My Favorite Christmas Memory

I'm working on cemetery flowers for my grandparents today and I'm getting a bit sentimental. 

My favorite Christmas memory doesn't come from a present, a shopping experience, decorating or a big party. It involves peanut brittle and my Grandmama! 

It was the winter of 2001, and Grandmama had just got of the hospital. She had a stroke a couple of years before that and someone had to stay with her. I stayed a lot of nights with her and made the sweetest memories with her! 

She usually went to bed around 8:00. The house was quite and I was in her kitchen, baking cookies. Christmas was just a couple days away. Now mind you, I was expecting her to go to bed any minute, but she got up and came in the kitchen, grabbed her big cast iron skillet and got busy making peanut brittle! 

(This pic was from my cousin's wedding that was held that summer.) 

Due to her stroke, she had trouble talking. Everyone was "mama" and she used words like "skeepits" and "Wiggins" 

She knew what she was trying to say, but it didn't come out that way. If you ask her a question, she could answer or nod yes or no, but you had to know what to ask. 

I had never made peanut brittle and didn't know exactly what to do, how to help her, or how to spin a thread! Somehow that peanut brittle turned out fantastic and I've never had another piece as good as that night! She died the following March and I'll never forget her and our time together. 

The recipe above is in her handwriting and is a copy from her cookbook. One time, I tried unsuccessfully to make it and almost had to throw away my skillet as it stuck terribly and I had to chisel out the failed brittle! 

Favorite memories aren't bought or underneath the tree...