Holiday Cheer!!

Wow, I can’t believe the holidays are already upon us.  What a great time of year – time spent with family and friends, good will among all, presents, blah, blah, blah!! Who am I kidding – for me near top of the list (I can’t say THE top of the list without wreaking havoc from my family) is Christmas candy and holiday goodies!  If you know me at all, you know I have already bought one (or two) bags of my favorite peppermint Christmas nougats, a box of ribbon candy (oh, if only it was available year round), holiday spice drops, as well as the perennial chocolate – anything!! Go to Candyland – they have a great assortment of holiday candy, including holiday salt water taffy! Best time of the year for certain!

In addition, I usually make one or two batches of “Mrs. Budge’s Fudge” to share with family and friends.  But this year my two biggest fans of my fudge (my dad who passed away earlier this year and my brother Tim who is not coming home for Christmas - again!) aren’t going to be with us, so I don’t know if I am actually up for it.  Instead I’m thinking of making popcorn balls!  I love popcorn.  In fact, when I make popcorn it is like an art form – each batch must have just the right amount of burnt pieces (yes, burnt pieces, I love burnt popcorn). But popcorn balls are actually tough to get just right – if you heat syrup too long the popcorn balls become rock hard and basically inedible!  So, this year I am going to dig out my old Betty Crocker cookbook (the one in inherited from my grandmother), find the recipe we used as kids and make a batch or two. No highfalutin high-end, gourmet popcorn balls for me, just the good old fashioned ones! So this year, if you find a bowl full of popcorn balls, I promise they will be edible and made with love (with no burnt pieces – I’ll keep those for myself)!  Happy Holidays Everyone!!