Winter Fun

 In the winter we were not outside as much. Mom needed to find things for us to do. Otherwise we would drive her crazy!

We all liked to read so often we were in a comfortable spot with a book. And we all liked to cook. My sister made the best cakes from scratch. My brothers liked cookies. I made bread, sweet rolls, and pies. 

We often played games in the evening. We had a lot of board games and we also played word games and paper games. And of course card games. As you can see we kept busy. 

There were also some special activities. 

Fudge was the most frequent of these. Fudge was made from scratch. After it cooked to a soft ball temperature it had to be stirred vigorously until it hardened, Then it was poured out and cut into squares. We usually had fudge with popcorn.

Divinity was my mother's favorite treat. We called it white fudge but it is a different candy. It is made of corn syrup, sugar, and egg whites. I find it too sweet for my taste. One bite is plenty.

Rock candy is a great treat. You can make one flavor or many. One color or many. I cook the ingredients to a hard boil then pour them out onto a cookie sheet. After it cools hit the candy to make smaller pieces. They are pretty in a bowl for people to snack on.

A taffy pull is a fun activity. Once the candy is cooked we picked it up with hands covered with butter to keep it from sticking to our hands. We had some choices. A small amount could be pulled from one hand to another. A large amount was at least a two-person job.

The candy was pulled back and forth until it firmed. It could be cut into pieces by a pair of scissors. 

It looks like all we did in the winter was eat. It was not all we did but we did enjoy eating.