Choice Morsels

For Mama Kat Thursday, I'm going to do a series on "Memories from Grandma's House," highlighting some of my more amusing memories of visiting my Mom's Mother, whom we called, "Grandma Robbins." (Since we had two grandma's, we identified them by last name.) This was Grandma's Robbin's  house in Mantorville, Minnesota. It's the house Mother grew up in, her and her 6 other siblings.  This how it looks now. (photo from Google Earth.)  But back in the 60's, it still had white wood siding, old fashioned ceiling to floor glass windows, lots more green shrubs close to the house and more trees in the yard plus an old barn on the other side that served as a garage with a big garden next to it.  It was a huge house, old in the 60's when we were visiting. Downstairs had a kitchen with a bedroom behind it that Grandma and Grandpa used, a bathroom, a informal dining-family room with a wood stove, a large formal living room with a a...

           “ This Christmas,” our Mother firmly and unexpectedly announced, “there will be NO chocolate.”       My sisters and I stared at her incredulously. What, no chocolate? It was inconceivable!       You see, every year, for as long as I could remember, there had been chocolate on Christmas. Not just a little chocolate, but an opulent extravaganza of chocolate that would've made even Willy Wonka blush. Empty decorative bowls would be laid out on Christmas Eve, enough to cover our 7 foot dining table, only to be “magically” filled by morning with Hershey’s Kisses, Hershey's Mini-bars, chocolate peanut clusters, chocolate turtles, chocolate cremes, M&M's of both types, chocolate stars, chocolate-covered cherries, Tootsie rolls and candy bars of every type. It was a veritable chocolate feast the Ghost of Christmas Present would surely admire.       How...