The Candy Cane Heard Round the World

When we were children, we spent Christmas Eve at my grandparents with the rest of my mother’s side of the family. There were a lot of us there. The house would be packed. Every room would be full of people. There were stacks of gifts wrapped in the “funny papers” under the tree.

 

One year, PawPaw was going to have his teeth, the ones that were left, pulled for so he could get his dentures the next week. So, to entertain us, he was pulling his teeth out. I still remember the squeals of, “EEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!! Do it again!!!!” from all of the grandkids gathered around.

 

Besides the lemon meringue, pecan, chocolate meringue and coconut cream pies, there was always another treat. A giant peppermint stick. It was almost always a Bob’s candy cane. He would get a hammer and break it. And, we would all eat on it. Everyone. It reminds me of breaking bread as a family.

 

Well, I grew up knowing that the best candy canes were Bob’s. Not Brach’s. Not Sprangler’s. They were good. But, they weren’t the same.

 

 

 

We passed this onto Sarah. She would look for the first box of Bob’s candy canes in the store. That was when our Christmas would start. I remember walking through the store with Sarah, not long before she passed, when she commented that she couldn’t wait to get her hands on them. She was just starting to drink coffee. And, she was looking forward to coffee with a Bob’s candy cane in it.

 

So, there will only ever be one brand of peppermint candy canes on our tree will be Bob’s. The only brand of peppermint candy in my coffee will be Bob’s.

 

The Christmas that we lost her, I posted about this. Friends and family hung them on their tree in her memory. People I had never met, all over the world, they hung them in her memory. I do not think there was ever a time in my life that I felt more connected to the rest of the world as I did then.

 

 

 

And, sitting on the chair with the stockings, is a box of Bob’s Candy Canes waiting to be hung on the tree. They will be hung last. Then, I will sit and cry into a cup of coffee sweetened by love, memories and peppermint candy canes.