Smiles and See's Candies

I have a large extended family. My grandparents on both sides are part of big families. My grandma was one of eight. My mom grew up being around all her cousins and aunts and uncles all the time.

But my dad was in the military, so I did not grow up living around all my aunts, uncles and cousins, nor my grandparents. We would get to see them about once a year, sometimes every other year, depending on where my dad was stationed. We typically visited either in summer or at Christmas.

Going “home” for Christmas was a big deal. My mom’s family had a huge Christmas Eve every year at my Auntie Eva’s house. She was my great aunt, my grandma’s sister. She was special. She laughed all the time, always wore lavender and she had a connection to the chocolate.

She worked at the box factory that made and packaged the boxes for See’s Candies. When I was growing up, these chocolates were only available in California. My mom missed them a lot. She is a huge chocoholic and loved See’s. A couple of times a year, a magical box would show up. This box would contain a huge plastic bag filled with See’s Candies. They were rejects from the factory. They didn’t make them into the box, but they certainly made it into our hearts!

It was a treat we looked forward to all the time. We would fight over our favorite ones for weeks. My mom would freeze the bag and dole them out like gold!

So this post is dedicated to my Auntie Eva, who passed away last Wednesday and is being buried today. There is a special place in heaven for someone who always saw the good in every situation, always laughed and shared chocolate.

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