The Candy Jar

I am sure all of you kids will remember this bowl.  This is what Mom used as her candy jar.  What you may not know is that after she loaded the jars with candy, she hid them.  With all us kids around, I don't blame her because we could have eaten ALL this candy in one afternoon. 

You probably remember that the candy only came out on Christmas day.  After we were grown and with kids of our own, we may have been at her house the week before Christmas, but we weren't offered any candy, were we?  Nope, it was to be eaten only Christmas day and not a day before. 

Then on Christmas day we would load up and head to Grandma Thompson's house, candy in tow, along with a trunk load of other food, plus the presents for EVERYone, and seven people...., but we got to set up front, not in the trunk, but I digress.  Why we could not eat our candy before hand always astounded me because there was more candy at Grandma's than most candy shops and we were going to take 7/8ths of what we brought back home.  You cannot imagine, oh I guess you can since you were probably there (this tradition of going to Grandma Thompson's was going on until she moved out of her house and into a nursing home), how much and how many different kinds of candy were on her long coffee table and scattered all over the house.  Divinity, fudge-plain, pecan & of course, Aunt Azelee's peanut, Aunt Bill's candy, peanut brittle, toffees, Oklahoma Millionaires, date roll, candied nuts -- those were the regulars, but there were always a new recipe or two.  Then when my sisters and I were grown with our own families, we added our own creations.  It is a wonder we all didn't go into a sugar shock that day.  I think we girls may have had some guilt going on.  We didn't want any of our aunts to think that Mom's girls were lazy or couldn't cook so we brought enough food ourselves to feed the whole crowd.  Memory:  My Aunt Azelee always brought dumplings.  One year I brought them, too, and that was the year she stopped making hers.  Not sure why that was, but I choose to think she was ready to pass that dish off to another person.  

Now my Grandma Thompson is gone.  Mom is gone.  Two of my aunts are gone.  Sad to think that the people that meant the most to me when I was little are now gone.  I have one aunt still alive - 96 years old she is!  I hope to see her this week and love on her just a little, and remember with her, for in her I see Mom.   

History behind that jar:  Uncle Ed Eitel, Aunt Wilma's husband, got this jar/bowl for mom and one for each of her sisters. They used these jars at the Sylvania plant where he and daddy worked. I am not sure what came in the jars originally, but they were trashed when emptied so he gathered up four of them for the girls.  Mom would make her candy, just as I did in the pictures above, and hide it on top of the freezer.  Remember that?  By the time we kids finally figured out where she was hiding the candy, we were old enough to leave it alone.  Taking this candy to Grandma's house was important to Mom.  Those Thompson women had this sort of unspoken competition or perhaps it was guilt that the other sister might out do the others.  Good women!  Here's to those lovely ladies...the ladies who used their cooking to brighten the lives of many people, including our own family.     

Excuse me while I go put the candy jar on top of the freezer.............. BUT if you come see before Christmas, I will offer you candy.  Please come see me!  Gotta get rid of this candy for I don't want it in my house on the 26th.