Lou Bauer and Karma Amison get together to make Christmas goodies for family and friends. They have done this joint effort for 25 years.

25 years of Christmas sweets shared

by Mary Le Arneal
Published 11/30/22

In 1997 Karma Amison and Lou Bauer were both working at Morse Bluff Elementary School. One afternoon Bauer approached Amison asking what she was doing that weekend.

“I am going to make some Christmas candies,” Amison replied.

“Oh, that sounds like fun,” Bauer replied.

Thus began the “great candy adventure” that has been going on for 25 years.

They started making candies at Amison’s house in December. In the summer they would go to Bauer’s farmhouse to put up sweet corn.

It used to be an all-day process, but over the years the women have refined it. Amison now does the peanut brittle by herself, ahead of time, because too many batches got burned by talking and losing track of what needed to be done.

They tried making coconut brittle at the request of Bauer’s husband, Jeff.

“That didn’t work out,” Amison said. “One time a batch of brittle was bad and Lou tried to feed it to her dog Buddy and he just about choked to death.”

Amison used her grandmother’s antique Pyrex bowl to make the peanut brittle for at least 20 years until disaster struck and the bowl cracked while making a batch. Ever since then, it has been hard to find just the right bowl that can take the heat and repeated use.

Family has been a part of the process and stories. Many recipes used are from Amison’s mom, Sally Kmiecik, ones that she had used over the years. Jeff Bauer has offered to be the “taste tester” as he drove through Morse Bluff on his mail route. David Amison walks through the kitchen and helps himself to a nibble.

One year Bauer went to open a package of peanuts, using a knife Dave Amison kept sharp, and she sliced her finger open. It put a halt to candy making until a bandage was found and the candy making process could be resumed.

Both agree that their favorite part of the event is when they get to be together for hours, catching up with families, laughing and recalling old memories.

This year they have found that the packages are smaller and the prices higher for ingredients they need. They figure they spend $100 more this year on products. Some they can’t even find.

“We can’t find chow mein noodles,” Amison said. “I even looked in Columbus.”

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