It has to do something with how you are raised but mom's Christmas fudge was the best ever. Every year mom would fill the house with the smell of chocolate and the truth is Debbie helped her every year. They would cook up a storm during the holidays. It always seemed to start with Thanksgiving and then it was just continued through Christmas.
Like I said my favorite was the milk chocolate fudge filled excessively with pecans, from Uncle Don Lane's of course. For some reason they never cooked the divinity with pecans but I sure loved it as well. But they also made Uncle Bill's candy which was almost like a praline filled with pecans but better. Man!, that was good eat'n!
It is funny how things change over time but back in the "good old days" we did not have those little pretzels shaped like folding your hands across your chest. Try doing that and you will see what I mean. In fact if you did not know it that is where the design came from and it was done by the Amish to symbolize prayer. Anyway, what we did have was the large pretzels and straight pretzels. Now during the Christmas season as I remember it Debbie came up with the idea of dipping those pretzels in chocolate and again, that was some good eat'n.
Another interesting adventure that came along later in life and has nothing to do with our topic was my good buddies Joe Bowie and Rollin Nash and I decided we should diversify and get into the Auntie Anne's Pretzel business. We thought it was a great idea and a great product so we purchased eight stores in Oklahoma. In fact I went to Pretzel University in Pennsylvania where Auntie Anne's home office is. And you should know there really is an Auntie Anne and I really did make pretzels. This was a great learning opportunity for a lawyer (Rollin), an investment advisor (Joe) and a computer geek (me). We learned you should never purchase a company that you are not going to be intimately involved in on a day to day basis. In fact we learned a lot about what not to do when you diversify into things you know nothing about but that is another story.
Well back to the story of Christmas Candy. I don't know what it is about Christmas Candy that makes Christmas so special or if it is Christmas that makes Christmas Candy so special. But I do know one thing and that is memories of Christmas are special. Mom and Debbie made the warmest and merriest house in the Osage. They still do today and I am thankful for them both.
What do you learn in the Osage?
Like I said my favorite was the milk chocolate fudge filled excessively with pecans, from Uncle Don Lane's of course. For some reason they never cooked the divinity with pecans but I sure loved it as well. But they also made Uncle Bill's candy which was almost like a praline filled with pecans but better. Man!, that was good eat'n!
It is funny how things change over time but back in the "good old days" we did not have those little pretzels shaped like folding your hands across your chest. Try doing that and you will see what I mean. In fact if you did not know it that is where the design came from and it was done by the Amish to symbolize prayer. Anyway, what we did have was the large pretzels and straight pretzels. Now during the Christmas season as I remember it Debbie came up with the idea of dipping those pretzels in chocolate and again, that was some good eat'n.
Another interesting adventure that came along later in life and has nothing to do with our topic was my good buddies Joe Bowie and Rollin Nash and I decided we should diversify and get into the Auntie Anne's Pretzel business. We thought it was a great idea and a great product so we purchased eight stores in Oklahoma. In fact I went to Pretzel University in Pennsylvania where Auntie Anne's home office is. And you should know there really is an Auntie Anne and I really did make pretzels. This was a great learning opportunity for a lawyer (Rollin), an investment advisor (Joe) and a computer geek (me). We learned you should never purchase a company that you are not going to be intimately involved in on a day to day basis. In fact we learned a lot about what not to do when you diversify into things you know nothing about but that is another story.
Well back to the story of Christmas Candy. I don't know what it is about Christmas Candy that makes Christmas so special or if it is Christmas that makes Christmas Candy so special. But I do know one thing and that is memories of Christmas are special. Mom and Debbie made the warmest and merriest house in the Osage. They still do today and I am thankful for them both.
What do you learn in the Osage?
- Christmas is more than a holiday
- Candy does not make a holiday
- Christ made Christmas
- Mom and Debbie made memories, good ones
Thanks for your time,
gary@thepioneerman.com
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