One of my most popular columns of 2024 was the one about psithurism, trees talking to each other.

Here at Otter Run, it just isn’t Christmas without Kathie’s Christmas Candy. There are four that I make every year — cashew/peanut clusters, blossom cookies, peanut butter balls and seafoam. Chocolate makes me break out in fat, and I don’t like super-sweet desserts, so I rarely eat the candy, but I do have fun making it. If you are reading this after Christmas, there’s no reason not to give one of the following recipes a try.

At Hilrose Dairy Farm in Sherwood back in the 1950s, the Christmas holidays began in earnest the day after Thanksgiving. I loved that time of year. The harvest was over; life took on a slower pace. The coal and wood room that would keep the furnace going was filled to the brim. Food to carry us through winter was preserved and stored. The house was clean from top to bottom.