Notes From Mom - The Dress Box

As promised, I have a new blog post from mom!  She's sharing one of my favorite childhood memories today.  Enjoy!

Hi Everyone!   It's me Adria, Pam’s mom.  The one who is in trouble all the time. My gallbladder surgery is Tues. Dec l4 and I will be very happy to get it over with so I can enjoy my Christmas.  

As of Nov.1st, I had all of my shopping done (I try to do that every year.  I also have all my presents wrapped and have made some spiced peanuts, Swedish nuts (the Jewish people call them Masugga Nuts), I have toffee candy in the freezer and 8 kinds of cookies in the freezer, and speaking of cookies I have a cute story to tell you.

This is a story about my mother.  My mother had a very serious depression when I was 6 yrs.old and lost her sense of taste and smell just as I have now. Because of the loss of these senses she was never very interested in eating except for things that were crisp or crunchy.  Mom always liked my cookies especially the Christmas ones.  I always gave her a box of Christmas cookes but one year she kind of one-upped me with it and it was really fun.  Even Pam thought so and we still talk about them after all these years. 

Pam & Grandma.  I was about 6 weeks old here.

You see my mother saved a very large dress box, which at that time were bigger than now.  She gave the box to me and asked me to fill it for her.  At that point in my life I was used to making 25 to 30 different kinds of cookies for Christmas.  I lined the box with waxed paper and bought a big supply of cupcake papers & started to line them up in the box.  As I added the cookies I pushed them over very tight and kept filling up the box.  Needless to say she was extatic! 

Pam making cookies with Mom.  I was about 8 years old here.

My mother lived with 2 of her sisters at the time and one was bedridden with RA.  My mother was very posessive of those cookies.  She did let my 2 aunts have some but only if she was in the right mood.  She also had a sister with 8 kids and if they showed up, she hid the cookies .  They were hers and she wasn’t going to share.  It always made me laugh because all she had to do was ask for more and I would have made them for her. 

In addition to the cookies I always made her a pound cake and a nut bread too but she just wasn’t willing to share those either.  She just loved the things I baked for her even though she couldn’t taste them..  This has been a very, very enjoyable memorie for Pam and me and we still laugh about it. 

Pam & Mom, Valentine's Day in 1969.

 I no longer make that many varieties of cookies, mostly because we just don’t have enough people to give them to.  I used to give both Pam and Kathi cookies as a Christmas gift for the teachers.  I understand that doesn’t work any more as the prime gifts are now l4K gold, new cars and anything else that costs much more money than a plate of cookies.  Back then the teachers were very happy to get baked goods so that they didn’t have to bake so much themselves.
 
Well that is all for now, but I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Love, Adria