Reminiscing with Hubbs last night we laughed at the similarities of our childhoods:
- Huge gardens & summer canning projects ~ a kitchen filled with steam
- Church / Sunday School on Sundays through the school year
- Vacation Bible school in the summer (plus 4-H camp for me and sports camp for him)
- Family birthday parties with cake, coffee and a weenie roast
- Freeze Tag, Kick-the-Can and Hide & Go Seek with cousins afterwards
- Riding our bikes to the lake
- And summer chores, saving our money for penny candy
Remembering my Sunday School routine, I told how our little village had a “Confectionery” downtown (1 1/2 blocks from the Church). Because it was part of the hotel it could be open on Sundays (nothing else was) — Mom would give us .25 cents (two bits) with which we could buy:
- a Pop and a bag of chips or
- a Pop and a candy bar or
- a little brown bag FULL of penny candy (always my choice)
Kind of like this
He and I agreed on the need to “make our candy last” – and how we’d negotiate with parents or siblings to get the best deal. We differed on our choices, with him preferring chocolate to my licorice.
remember red hot dollars?
and licorice pipes?
We both laughed at this one:
Candy cigarettes!
The two of us could still remember the sweet, crunchy taste of a candy cigarette. The sugar rush from a Pixie Stix. The mess of “Fun Dip.” He talked of hiding his Hershey bars from his brother and I did the same with my stash. We agreed that underwear drawers were favorite hiding spots ~ no one ventured there!
Funny how a little trip down memory lane can take you to places both sacred and sweet.
*****
*What was your favorite childhood candy? How much did it cost? Do you remember candy after Church, too? *
