Bah, Humbug!
By A.J. Llewellyn
As a kid growing up in Australia, humbugs seemed to be a Christmas candy supposedly eaten mostly in winter and yet our Christmases were in the summer. I hated having a hot Christmas. I wanted to be like the rest of the world. I wanted snow and ice and winter lollies that were supposed to be eaten in winter!
Instead, we would spend the day at Bondi Beach – right outside our door – and our lunchtime snacks of lime cordial and vegemite sandwiches with sand dusted through them seemed right in the heat, but at night we had a big, British-inspired Christmas dinner.
And it was hot! Damned hot.
Of course, with my sweet tooth, pudding with brandy butter and bowls of boiled lollies scattered around the house made up for the long, hot meal in the middle of a long, hot summer.
Humbugs. Until I moved here in 1984, I had no idea that most Americans didn’t know what a boiled lolly was, not to mention a humbug.
They thought I was referring to Dickens and kept saying, Why do you keep saying humbug? What’s wrong?”
Nothing was wrong. Except, I craved humbugs. They seemed perplexed to learn that humbugs were candy, not just an expression of dissatisfaction.
My friends in London and Sydney used to take pity on us US-transplanted Aussies and send us VHS tapes of TV shows. Occasionally, they’d send me bags of Barrett’s boiled lollies and I got to have my humbugs – and eat them, too.
This was very nice but they seemed to have no idea that we couldn’t watch those videos here since the US is on a different frequency. So all I saw was snow.
It wasn’t until I went to London one Christmas and walked into an old-fashioned candy shop and saw jars and jars of humbugs that I felt once again at home. I bought bags and bags of the stuff to bring to my friends back here in LA. The following year when I went back to London for Christmas again I got many requests for more humbugs. Thankfully now, one can buy them at some of the British tea shops that have sprung up around the country but to me they just don’t taste the same.
I’ve tried making my own – yes, I truly did. I won’t tell you how badly they turned out. I didn’t get the perfect stripes. More like a drunkard’s version of swirls and smears. But, I digress.
Christmas to me is humbugs. The tasty kind. Not the grumpy kind. What about you? What candy do you associate with Christmas? Please let me know. I’ll be selecting two winners! They will each receive a free eBook of my Christmas titles from my backlist OR one of my upcoming Christmas releases – Sex and Candy at Total-e-Bound or Eynhallow from Amber Allure, once they become available. They will also receive a free bag of humbugs!
Bah, Humbug!
A.J.
Humbugs sound amazing! For better or worse, I always think of the See’s Candies Nuts and Chews box…we’re always so thrilled to get them, until people bring too many and then we keep eating ’em. Or, they bring one of the less-desirable See’s assortments, and we wish for Nuts and Chews. I also like the fudge from a local confectioner…
Posted by Trix on December 1st, 2012 at 10:50 amI grew up relatively poor. I honestly don’t remember to many of my Christmases as a small child. A few here and there but not many, I do however remember more of my Christmas’s as a teenager in a Foster home. I was there from 16-21 and it was the best 4yrs of my life. Every Christmas meant that we made candy. Mostly Chocolates. We made everything from Scratch Mint Mints, Caramels, Peanut butter cups, and Choc covered Cherries (we made the sugar filling from scratch.) We also made lots and lots of cut out cookies. These were the gifts we gave to loved ones and friends. They meant the most to me not only because I did these things from scratch but because I got to spend time with my awesome foster mom Peggy. We could be counted on to make candy 2 times a year Christmas and Easter. The best times was making Naughty candy. Peggy had molds that were naughty. There was a Santa with a very Large Penis we used often to send to some of our naughty friends and family.
I guess mostly its not so much one type of candy that makes me think of the holidays but several different types. I miss the smell of the kitchen and the laughter, and love that went with the season. It’s been to many years and those are some of the memories I remember the most often the things I miss the most. I miss Peggy’s cooking the family and the animals. She had Acres of land and when it got really snowy we would cross country ski all over the yard and the neighborhood. Thank you for allowing me to remember and talk about some of my favorite candies and Christmases.
