A sock is a stocking, right?

Don't you love those moments when you look at your kids and go "That's my boy/girl!"?

Me too. They did it again Christmas morning. See, what had happened was....

Even though they don't believe in Santa anymore, Santa still gives them the awesome gifts and Mom gives them the "eh" stuff. You know, like....curtains. Santa wrapped all the presents, including those from Mom, too, apparently. (He stole my wrapping paper.) They all went under the tree Christmas Eve morning.

I'm not sure why I told you that. It has nothing to do with this story. Well, except for the fact that Santa put out the presents Christmas Eve morning, but came back that night to put candy in the stockings. Not very time efficient of you, Santa. Moving along...

For the little ones in the family I made chocolate lollipops and put them in plastic Christmas cups along with wrapped Christmas chocolates. I had a few left over, so before we all went to bed I dropped the leftovers in the kids' stockings. After they were in bed, I added more candy to their stockings and went to sleep.

Christmas morning, about 8-something, I was still trying to catch a couple more hours sleep when my son came in to wake me up, like he hasn't done since he was a little boy. (You've seen my son? Do you know how long ago that was??) He had turned on my apple pie Scentsy to make the house smell good and had the Christmas music playing.

The kids got their stockings down and mine looked heavy. I didn't put anything in it, but the handful of Christmas candy that I had placed in Christopher's stocking was suspiciously missing from his lode. I dumped mine and lo and behold...there they were. Plus some Hershey's kisses that I didn't put into anyone's stocking.

"I can't let you have an empty stocking on Christmas," he said. I didn't cry, but I thought about it.

They've done this before. Actually, I think they do it every year, and every year it gets me. But I reminded him of the first time they did this.

The first Christmas on our own, in 2007, I didn't even have a stocking. I didn't have any of our old Christmas stuff and had to buy everything new. I bought stockings for the kids, but I figured I'd get myself a stocking later. Maybe the next year.

So Christmas morning Christopher got one of his clean socks out of his drawer and both kids took candy from their stockings and filled one for me.

I'm not sure what I did to deserve such fantastic kids, but I am so thankful for them!!

(Of course, by the next year I made sure I had my own stocking. The sock thing was cute, but I mean, it was a sock! I'm just thankful it was clean!)

Hope y'all's Christmas was a good one!!

Pineapple Sandwiches Part 2

If you ever wonder who’s reading your blog posts, blog about pineapple sandwiches. My last post sparked a minor Facebook frenzy…mostly commented on by people who have tasted these Anderson Pineapple Sandwiches and know I’m right.

But the cool thing is, it turns out that my conversation with my mom not only spawned a blog post, followed by more conversations with her, my daughter  and my sister about these sandwiches, but I also had other members of my family talking about them. Yep, pineapple sandwiches were the hot topic leading up to this year’s Anderson Christmas Party.

My cousin Teri, God bless her, took it upon herself to tackle this top secret recipe so we didn’t have to go without. She called Marcia, the Official Pineapple Sandwich Maker, and got the exact recipe. Y’all….we had not one but TWO trays of pineapple sandwiches!! 

LOOK!!!

They were good, too.  I had to laugh at Dennis, because I watched him snag one before anybody started fixing plates. Apparently Teri wouldn’t let him near them before the party. And he thought no one was looking. Pssht!! ;) 

Would you believe I actually got TWO???

And there were LEFTOVERS!!!!  Rhonda and Christopher polished off the last two right before we walked out the door at the end of the night.

Let me tell you why this is strange. As my cousin Amy and I sat there noshing on our first one, we happily reminisced about how everybody was only allowed to get one, because Uncle Archie only brought one tray of them. They are literally the only food I remember that was on every Anderson table, from the picnic tables at Anderson’s Pond to Nanny’s dining room table at Christmas. And y’all, we know how to put out a spread. But these…if you weren’t at the head of the line, you probably wouldn’t get one. People were watching to see how many you took, too, and would call you out in a minute if you took more than one. That’s what my mama said, anyway. 

Seriously, I almost feel a little silly causing such a furor over a small pile of circular bread, mayonnaise and pineapple with a cherry on top.

But it’s really much more than a sandwich. These stories…this is what those pineapple sandwiches are really about. There were more than 50* folks milling around Leslie’s house tonight (and that wasn’t even close to all of us), and 95 percent of them share my memories of these things. People read my silly ramblings and talked about them before we even got to Leslie’s. We talked about them as we ate them. We remembered. We laughed. It was awesome!

I told you Uncle Archie started bringing them in the first place. Well, neither Uncle Archie nor his wife, Aunt Elizabeth, is with us anymore. Neither is my Grandaddy nor my Nanny.

