Mailboxes and Marshmallows
Throughout elementary school, I begged my mom for a shoebox on every February 13th and asked her to cut a slit in the lid. I then pulled out pink construction paper, red glitter glue, and shiny white sequins to decorate the sides. I even pressed on sparkly heart stickers for good measure!
The next morning, I carefully held my homemade Valentine mailbox on my lap as Mom drove across town. At school, I placed it on my desk just like the rest of my classmates.
After lunch, we walked around the room, dropping paper cards into each person’s mailbox while the parents set up for our classroom party. Although I dreaded the politics of handing out those little Valentines—you had to make sure the sappy ones didn’t go to any of the boys!—I always loved the sugar cookies and conversation hearts that the parents brought in. It was probably a good thing they never made these chocolate dipped marshmallows… I would have eaten every last one and refused to share, even with my crush! Continue reading for recipe.
Pretty Please, With Marshmallows on Top?
Our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners taste almost exactly the same; we just swap out the platter of turkey for honey-baked ham (much to Grandma’s dismay, who is the only person every year to eat more than two “ceremonial” bites of the bird). We make homemade rolls, mashed potatoes, cranberry salad, pecan pie, and, of course… Sweet potatoes. Continue reading for recipe.
Foods for the Soul 