This year’s holiday stocking stuffer…Cherry CHAN Candy!

It’s Christmas Eve, circa 1960! The aluminum tree is up and the children are nestled all snug in their beds. It’s time to fill those stockings hung by the chimney with care. You grab the old favorites: some jacks, a sliding puzzle square or Chinese-finger puzzle, a yo-yo, cap bombs, a ping pong paddle or a balsam wood glider. Then put in a tangerine, chocolate coins in gold wrappers, some Chuckles, a roll of Life Savers and of course a peppermint stick. For Margaret and Eileen each a candy necklace. Adele gets some Pop Rocks and for Lizzy those candy buttons on a strip of paper. For Anthony a PEZ head and for Jimmy candy cigarettes; while Jon gets a pack of Red Hots (candy hearts.) Then there’s Louie. Shaking your head you drop in box of Cherry CHAN Candies!

Tis’ the season of nostalgia, hope and good will toward men. So let me share a few places I always find comforting to visit. I hope you enjoy them and wish you all peace and joy this holiday season and in the New Year.

1. The Candy Wrapper Museum: www.candywrappermuseum.com

Back in the ’70s a company called Ferrera Pan produced some pretty outlandishly named candies: Alexander the Grape, Johnny Apple Treats, Cool It, Lemonhead, and the Cherry CHAN Candy pictured here (his own candy-how cool is that!) Still, that’s just a teaser to the many products you’ll find at Darlene Lacey’s Candy Wrapper Museum (she’s been collecting since 1977 and estimates around 8,000 wrappers!) Click around the museum to see if you can find the Muhammad Ali Crisp Crunch, Jack LaLanne Protein Bar, Liberace Mint Patty, or the Mr. Big Shaq-size candy bar (try “Celebrities”.) And since it’s the holidays click on “Holidaze,” then “Christmas” links to view treats from yesteryear you may find familiar. There may be a bar or two the PC-police would ticket, but I think you’ll enjoy this stroll down memory lane. OH…and don’t forget a toothbrush in that stocking!

2. Holiday Mystery Reading: http://mysteryreaders.org/holiday-mystery-lists/ 

I read somewhere that in days of old (Merrie Olde England and the continent) it was customary to sit around and spin ghost stories or mysteries during the winter holidays. Matter of fact, it’s said that was how Mary Shelley first imagined her story Frankenstein! Cuddling up in front of my fake fireplace with a good yarn has always been a favorite pastime of mine, something I look forward to each winter season: especially with a holiday “who done it!” Visit the above link on Janet A. Rudolph’s, Mystery Readers International website and you’ll find a plethora of mysteries surrounding: Christmas, Chanukah, Chinese New Year, Passover, Kentucky Derby Day, Fourth of July, Mothers Day, Easter, Halloween, April Fool’s Day, Guy Fawkes Night, Winter Solstice and more holidays you can shake a stick at. “Happy reading to all, and to all a good night!”

“Un buon Natale e felice anno nuovo!”