Posted by silver on December 1st, 2012 at 11:15 amI grew up relatively poor. I honestly don’t remember to many of my Christmases as a small child. A few here and there but not many, I do however remember more of my Christmas’s as a teenager in a Foster home. I was there from 16-21 and it was the best 4yrs of my life. Every Christmas meant that we made candy. Mostly Chocolates. We made everything from Scratch Mint Mints, Caramels, Peanut butter cups, and Choc covered Cherries (we made the sugar filling from scratch.) We also made lots and lots of cut out cookies. These were the gifts we gave to loved ones and friends. They meant the most to me not only because I did these things from scratch but because I got to spend time with my awesome foster mom Peggy. We could be counted on to make candy 2 times a year Christmas and Easter. The best times was making Naughty candy. Peggy had molds that were naughty. There was a Santa with a very Large Penis we used often to send to some of our naughty friends and family.
I guess mostly its not so much one type of candy that makes me think of the holidays but several different types. I miss the smell of the kitchen and the laughter, and love that went with the season. It’s been to many years and those are some of the memories I remember the most often the things I miss the most. I miss Peggy’s cooking the family and the animals. She had Acres of land and when it got really snowy we would cross country ski all over the yard and the neighborhood. Thank you for allowing me to remember and talk about some of my favorite candies and Christmases.
Posted by silver on December 1st, 2012 at 11:24 am(AJ ignore the one in moderation i typed in my addy wrong and didnt know it)
Someone always gave my mom a huge box of pricey Chocolates when I was a kid. She never bought them for herself, but she loved them. By default, the ones with nuts went to me!
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Posted by Urb on December 1st, 2012 at 1:09 pmCandy Canes are my Christmas favorites. Oddly enough, I truly love peppermint candies/sticks. The best are the ones that have air spun into them so they crunch nicely. Yes, I know that chewing hard candies is not good for your teeth but it’s just so intense that way!
Posted by Janette on December 1st, 2012 at 2:40 pmHaving some distant relatives in the U.K., I do know how delightful humbugs are. I’m also a big fan of the bags of Bassett’s Mint Favourites – especially the toffee. Yum!
Happy Holidays to you and yours 😉
Thank you everyone for your awesome comments! Urb, I like chocolates with nuts too! Silver, I always learn something new about you. Glad you have some good memories and Peggy and her penis molds! What a hoot! Janette, I love Mint Favorites too!
Posted by AJ on December 1st, 2012 at 6:40 pmWhat candy I think of when I think of christmas is chocolate covered cherries and mints the white and red ones because my mom use to have them all the time around christmas time.
Posted by Deborah H on December 1st, 2012 at 7:18 pmI grew up in the deep south, so all my Christmases were spent in Charleston, S.C. and a small town in North Florida you would only have heard of if your in the Military. To me Christmas is hot days, cold nights, innumerable family members, and more sea food then you can imagine. But growing up it wasn’t Christmas season until my dad bought himself a jay of hard candy. You know the kind that comes in a tin can, is stuck to each other, and has like 10 different flavors. No one in my family except him likes them. But everyone of his grand kids eats it with him just cause Granddaddy gave it to them. So now that I’ve moved out and on my own every time I pass that nasty candy in a store I buy it just to have in my living room to remind me of him.
Posted by Danielle on December 1st, 2012 at 8:58 pmIt would be a box of See’s candy that was given as a gift to my parents by family friends. The five kids got to choose one piece per night, trying to guess which one to choose since we couldn’t tell what was inside.
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Posted by Jess1 on December 1st, 2012 at 11:52 pmPeanut brittle and chocolate fudge remind me of Christmas 🙂
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Posted by Penumbra on December 2nd, 2012 at 1:36 amChocolate gingers! My nana always had these a christmas and now my mum always buys a box for me
Posted by Suze on December 2nd, 2012 at 7:53 amMy grand-uncles always gave us each a box of chocolate cherries, yum love them to this day. Can’t wait to maybe try a humbug.
Posted by Nancy S on December 2nd, 2012 at 6:27 pmOne year my mom bought these chocolate orange ornaments for our tree that wee couldn’t eat until Christmas morning. The fact we couldn’t have them for weeks made us want them more! The chocolates were in the shape of orange sections and flavored, so delicious! Thanks for participating in the hop!
Posted by Juliana on December 2nd, 2012 at 7:22 pmOceanAkers @ aol.com
anything chocolate
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Posted by bn100 on December 2nd, 2012 at 9:25 pm