“We can EAT these?” Andrew (age 5) asked incredulously.

“Yes, you can eat them,” I replied, “they’re cookies. You can also hang them from your tree.”

“What’s inside?” asked Matthew (7).

“Lifesavers. And Jolly Ranchers.”

“LIFESAVERS? AND JOLLY RANCHERS?”

It’s as if Santa himself had just poked his head through the fireplace. The boys, my young neighbors, dissected and demolished the ones they had each picked out to eat. It was all I could do to keep their hands off the remaining cookies. Oddly, they went straight for the hard candy center, and only after it was discussed (“What is this, watermelon? Must be a Jolly Rancher”) and devoured, did they move on to the cookie border.

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