Grandma's Angel Bars

This has been the first holiday season that I've done a substantial amount of baking, at least by my standards. My mom has been making some family favorites for as long as I can remember, Grandma's Angel Bars and Melting Moments being right at the top of my list.

Incidentally, while I finally put the ingredients for the Angel Bars together in my own kitchen, Terry had created art with the same ingredient list. The series of graphite drawings were recently on exhibit at the Long Beach Museum of Art. Unfortunately, the pieces will be split up and given to Terry's fellow artists in an elaborate exchange of each other's work. I'm sure her colleagues appreciate the art; I hope they also treasure the beauty of the back story and the bit of family history they have been entrusted with.

Anyway, back to the goings on in my humble abode. Nathan and I recently sat at his little table in the kitchen with a treat of Angel Bars and a couple of glasses of milk. I told him how my grandma used to make these very same Angel Bars for me, and then my mommy made them, and now I was making them for him. We yummmmmmmmed at the deliciousness of every morsel of our square inch goody.

"Where is your grandma, is she still here?" He asked.

"No, she's in heaven."

"Mommy, do they have computer's in heaven?"

"No, I don't think so, why, do you want to send my grandma an email?"

"Yes."

Often, I find it challenging as a mother to really listen without assuming I know where he is going with something. This time, I happened to get it right. I didn't allow my assumption that he wanted to extol the tastiness of her recipe be the last word. I remembered to ask. "What is it you'd like to say to her?"

"I just want to tell her how much Grandpa loves her," he said licking the last bits of frosting off of his fingertips.

Perhaps it would have been better left right there, but I felt the need to quell his (or my own) tender heart at his lovely thought.

"The great thing about love is that it never ever goes away, not even after someone dies and goes to heaven. Great Grandma carries all kinds of love with her always, she knows how much we all love her and we know how much she loves us too. Pretty cool how that works dontcha think?"

"Yeah, can I have another Angel Bar?"