|
 My
friend Wendy Heinzmann is an avid runner. She is also a socialite.
She is the one who gets us all together for dinners out, plans
runs throughout the week and special events throughout the year.
She has this one event every December called the Jingle Jog. Her
and her friends don jingle bells and dash through the trails.
Afterwards they meet for gift exchanging and holiday treats. I
asked her if she wouldn’t mind that we borrow her concept and she
was delighted. Those of you that were at the Adventure Race will
remember “Cowgirl Wendy” helping out on the bike course. She will
be there at the run as well, jingling along.
Now, the
Taffy Pull is a tradition in my family. Being a Southern
California family, anything you do more than once is a tradition,
but my Aunt Jean and Uncle Dick had this party going on for over
thirty years. It wasn’t really based around any religious holiday
although we did sing carols and the same man, for all those years,
read T’was the Night Before Christmas. We also had a piñata
(and as an adult, Aunt Jean conned me into manning it - I still
have the bruises), ate tamales and pulled taffy. My aunt would
heat a sugary concoction and we would take
 the ooze and pull
and stretch it until it represented taffy. We would then shape it
into candy canes, dogs, wreaths, whatever, and let it cool. The
brave ones actually ate it. But the wonderful feeling I still
remember from those parties was that everyone had a wonderful time
and could not wait until the following year to celebrate again.
Hopefully our rendition of Aunt Jean’s Taffy Pull will have the
same effect on you.
Maylene |
