When I was just a young child(I know, everyone says I still look like a young child) I asked my Mother- Tulips… What can I get my Godfather for Christmas? She replied “I think he likes Chocolate Covered Cherries.” So that year I spent a whole $0.50 on a box of them, I was so excited and proud that I was giving him something he truly enjoyed.
That Christmas Eve we all gathered at my Grand’s house, and I was elated with giggles and anticipation at his reaction to his gift. It seemed like hours and hours, until I could give him his gift. Finally the moment was at hand, and I reached under the tree and took his gift in my hands and walked it over to him.
He unwrapped the gift, and a huge smile and a burst of laughter came from his mouth! I thought “ah ha success!”
A number of years went on with me giving him a box of these cherries each year. Finally one year he gave me a gift back… The present was cold to the touch, and I thought “maybe it’s ice cream?” I started to unwrap it and low and behold… it was a frozen box of CCC! He had frozen the previous years box of CCC and kept in his freezer for me.
This went back and forth with the same box in my freezer and his, back and forth…
As the years passed, the CCC gifts got bigger, crazier and more creative. Everything from CCC Cake, CCC cookies, CCC drinks, larger then life sized CCC’s, and more…
He and I looked so forward to each year, how we could put a new spin on those nasty tasting things. We competed to out do one another. It wasn't until many years later that I learned he did not even like them, nor do I.
Last year I made him a Chocolate Covered Cherry Hat, and he gave me all the fixings for CCC Martini’s!!!
Unknown to any of us that last year would be the last Christmas we would ever share in this wonderful tradition we created.
My Godfather passed away this summer after a difficult battle against Cancer.
I implore you to go out and buy a box of CCC this holiday season, raise your hand with one and salute someone you have lost, and cherish the memories that you two made together that will last an eternity.
Godfather, I miss you, I will always miss “our special thing with the CCC’s”
Gone, but never forgotten.
