Every year, for as long as I can remember during my married life, I’ve helped my husband with Holiday cards and small gifts of appreciation for his clients. I add that to my personal cards and friends and family gifts.

Frango mints hold a dear place in my heart. When I was in elementary school, Mom would drive me to the city (Seattle) for back-to-school shopping at Frederick & Nelson’s, an old fashioned department store. Frederick’s had an amazing toy section, books, clothing, even a Steuben glass room and a whole floor of fabrics, patterns and notions. We’d have lunch at the counter in the basement and after lunch, Mom would buy me a single Frango mint.

When I have a Frango mint, I remember Mom.

For the past years, I’ve mailed out Frangos to my husband’s clients. It’s quite a project and I’m pleased that over our quiet Thanksgiving weekend I got started.

I enjoyed when my daughter was in high school and helped me with this project because two hands are better than one!

I’ll never forget one year in the Palm Springs post office, when the postal worker asked me to re-label my stack of Frango Mints to save money on mailing. My daughter and I wrote new labels as fast as we could, and the postal worker was ringing them up and punching into her computer. We actually had teamwork going and it didn’t slow down the process at all for those waiting behind us. It looked like it did — because of us filling out new labels — but in reality it took no more time. The postal worker was moving as fast as she could and she hadn’t caught up to our new labeling.

But the comments and cursing I heard that day! My daughter had my back and defended us loudly to those behind us. I was afraid one impatient person was going to come to blows with us. Or my daughter would get into a fight defending me.

I’ve made friends with our postal workers in Carefree (like I did for 30 years in Palm Springs) and gave them their own box of Frangos. This will be my third year of overwhelming the small Carefree post office with packages. They’ve told me to never come in on Mondays and what hours are best. I’ve also learned to come in on multiple days with no more than ten to a dozen boxes. It may take a few more trips, but I understand how people in line get annoyed at having to wait.

I’ve never had a bad experience with a postal worker. Just the people waiting behind me. I’ve also found people in Carefree are happier and more patient than the Palm Springs customers.

Thankfully, gift giving in our family has gotten smaller and easier. It’s spending time together that’s most important. I can’t wait for Christmas this year with our kids coming to our home for the first time to celebrate. The past few years, we’ve rented a place in Palm Springs or Santa Barbara to be together.

So what are Frangos?