We had the obligatory orange, nuts, and usually one of those giant peppermint sticks in our stockings, but no money.
An uncle always sent us a 3-pound Whitmans Sampler every year. We kids were allowed to have one and only one piece each day. Oh the dilemma! Which one? There was a guide sheet showing what was what.....but how did you know whether you'd actually like a raspberry cream until you bit into it? And then you were committed and had used up your one chance until tomorrow. Bummer. But there's a solution! Pick up a piece, poke a hole in the back and taste what's inside. Don't like it? No problem.....replace it in its slot and try another piece. That worked just fine until mom caught on and the candy box got moved to a high shelf.
This is not a memory... yet. But I sent my 7 year old granddaughter a "Daisy" BB rifle and some targets for Christmas. I can't wait to hear what she thinks.
OMG, how well I remember the Whitman's Sampler, Mary. I guess kids were always the same, trying to figure out how to avoid that "maple creme" center. HAHAHA
My dad loved those chocolate covered cherries, too; so he was the one that mom bought those for, and I think that I might have gotten him some, as well. They were less than $2 a box back then. What I remember most for the Christmas special treats was fruit cake. My mom would buy one of those round ones that comes in a pretty tin, and we all enjoyed having fruitcake with our morning coffee. Possibly, we had more than one, because they usually went on sale after the holiday season. I still look for them, but the nice ones that come in a tin are an exorbitant price, so I get the little mini-loaf ones, and I get them in January, when the grocery store is trying hard to get rid of them and has marked the price way, way down.
My post-holiday find is when Walmart marks the peanut brittle down to half price. I melt chocolate in a double boiler, dip the brittle in it, let it set, then freeze it in Ziploc bags. Last year I happened to be there when they started discounting that table of stuff, and I got the girl to do the brittle out-of-turn as I waited. My needs are few.
One Christmas, during my high school years, I got a Daisy Pump-Action BB Gun. My step-dad told me, "you can kill all of the sparrows you like, but that's it". The sparrows would crap all over our farm equipment in the barn. They would sit in the roof beams with their tail and head out. Just enough space between the roof and the beam for their body. A buddy and I, both with BB guns, would hold a flashlight next to the barrel, hit the light on the sparrow and shoot. That was my first firearm, but found out what a real firearm was like when I was in the Navy.
I had my own little Remington bolt-action 22 rifle when I was 12. My dad had a strict "if you kill it, you eat it" rule so I mostly shot at targets on a bale of hay or beer cans. My brother killed a robin and he had to clean it and eat it; daddy didn't mess around.
I called my son before I ordered the "Youth Model" Daisy. He said Sara has been shooting her brother's BB gun for a year or more (supervised) so she'd be thrilled to have her own. They live in a rural area on 22 acres in a "barndominium."
My older brother had an over/under .22/.410 but I was never given any firearm. I think where we lived at specific times probably drove that disparity. I was 19 when I bought a shotgun and a rifle (.30/.30) Sparrows are always fair game, mainly because you won't get in trouble with the law (they are non-native, as are starlings.) Much of everything else is protected by Federal law...Migratory Bird Act.