Christmas Dilemma

For many people the Christmas season is made special by their family traditions. Families bake cookies together, exchange gifts, carol, give service--the list is practically endless. For my family making Sedgwick English Toffee tops our list. It is a tradition that has lasted decades, beginning when my mother wooed my father with it, sealing the deal with his wedding proposal. The toffee is THAT good. (OK, the toffee is really that good, even though the story may or may not be true).
So what could possibly be the dilemma then? The problem is that I am on the "Candy Deal" which is another, more recent Sedgwick family tradition where the participants go without eating candy for an entire year. Do you see where I am headed? How can one blast Karen Carpenter singing, "I'll be home fore Christmas" and stand at the stove top for 30-45 minutes (times MANY batches) and make English Toffee if I can't EAT any of it. A couple of my sisters have made exceptions for English Toffee in the Candy Deal. I mean really, can you trust a candy maker's toffee if they refuse to eat it themselves? We have said that we can eat it as an ice cream topping--but that's not working really well. Do I really have to eat a WHOLE BOWL full ice cream when all I really want to do is make sure that the toffee is good enough to give away?? And here is another problem--today when I took a picture of the toffee, I accidentally knocked some off of the table and it fell to the floor. As I cleaned it up I absentmindedly popped a piece into my mouth. What did I discover? It stuck to my teeth!!!!! I made that batch several days ago and hadn't gotten around to giving it all away, and the toffee that was left was not up to par. I know, this is getting serious.
So, I am a in a full dilemma. I don't know what to do. If I make an exception for the toffee, I will feel like I have to justify eating a little toffee after abstaining from candy for 11 1/2 months. If I don't eat the toffee, I might end up giving someone sticky or burned toffee AND end up eating too much ice cream. What would you do??

Thankful for Grandparents

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break which was made even better by a long awaited visit from Grandma and Grandpa Rowen. We loved spending time together. They hadn't been to San Diego in a long time, so we were determined to show them a good time. We went to the beach, hot tubbing and to Coronado Island. We watched movies, shopped, ate mexican food and played at the park. It was perfect. We can't wait for them to come back!