By Shannon Williams
The year was 1983 and I had started my first job after college as a social worker at one of Texas finest State Hospitals. One of the secretaries and I had become friends as we were both single and it was West Texas in the 80’s oil boom and lots of guys to dance with in the local bars. So, we started out as friends going out to dance several nights a week with the guys from the Halliburton training center! As Christmas drew closer, she asked if I wanted to help her make ‘Candy’. I had just started building my culinary skills and jumped at the chance to learn how to make candy. We pooled our money to come up with the $30 we needed to buy the ingredients, and we started making candy. Well, we have not stopped for the past 37 years.

The past two years we have not been able to do it in person, but we talk all day as we both did it in our own homes. Needless to say, it is a good thing that both of our financial situations improved as we aged, as the ingredients have tripled or more in those 37 years, and the number of people we make it for has also increased. Up until about 5 years ago, we still made it for some of the people we worked with back in the early 80’s, but most of them have passed on now. Other than family we have only one person still on the list who has gotten some of the candy each of those 37 years.

Of all the things I do during the holidays this tradition is one of the most near and dear to my heart. I love it all from the shopping for the freshest pecans, to chopping them all up, unwrapping all the caramels to melt and then making all the different types. We have our old standards, fudge (pecan, walnut, and mint) millionaires, peanut butter balls, White trash and Texas trash. We add a new type every year or so, but they never go over as well as the standards. We do not make divinity as it is just too hard and the weather has to be just right.

Over the years, we have brought or made all kinds of tools and items to help, and as we age, we have to change how we do some of it, as it is very hard on the hands to dip all that chocolate and chop all the nuts. We have made it in all of the houses we have both had, in fact when she built her retirement home, they made the counter at the perfect height for candy making!! We have met and rented houses in between as she is unable to travel to the beach.

This year was my first year to really do it all by myself, so guess who got to help, The Hubby!! He unwrapped caramels, chopped nuts, stirred the trash as it cooked, cleaned up, and took out the trash!! We spent Sunday putting it in all of the containers (oh, how I love the dollar store and all the really cute things they have to put goodies in). A great deal of it is mailed out each year and I will have my car loaded when I go see my mom to give out in West Texas. I would be afraid to go back to my home town this time of year without it. Since this has been such a hard year with my mom in assisted living during a pandemic, I found my grandmother’s famous apricot bar recipe and made several batches to mail to all of my siblings and take to my mother.

I kept telling myself this year, that I was going to have to cut down and one day stop, but I just don’t think I can. Since we both had sons, we have not really passed our skills on, and none of the DIL (daughter in laws, of who we both have great ones) have seemed too interested in learning. It just would not be Christmas with the whole process, it is just the love we put in it all that makes it better than store brought. So I hope you each have a tradition filled with love that you take part in this year, it makes the holidays bright.

[Dec-7-2020]