on the second day of Christmas... sweets!

These little houses are teeny tiny, and made of a featherweight material , easily bent, but treasured.  My father's mother died when I was a month old, so we never met, but I was told she made Christmas villages under the tree, and I assume these were some of them.  And what else did we get excited about at Christmas?  CANDY!

Ribbon candy is made right in Massachusetts, my home state.  It's the prettiest candy you can imagine as a child, and shattering the "ribbon" is half the fun.  Marzipan has always been a favorite treat, though not half as intricate today as the marzipan you could get in New York City when I was a child.  I remember being taken to a fantastical German candymaker's store with the most delicate and lifelike fruits you could imagine.  And the foil covered chocolate coins were always in our stockings, along with the orange .

Carrying on the tradition with my own children always reminded me of my own childhood, and my parents and siblings , but also brought a little bit of magical fairy dust into Christmas Day.  What are your traditions at Christmas?