A Little Jar of Heaven

My brother and sister-in-law have a huge plot of land out in the country.  They grow all kinds of things in their garden, and also have fruit trees and bushes.  Needless to say, they get to do a lot of canning every year.  I was visiting them recently and was able to snag a few jars of their homemade jelly.  I got Wild Cherry and Elderberry Apple.  So far I've only tasted the Wild Cherry, but it is so incredibly yummy.  I've eaten half a jar in less than a week.  !!  I can't help it, it's just so tasty!

When I was a kid, there used to be a lot of wild elderberry bushes growing on the side of the road in the neighborhood where I lived.  I remember picking large sacks of those dark purple berries to my grandma and my parents could make elderberry jelly.  We rarely had store bought jelly when I was little.  We always had so much of the homemade stuff we never needed to pay for any. 

I can't wait to dig into that Elderberry Apple jelly my brother and sister-in-law made.  I know it's going to be good.  I'm only sorry I didn't smuggle out a jar of the Raspberry Dark Chocolate jelly they had!  We had some with breakfast before I left and it was amazing.  Looks like I might have to find a reason to be in the neighborhood again real soon so I can get my hands on some.

Christmas at My House

When I was a kid, we always spent the weeks before Christmas hefting presents and shaking them and trying to figure out what was inside.  My parents made it even more of a challenge for us by not putting our names on the packages, so we weren't sure which gifts were for which sibling.  They'd just assign a number to the name tag (1 through 3 since I have two brothers) and only they knew which of us was assigned which number.  And if that wasn't enough, they also "rigged" the packages so we couldn't tell by weight or sound what was in it.  They'd put marbles, pennies, jingle bells, washers and other hardware into the boxes so they'd make a lot of noise and we'd have no idea if it was the actual gift or the little extras making that sound.  And then the odd brick or other heavy object would be placed inside to throw off the weight.  And of course you would never be so silly as to assume the box your gift was wrapped in was the actual box it came in.  So even the shape of the box was no help.  It was infuriating!  And a whole lot of fun.  I love a good mystery, and it was great to try to figure out what was in those packages.  A friend of mine used to always open her packages early and play with the toys.  Then she'd reseal the packages (which were hidden quite poorly in her mother's closet) and by Christmas she'd already be bored with them.  Where's the joy in that?  She'd be left with no surprises, no fun from her gifts, and she'd have to pretend to be surprised when she opened them on Christmas morning.  So sad! The anticipation is half the fun!

I remember the year my older brother bought me a Caboodles case.  I had wanted one so badly!  He rigged the package, but didn't think to tape down the handle.  So every time I shook it, I could hear the very distinctive sound of the handle banging up and down.  But I hate it when people are able to guess their gifts before they open them so I pretended I just couldn't figure out what was in that box.  It always takes all the fun out of giving and trying to surprise someone if they're able to guess what it is before they open it.  :(  So to all of you good guessers out there, pretend you don't know what it is, even if you do!  It will keep the fun going for everyone.  :) 

First photo found here.
Second photo found here.

Making Dreams Come True Since 1977

Okay, not really.  I'm still working on that "winning the lottery" one. 

When I was a kid, we had a small pond in our backyard with little fish in it.  I dreamt (dreamed?) once when I was really little that I almost drowned in that pond.  It felt like a pretty vivid dream, and I always remembered having had the dream, even if I didn't actually remember any details.  One day when I was much older (possibly high school), I happened to mention the dream in front of my mom.  She looked at me like I had lost my marbles and said, "That wasn't a dream.  You really DID almost drown in that pond!"

So I'm waiting for the night I dream about winning the lottery, so I can wake up the next morning and BAM!  Instant multi-millionaire.