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And your top Christmas treat is …

| December 22, 2018 12:00 AM

Yes, now it’s time for the Grand Finale.

Today we announce North Idaho’s favorite Christmas candy, as decided by you.

Celine Dion is here, of course, to taste the delectable winner.

And by the way, no national company is going to tell us what sweet treats make us warm and fuzzy about the holidays.

Nope, this was down to you, and what candy makes you think instantly of Christmas — and all that goes with it.

Surprisingly, we have an overwhelming winner, too.

Even more of shock, it isn’t a candy that you can just trot out and find all over the aisles at Super 1 or Walmart.

It is …

WAIT!

As in any show like this, there’s always a commercial break before the party gets rolling and winners are announced.

Today I’m inventing my own break, because just as I was putting together the votes and reading all your emails to decide the winner, I stopped to look at something on YouTube.

It was a compilation of cats misbehaving at Christmas.

Think about that.

You’d be right if you guessed there’s some hilarious nonsense, and even though I’d love to defend Sammie the World’s Greatest Cat (she’s on my shoulder now as I type), and all of Sammie’s kin around the world …

Seeing a dozen or more cats going crazy with Christmas trees made me laugh so hard that I hurt.

The kitty brigade either toppled trees by climbing or leaping aboard — or wiggled up into the trees and got stuck while playing with some ornaments.

You need to see this, so our commercial break simply suggests you make sure to check out YouTube’s cats at Christmas.

It will keep you smiling for hours.

And really, was I going to wait until AFTER Christmas to clue you in?

Besides, Celine loved all the cats.

But now back to our exciting announcement …

WHEN WE started this little survey a few weeks ago, one type of candy seemed to be mentioned in every other email.

Since it wasn’t a huge big-store revenue spinner, I kind of suspected that the votes would even out and something more heavily promoted would wind up as No. 1.

Remember that the nationwide survey done by CandyStore.com turned up the information that Idahoans in general are big fans of M&Ms at the holidays.

I received several emails about that, suggesting that we aren’t “normal” Idahoans in a million ways — and one of them is our favorite treats.

Recall, also, that CandyStore.com’s Halloween survey tossed out Candy Corn as the state’s favorite. Numerous stores and buyers up here dismissed that as a “Boise thing.”

It seems like the same thing has happened at Christmas time.

There was almost no support from our readers for M&Ms (even those weird red-and-green ones), and if I’d kept counting, those famous little candies likely would have finished somewhere well outside the top 10.

Nope, North Idahoans made a clear statement in our voting, and it was this …

We love candies and sweets made especially for these holidays.

SO NOW, without any further suspense, I can tell you that Old-Fashioned Divinity — that slice of heaven for which it’s likely named — was an easy winner in our survey.

I found it interesting that many readers made passionate cases for other treats that are often homemade, like English toffee and fudge.

Listen to part of Carol Fairhurst’s description of toffee being made at home …

“It was the aroma of the bubbling butter and brown sugar filling the kitchen,” Carol wrote, “then pouring that hot concoction over chopped nuts in a buttered pan to magically harden into heavenly crispness.”

Oh, my!

Am I drooling?

But Old-Fashioned Divinity was the big winner, although ironically, there was a vote split between divinity with or without nuts.

Sara Buckham recalled her mom adding nuts to the white Divinity and candied cherries to the pink, creating a fantastic (and tasty) display.

But Maggie Lyon (not Maggie Lyons) disagreed, and wrote …

“Divinity — without nut lumps — as white as new snow on Christmas Day.”

Hmmm …

Take your pick.

We had plenty of votes for Divinity without mentioning a preference for nuts or beautifully untouched, so it was an all-around Christmas winner.

Meanwhile, they’re probably still eating leftover Candy Corn in Boise.

Sad, really.

But up here …

Ahhhh!

•••

Steve Cameron is a columnist for The Press.

A Brand New Day appears from Wednesday through Saturday each week.

Steve’s Zags Tracker column on Gonzaga basketball runs on Tuesday.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Facebook: BrandNewDayCDAPress

Twitter: @BrandNewDayCDA