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Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Chocolate Covered Memories

This story comes to you today from a little piece of sunshine that is a sweet memory of my childhood. My grandma Johnson is a woman among women. I adore her. She is a masterful cook. She can whip anything up in a moments notice, from scratch. It's been the last couple of years that her health has been failing her. On Christmas day she was released from the hospital where she was admitted  for pain in her right arm. She was released just in time to make it home to welcome all the family into her home to celebrate. Christmas has always been an amazing family gathering at my grandparents home.

This particular story didn't happen at Christmas time, but it was during the deer hunting season. My dad and grandpa had went into the woods to do some deer hunting and grandma was in her kitchen melting the chocolate bark on the stove. My dad had bought chocolate bark before to put on top of our ice cream. I remember being amazed by how the chocolate hardened on the ice cream. Grandma was taking two Ritz crackers and putting peanut butter in between the two crackers and covering them with chocolate. My brother and I were responsible for putting the peanut butter on the crackers. I can hear Grandma now, "Don't put too much peanut butter on the crackers." She finished up the last of the chocolate and put the crackers in zip lock baggies. My brother got his own and I got one of my own. Then she filled a larger bag up for the guys out in the 'deer woods', as she called it. She put us in over sized orange vest and sent my brother and I out to take the guys hunting some of our goodies. She said, "This will help hold the guys over until dinner time. The peanut butter will give them energy." Off my brother and I went to find where the other guys were. It was a bit of an adventure. Grandma and Grandpa lived on quite a bit of land.

Today I pulled out the chocolate bark and just the sign of chocolate brought the kids to the kitchen, eager to see what I was going to make. We started putting peanut butter on the crackers and dipping them in the chocolate. It reminded me of the amazing time I had with my Grandma the first time I had this little treat and the adventure that she sent my brother and I on when we were kids. It really is the little things that we do with our kids that makes the difference. It's the time we spend talking with them and including them in our grown up worlds that they will recall with their own kids someday. All the grandmas out there that make yourselves available to your grandkids, teaching them the little things that their parents haven't got to just yet. You are valued and loved and you matter in the equation of growing happy healthy families.

That's all I have for today. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. From my home to your home have an amazing New Years!!

That Autism MOM


www.thatautismmom.com