Candy Dishes

My first memory of a candy dish is of the one at my Aunt Jo’s house. She had a dish on her coffee table full of golden Brach’s butterscotch candies. They were beautiful and delicious. I enjoyed the crinkly wrapper, the sweet, smooth taste, and the way they seemed to glow in her candy dish.

My grandma had several candy dishes in her home. The one just inside the kitchen door held M&Ms and sometimes Reece’s cups or tiny Snicker’s bars. The house candy jar on her desk cradled orange slices. At Thanksgiving, a pumpkin-shaped dish opened to reveal circus peanuts. While I was never a fan of circus peanut and orange slices, I always think of her and the family Thanksgivings when I see them in the store. On occasion, she also kept Christmas taffy, the white, red, and green taffies with a Christmas tree in the center. They were such beautiful and tasty works of art.

My grandma Lillian’s candy dish.

My Grandma Lillian kept her homemade fudge in her candy dish. I loved to combine a piece of chocolate fudge with the peanut butter fudge for an extra special treat. Her candy dish now lives on my kitchen counter and holds chocolates.

A candy dish contains a sweet surprise for us to discover. Candy dishes come in all shapes and sizes. A pressed-glass candy dish with a matching lid is a typical candy dish used by my grandparent’s generation. A clear one lived at my Grandma Lillian’s in Springfield. A grey one at my other grandma’s house in Bonnots. Each held contents unique to the owner and loved by most who opened them.

Our lives are filled with literal and figurative candy dishes. Little things that provide us sweet treats or happy memories when opened. While my grandma is long since passed away and her house sold, my aunt and uncle retain her pumpkin candy dish and fill it with circus peanuts or orange slices each Thanksgiving. A small yet significant tradition continued for the family. In a world gone mad and getting more so every day, we must look for and cherish our candy dishes.

I don’t see candy dishes in the homes of the younger generations. I don’t see them in the homes of my friends. Short of the pumpkin of sweets at Thanksgiving, I don’t recall seeing kept candy dishes in everyday life. These little containers held a little sweetness for everyday life. They continue to provide sweet memories to my life…and a reminder of the love they contained.