PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

Christmas with my grandmother had always been an experience. All 15 cousins and their ten parents, as well as the special plus one and oldest member of the family. There were always the typical components of Christmas, the feeling of warmth, the voices and laughter of the young and the old and the delicious food. But there was always another component, one that was valued by few in the family, in a tin box stashed away but always present, was where my grandmother stored her favorite candy; Almond Roca. From the golden wrapper to the tiny log that it held inside, it is something that has been present through every Christmas, every day since my memory can remember. The funny thing is I used to hate them. The outside was tasteless; the inside was too hard and the wrapper too difficult to open. In my head I pondered of any reason why anyone would buy this sort of thing, but one way or another whether eaten or not the tin box would reappear when the time would tell us to gather in family. Traditions were important in the household and in time I realized this candy had become part of our tradition. I started coming into the realization that the taste had changed, me, my cousins and all our parents kept growing up, and she did as well. With maturing came other things. As we tend to do in youth, I wasn’t completely aware of what this meant for everyone, as it turns out, it is true that older people are much more fragile and my grandmother had been no exception. The small tin can was probably still in the house as her valuables were stored to be taken somewhere else and we wept for her sudden disability to continue in our company. Some things stop being just things; they go on to become valuable symbols of old memories. Almond chocolates were now engraved in the moments we shared with her, and the golden color a memory of time spent in family and enjoying our own company. When I see them she will always spring to mind, and I’ll be happy to have shared experiences with the people I most love and admire. Christmas won’t be the same without her presence, but in my mind she will be in the crinkling of gold foil and sweetness that came with it.