Saturday, December 8, 2012

Christmas Candy - A Tradition Resurrected

For as long as I can remember, the Asst. Zookeeper tells me every year during the holidays about making hard candy with his family as a young Heathen himself.  Every year without fail - and I've always been a bit jealous.  His grandparents would come over, his parents were both helping, and he and his brothers got to help as well.  And every year when he tells me, my jealousy grows just a little bit.

This year, when he started to tell me about making hard candy, I admitted to being jealous because it sounded like so much fun.  So, the Asst. Zookeeper decided that we were inviting everyone over to the Zoo and making hard candy!

I'm not sure who was more excited - the Nana, the Grandma, or the Asst. Zookeeper and his brothers!  As soon as we had a day and time scheduled, the Grandma started rounding up supplies and pulling out pans and candy thermometers.

WHAT A STICKY MESS!  We made candy for several hours - in every flavor we could locate!









We filled an entire roaster pan with hard candy.  Morbid curiosity got us at the end and we weighed the pan to find out how much candy we had made - better than 25 pounds!  Once we had finished, we divided the candy among the households.  All the Heathens and the Cousins had hard candy to give teachers for Christmas gifts - just like their fathers did as children themselves.

Definitely planning on candy making again next year!

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