Sweet Rewards

Every year, usually around Christmas time, my mom gets together with her neighbor (the professional candy maker) and makes chocolates. Growing up, I would go over and watch and sometimes sample. They did all the work and we got to enjoy the fruits of their labors! It worked out well. And these are not amateur chocolates. These are as good, if not better, as the ones you buy in fine chocolate stores. They are so yummy, they just melt in your mouth. Last night, we got together and Mom taught us how to make caramels. It took us about 5 hours from start to finish and boy was it worth it! It took about 1 hour to cook the caramel to a soft ball stage with constant stirring. It was a good thing we had lots of hands to switch off with! This is the chocolate we used and it smelled so good! It was sitting on my counter for a day and they kids loved to open the bag and just smell it. Talk about pure torture! We still have 1/2 the block left and I think we'll learn how to do cream centers next time. I can hardly wait!

After the caramel cooled and was firm, we cut it into pieces. Occassionally there was an end that was to small and it just had to be eaten! This stuff is so yummy even without the chocoloate! The chocolate makers consisted of Chelsea (my cousin), my Aunts Mary Louise and Kathy, and Tatum (my sister-in-law).

We had a great time dipping the caramels. Mom taught us well. She showed us how to do it and then hurried around getting the caramel, melting chocolate, shuffling pans around and holding Kolby when need be. Our's looked nothing like her's, but they sure tasted good. And we each had a gazillion to take home to our ever so happy families. And the best thing, it's not even Christmas! And I just have to say, I come from the greatest family! We have more fun when we are together. My Grandparents and Aunts & Uncles did a great job of planning lots of family get togethers when all us kids were growing up. It's harder now that we are all so spread out, but we still manage to get together and we love it! There's nothing better than family.