See, five brothers and their wives started this family. Uncle Archie was my Grandaddy’s brother. Of the five brothers, one is still with us. Of the five wives, we still have three. But as long as someone is willing to make them, we still have the pineapple sandwiches. And when we eat them and tell the stories, we remember Uncle Archie. And Nanny and Grandaddy. And Uncle John. And Uncle Richard. There all there, even though we may not say their names. Because just like the sandwiches leave us wanting more, so do the stories of gatherings past. But the difference is, we will never run out of stories and we share them freely!

*I suck at estimation. There could have been 50 people there. There could have been 90. There could have been 20. It was a lot. That is all I know. Carry on.

P.S. Leslie was telling me that it felt strange to her be having this party at her house. She felt like we should be at Nanny’s.  I can’t remember if I’ve blogged about our Christmases at Nanny’s. If I haven’t, I promise I will. I relish the opportunity to relive them.

The Sandwiches of Pineapple

I am starting to think that this whole internet down thing is a good thing. For one, it forces me to get out of that chair. That's good. Movement reminds me how little I do it. My house is getting cleaner. I'm seeing my friends family more, because they have computers that work. (I'm KIDDING! (Kinda). I really do love you!!!)

Moving on....

Speaking of family, I'm gonna see a whole slew of them Saturday at the annual Christmas party. But what my mom and I were talking about yesterday were The Pineapple Sandwiches. I don't think anybody's going to bring them this year and that makes me kind of sad. See, these aren't just any pineapple sandwiches. These are special pineapple sandwiches. Anybody can make them, but not to serve to the Anderson clan.

It doesn't look like we will have any this year because our Official Pineapple Sandwich Maker won't be able to make it.

And no, someone else can't do it. As I said, these are special pineapple sandwiches. If they can't be done right, they won't be done at all. We can't fly in the face of tradition! Marcia's family has to make them, because she has The Glass. She inherited it from Uncle Archie, the original Official Pineapple Sandwich Maker. I've never seen this glass. I've only heard of its existence. But it is the Holy Grail of glasses, because it cuts the Pineapple Sandwich Bread to the precise circumference of the pineapple slice. Now you or I might just use the can, or any old glass, but to be the Anderson Pineapple Sandwich, it has to be made with The Glass.

You can't just use any old ingredients, either. No, sir. There is a recipe and a method to these sandwiches. Me and Mama aren't certain, but we're pretty sure there is the right brand of bread, pineapple and maraschino cherries. Of course....there has to be! And the mayonnaise! It can't be just any old mayonnaise. I know one of my cousins will help me out here. I think it's Dukes, but I'm not sure. Please don't disown me, but I don't remember!!

So then, the bread slices are cut into perfect circles with The Glass. One side of each is carefully coated with a thin layer of Special Brand Mayonnaise. Then the pineapple slices, I believe, are further carefully sliced into smaller slivers than DelMonte deemed appropriate. They are carefully placed on one these mayonnaised circles. Another mayonnaised circle is placed on top, and a cherry half -- meticulously wiped free of excess juice that would stain the perfectly white top and my favorite part of the whole sandwich -- is carefully centered in the exact middle of The Sandwich.
 
Us children in the family used to fight our way to the front of the serving line in the hopes of getting one of these delectable creations, of which there were never enough of! Sad was the kid who reached the tray to find it empty. Some people eat them in two bites. I prefer to nibble and savor the pineapple/cherry bliss. After all, if you manage get two of these bad boys at one get-together you can count yourself lucky! There are never leftovers.

For those of you who have never tasted this manna and IF you are, by chance, turning up your nose at the thought of it (which has been done), all I have to say to you is: Don't knock it til you've tried it. They are almost as awesome as my Nanny's banana cake!!

Offline

, We are in crisis mode in the Kaylor house.

Our internet is down. I would tell you why, but I don't know myself. Something about the IP address and my computer's inability to find one. My IT department (also known as my brother-in-law), is trying to fix it. Bless him.

All I know is, I have stories to write (read: money to make) and no access to Google. Or email. Or Facebook. Or Blogger. See? Crisis. This is my sanity we're talking about here, people!!

My sweetie loaned me his laptop today so I can get some work done. In my jammies. (I'm just kidding. I'll get dressed. Eventually.) And so that the teenagers in the house can check Facebook before they experience a nuclear meltdown. And so that I can scribble a quick note to you to say...

.....please bear with us as we are experiencing technical difficulties.



*I've always wanted to say that.

**Not really.