Time with Extended Family, Part 2

Hi everyone,

Today I’m continuing our mini series of posts about things we do when we spend time with extended family with a seasonally appropriate favorite: Christmas Candy! Every year, my parents get together with our family friends and make chocolate candies. As often as we can, my sister and I join them too, which means Andrew joins us. Usually, candy weekend is in early to mid December. We spend time getting ready Friday night and Saturday morning, then usually head over to Perri and Des’s home for a LONG Saturday full of snacks, chocolate, candy, wine, laughter, and catching up. Typically, we make about 10-12 different chocolates, including toffee, dark chocolate caramel balls, coconut balls, bourbon balls, macadamia nut brittle, nutmegs, brandy balls, apricot balls, nutella chocolates, mint chocolates, peanut butter cups, and more! We have a dinner tradition of spaghetti with red pasta sauce (when we are there, I bring my home made sauce), salad, and garlic bread. I’m honestly not sure how this tradition started exactly, but the candy making seems to run in my dad’s family since my aunts and cousins make them too.

You might be asking yourself, how will our future child fit into such a chaotic sounding day?—rest assured, we’ve had babies and children involved before and it only makes things more fun. My parents started this tradition before my sister and I were born and our family friends adopted their children as infants when I was in school. As newborns, they can’t do much to “help” but our future child will be doted on and played with. As a toddler, they get to start feeling helpful by dropping the candy centers into chocolate and helping mix the peanut butter cups by hand (with an adult helping). I honestly cannot wait to have a little one join us at candy weekend!

~Natalie