I made some of the little sacks we used to get after the Christmas programs to hand out to friends. Little did I know what an adventure that would turn into just to find all the candy that was always in that little sack. But it was a labor of love to try and find them all.

The ribbon candy was the hardest to find and I never did find just what I was looking for, all I could find was a white with red and green stripes that was the mini ribbon. We always had the solid red, green and some striped that looked like Christmas.

After many emails and a few phone calls from some of my classmates, they finally convinced me that there was also orange slices and peanut brittle in the sacks which I had not bought so they were not actually complete this time. But everyone that received one thought they were wonderful; but the other response was not exactly what I expected.

My friend Mary Jean (who claims to be my number one fan) was as territorial as a pit bull. She met me at the mall after my shift at the Hospice Remember Me Tree and I gave the sack to her there. I only had one for her and had not even thought about giving one to her husband Ken because he was not from our home town, but I soon learned what a mistake that was. I should have given him his own sack.

When I handed the little brown sack with the twisted top to Mary Jean it did not register for a few seconds what it was. I think she thought it was something that was going to explode because she cautiously opened it and peeked in, ready to jump or throw it away if necessary.

When she saw the orange nestled in the corner of the sack she let out a squeal and opened it up all the way. “OH My God, it is one of the little Christmas Sacks. I can’t believe you actually put one together for me!” This unfortunately brought her husband to her side to see what she had.

He leaned in to take a look at the little sack and she jerked it away and held it tight against her chest so he couldn’t see in it. He then tried to reach for it to take it and look at it. Big mistake, the next thing that happened was a slap to the offending hand that was close to her sack. “NO, you can’t have any,” she said as she opened it and took a vanilla drop from the little sack. It made me think of those little kids that get into a fight and one keeps yelling, “MINE, MINE, MINE” at the top of their lungs.

She finally held the sack open cautiously, but still close to her chest so he could peek in and see what was in there. Before she could react he had one hand in the sack and had grabbed a peanut cluster. The only reason he got by with it that time was she had her other hand occupied with the vanilla drop.

So while she was busy with the vanilla drop and talking to me about how they were her favorite he grabbed one more of the peanut clusters. If looks could kill he would have dropped dead on the spot and we would have had to call 911.

From what I heard in an email they fought all the way back to Pratt because she wouldn’t share any more candy from the Christmas sack and he wanted to sample more of it.

After that I decided to give both the alumni from our school and the spouse a sack of their own to try and keep them from fighting. I gave our good friends Russ and Shirley their sacks a week before Christmas. She is the alumni and she promptly ate the peanut clusters not only in her sack but in his, without him seeing her get into the sacks.

When he wanted a peanut cluster and looked in the first sack he decided that it was hers since the peanut clusters were gone so he opened the other one and found they were all gone in that one too.

He asked her about them and she confessed that she had eaten all of them out of both sacks. Then he fussed at her because he didn’t get any of the peanut clusters because they were his favorite too. I don’t think she was too contrite about eating them though.

I sent Shirley and Mary Jean an email and told them I thought when I gave out the sacks that I was giving them to adults, but the sacks had transported them back to their childhood in the blink of an eye, and they needed to learn to share.

The only couple that didn’t fight over the sacks was Irene (our music teacher’s daughter) and her husband Bill; they shared the candy like adults. Well, what was left after she ate her favorites from both sacks.

The little Christmas sack of cheer and act of kindness had turned into a real free for all. It had brought out the child in everyone I gave it to.  My husband told me I was a trouble maker because I had created the Sack Wars between our friends and their spouses with the little sacks of Christmas candy. Nothing like spreading joy at Christmas I say. To contact Sandy: [email protected]