My grandmother had a bowl of ribbon candy in her living room for as long as I can remember. It was the first or second place we checked every time we visited. Unfortunately over time the candy would melt together into one big blob. Being inventive children we would not be thwarted by this circumstance; my oldest brother would take the blob out of the dish – when no adults were around of course – and crack it on the edge of the kitchen counter in order to break the candy into smaller pieces. He then secretly put it back in the dish in the smaller pieces, and we would sneak candy the rest of the visit, secretly knowing that we won the battle with the candy dish.
When my husband and I saw the candy in the store, we both shared our childhood memories about our grandmother’s candy dishes. We laughed because he and his brother did the same thing; they found a way to break up the candy ribbons once they melted into on blob. It must have been a tradition or expectation for grandmothers to have candy dishes, and of course they knew that visiting children would plot to eat it’s contents as soon as the adults left the room.
We have now reached the age when children have begun to come visit our house. I still have the glass candy dish my grandmother had in her living room. For the sake of tradition, continuity and to dispel boredom for those unsuspecting kids that visit us, I need to put candy in the dish. I need to provide a secret challenge for them to overcome together and savor the victory of ‘fooling’ the adults and enjoying tasty sweets. I need to figure out though, how do I keep that bowl full without me or my husband eating it before kids arrive? I assume my grandfather and my husband’s grandfather had the same temptations. They each had a sweet tooth. Maybe that is why the candy was left to form a blob…less appealing to the residents of the house? Adults don’t want to work that hard to get a piece of candy. Ahhhhh the wisdom of a past generation revealed through the secret adventure of the candy dish.
Ann Art Gallery Blog 