Growing up we didn’t have the wide range of fruits and vegetables available in the grocery stores. You didn’t see tomatoes in January, root vegetables dominated, and apples were the dominant fruit, with grapes, grapefruit, and navel oranges also available.
But Mandarin oranges…ahh…those were a treat we looked forward to as we crept towards Christmas. The box of Mandarin oranges, each wrapped carefully in its own square of green tissue paper, was always a Christmas Eve day (or close to then) purchase. On Christmas morning I always looked forward to finding one in my stocking, it was a standard item and it was the one treat we were allowed to eat before breakfast. The chocolate and Life Saver book were off limits until later in the day but the orange provided a sweet treat to tide us over.
Now we have become so accustomed to having access to whatever fruit or vegetable we want whenever we want it, and I think some of the “specialness” has disappeared.
I admit to having fallen more in love with Clementine oranges now, and perhaps part of that love is that they are not yet available year-round, so they are something that I can still look forward to, and appreciate when they arrive in the stores finally.
But the arrival of the boxed Mandarin oranges do still bring fond memories.
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