A walk down memory lane with this post @lizelle

As a child we would help my Dad prepare the drying out of fruit on special racks laid out on the back lawn in the sun.

Peeling peaches on hand driven peeling machine, removing the pips (to be dried in the sun and cracked open at a later date), after peeling the preparation in huge big containers used for sterilizing bottles, then filled with fruit to the brim. First load was bottled fruit to go through winters, second batch made into tasty jams.

I don't remember a year in our childhood when bottled fruit or jams were not given out as gifts in the family. It is not the price of a gift, it is the love and devotion given.

My Aunt knitted jerseys, we got given a new item every year, Mom sewed all our clothing, year end a special item we had seen in a store window was never overlooked, we could not afford to buy it, Mom made it for under the tree.

Oh Mom made home made ginger beer (not that I ever drank it) but the family enjoyed this treat, bottles popping during the night during preparation. Thanks for your reminder, it is the affection and thought that comes in any gift!