As with other festive holidays throughout the year, like Easter and Halloween, we try to have a bowl or two of holiday chocolates out on a side table for everyone in the house and guests as well. We find it always make the holiday seem more “abundant” without being extravagant. When one is harried wrapping up dozens of presents or rushing out to deliver them, or headed to the grocery for some spice you’ve run out off in the middle of baking, the tasks seem easier with a foil wrapped chocolate or other holiday sweet. And surprisingly, a small bowl usually makes it through most of the season. Any leftovers are packed away in loot bags for our Christmas parties… Sometimes it’s a huge bowl filled with red kisses, or maybe a couple of pounds of green m&m’s. Some years, we have put out festively wrapped pastillas and other native sweets… This year, we found these terrific foil wrapped chocolate ornaments on our recent trip to HK. They were at the Welcome grocery near our hotel, and I bought several packages to bring home. I find that the Europeans, particularly the Germans and Swiss, have some of the most intriguing and more “traditional” holiday sweets (even commercially manufactured ones), and these ones are no exception. They look terrific and were very reasonably priced. They can actually hang on the tree but I was a bit worried they might melt if left too close to the lights…
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These are neat! I’ve never seen one that you could hang up on the tree as well!
I often seen the regular one (minus the string) around this time of the year in the dollar store, I hope to find some with the string on though, it’ll be nice to hang it up in the tree or use it as an ornament when wrapping gifts!
With your well-decorated Christmas tree and some other ornaments you set up in your place – your house must be filled with Christmas galore with all the works and trimmings including brimming candy dish with festive chocolate candies.
we have the same tradition MM :-)
except we have a big, fat ceramic cat with a head that comes off. We fill up the hollow belly a mix of toblerones, hershey’s nuggets, local chocs and candies, m and m’s, small bars of cadbury’s and what have you’s.
the nephews know its christmas when the fat cat comes out of storage. they love it even more because they don’t need to ask permission to take anything out of the “belly of the big, fat cat”, unlike on regular days when their chocolate and candy intake is strictly monitored.
Hi! I’m from Bacolod, Negros Occidental and I frequent your blog.
It has been a tradition since this family was established for 16 years now to make something “homemade specials” as gifts for families and friends. Christmas is always a good time to do that. This year, it’s the “Pampagana Trio”: Sinamak Bisaya, Special Atchara and Mama’s Uyap (pls visit http://www.jensnursingchronicles.blogspot.com and read all about it). It was quite tedious but I know each bottle is special because it comes with love and good cheers!
Merry Christmas, MM, from our home to yours!
So Cute and yummy!!!
That bowl of goodies would not last in our home.. ;P
Too pretty to eat!!! I should prepare a candy bowl this year too (although i don’t think it’ll last through the week!)i am soooo enjoying your holiday posts, MM.
Looking forward to more of your holiday cheer.
Was it Park Lane Hotel that you stayed in or the Marco Polo Hong Kong Hotel?
That’s a great idea! I’ll prepare a bowl of sweets for our home… Both kids (my nephews/nieces/inaanaks) and adults will love it! Thanks!
I miss this tradition. My mom would put out a few bowls with different treats like sugared jellies, including these chocolates(usually from visiting relatives). My brother and I would sometimes find these in our xmas stockings. It’s been decades and reading your post truly truly brings back fond christmas customs.
Would anyone know if these chocolate ornaments are available in the Philippines? It would be nice to put these on a small Christmas tree where kids can choose which chocolate they want once they enter your house… a nice welcome treat for the kids on Christmas.
Ejit, you might try Santis delicatessen, that sometimes brings in European chocolates… but I have personally not seen these ones here yet…
Blaise, same here, we all love chocolates….
have you finished with your decorations yet? are there pictures of your outdoor decorations? =)
i seem to remember last year you had red and silver balls.
I remember those “gold nugget” sacks of candy coated chewing gums that my mom used to hang in our christmas tree back in the 70’s. It was nice to see them again in a candy stall in podium :-)
we have a holiday chocolate tradition too, but with a twist, every year we wrap several kinds of chocolates, wafers, candies, lollipops, plus a small toy/token in colorful cellophane and give these away on Christmas day to everyone who knocks on our door, including those we meet along the way, the guards, the children on the street, etc. needless to say, we wrap several hundreds of them starting the 1st week of December. its not much but its amazing how you can bring a smile to a stranger’s face with a gift that is totally unexpected. (of course, we also help ourselves with a few chocolates every now and then) merry Christmas! = )
MM, please make a review also of the hotel you stayed there. I’m making a wild guess between Park Lane Hotel & Marco Polo HK Hotel :)
Tricia, we have stayed at the Marco Polo HK, which is better than the Marco Polo Gateway. In the same area are the Peninsula which is superb but pricey. And the YMCA apparently has some decent rooms for long staying guests at VERY REASONABLE prices, and all these hotels are within minutes of each other. If I could afford it every time we were in HK, my favorite hotel from way back was always the Mandarin Oriental for superb service…
Naku, in our home, those chocolates wouldn’t last a day as well!! hahaha! We’re a bunch of chocoholics! >:)
MM, thanks for the prompt reply! I’m also a Marco Polo hotels fan. And among the three, the HK Hotel is my favorite too. At least I have something in common with Marketman hahaha
Someone I know said there is a newly opened resto on the 6th? floor that has nice views of the harbor. Its name is Cucina.
I think the Wellcome supermart you went to is the one on the 3rd flr near HK Hotel..
I am a huge fan of your blog and I always have fun trying to guess some stuff you don’t mention right away.
Hi MM,
my friend now is in HK and will be going home this weekend how much are the candies so I can ask him to buy some for me…
thanks,
arlene
arlene, they were about HK$30-35 per bag, or roughly PHP200+; I used four bags for a medium sized bowl.
Those are perfect for unexpected guests! :)