Family time, hugs and Santa in today’s letters to the editor.

Pick of the day: Wiggly dessert was a Christmas treat

Ah yes, Christmas memories. I have many, but my favorite one is the Christmas I was introduced to J-E-L-L-O. I was age 6 that year.

It was 1936, my father’s business had failed, and we were without roots. We were sharing a large house with a related family, although each family had separate living quarters.

Mother’s only method of keeping food from spoiling was an old-fashioned icebox; not cold enough for what she had in mind. The temperature that Christmas morning was frigid. Taking advantage of the outdoor chill, she made up Jello and set it on the back porch to gel, which it did by dinner time. (This was when dinner was at noon.) She served her Jello as a surprise dessert. It was “Christmasy” red and delicious. What a delight for a 6-year-old who had never seen Jello, much less tasted it.

At age 82, I still like red Jello — cherry, strawberry or whatever — and it still reminds me of mother’s surprise Christmas dessert.

CURTIS A. CLAY

GALAX