By Wally WachterRetired Herald Managing Editor
J ust about the time that we have finally settled down from the over-stuffed feeling of Thanksgiving turkey and the trimmings, another pleasant temptation raises its head.
We officially welcome the Christmas season. That means it is candy time.
For as long as most of us can remember, candy has been as closely associated with Christmas as turkey is with Thanksgiving. We look forward to the mouth- watering treats. Many diets are given a reprieve until New Year's resolution time.
A walk into any candy store, especially during the Christmas holiday season, can drive a choco-holic wild. There are hundreds and hundreds of different kinds of confections, some to fit every sweet tooth's taste. There are chocolates with every type of filling. There are solid Santa Clauses and Christmas trees. And if you feel religiously remorse about cheating on your diet, there are solid chocolate crosses.
There are small individually wrapped chewable or suckable treats of scores of varieties.
If you look long enough and hard enough, you may find some of the few varieties of Christmas candy available during our childhood.
Little treat boxes given to us in Sunday School or at children's parties sponsored by fraternal, ethnic or civic organizations each year held the same candy treats which we always associated with Christmas.
The tiny cartons themselves, of frail cardboard with colorful yuletide scenes on the sides, had handles of strings fastened on the tops. The carriers had to be handled gingerly or the strings would break, dropping the boxes and spilling the contents.
Those contents were an assortment of hardtack, with a few chocolates mixed in. The hardtack were colorful little circular pieces, with white flat ends that had tiny holiday scenes on them. The real treats were the coconut chocolate- covered mounds which we saved until last. We called them bon-bons.
In later years, when the candy-making business progressed, we were treated to hardtack with fillings of chocolate and jellies. These were family treats, and it was customary for a dishful of them to be in every parlor within easy reach from the Christmas tree. Often times these filled candies were saved until after the holidays because they were tempting snacks while reading books or playing a game of cards.
Peppermint candy canes have remained as a symbol of Christmas. They were an extra treat when we found them sticking out of the stockings on the fireplace the day after Santa's visit. Later, there came a fad of multi-flavored ribbon candy which seems scarce today.
Boxed chocolates were confections for grownups in our growing-up years. Usually they were gifts from relatives or from beaus courting the older sisters.The most popular were chocolate-covered cherries.
In many households there were assortments of homemade candies, like fudge, taffy or grandma's burnt-sugar confections.
The many varieties to choose from in this day and age have given a special joy to Christmas for candy-lovers. This is a far cry from those days of old when we found pleasure in even a cough drop.