Reason 12,732 why I love being a grown up at Christmastime

Oranges.

I love them.

And now that I am a grown up, I can buy (and eat) them by the box full. (And I do.)

When I was growing up, there was a family in my ward who'd get a box (or two, or three or four) of oranges every year at Christmas. I remember going over to watch movies or play games - or, erm, just to mooch food - and we'd cut oranges and eat them while we watched, played or chatted. I remember slices of oranges so juicy that I'd have rivulets of sticky sweet goodness running from my pinky to my wrist and halfway to my elbow before I'd even think to grab a towel. I tell you, those oranges were fantastic, made all the more delicious by the fact that there were boxes full of them and the sky was the limit as far as how many we could eat. At our house, we'd peel oranges and eat the sections. At the Solomons', we'd cut them cross wise and then eat them right off the peel. Oh, they were heaven. Pure, juicy heaven.

And now that I am a grown up and am in charge of the grocery buying, I can have heaven in my house. And I do. Seriously, I'm eating about 10 lbs of oranges a week these days. I peel them, I cut them, I juice them, I zest them. I love them. They taste like Christmas to me, and they feel like home. When I eat an orange slice in my kitchen, leaning over the sink so the juice won't drip on to the floor, it takes me back in time. I might as well be standing on Luana's wood floor with Cathy on one side of me and Christine and Patty on the other. I taste the sharp tang, and I can hear Rachel and the other kids laughing and playing in the living room. I have instant recall of the chimes of the Christmas clock, and I am grateful for the years of memories I have tied to a family that I love, in a house that was a second home.

Oranges.

I love them.

I love the way they feel, taste and smell - almost as much as I love the memories they bring back to me.

Go buy an orange today. Heck, buy a bushel. Take them home and cut them up and eat them until you think you'll burst. That's what this time of year's for, anyway. (And, being cold season and all, the vitamin C can only help.)