Dec 16th Update: Congrats to winner Sarah from Amherstview, ON. Her story illustrates great food, family togetherness, and sibling mischievousness that all combine to make the holidays so special and memorable: "My favorite holiday treat was all the homemade goodies my mother worked for weeks to prepare for our large family.  My mother made it well in advance and we were forbidden to touch it until Christas Eve.  One year mom and dad went out to some last minute shopping and we all decided to take all of the baking move it into different containers and put the empty storage tins back in their hiding place.  On Christmas Eve, we had all but forgotten what we had done until we heard my mother yell all six of our names to come to the living room.  She was sitting on the floor surrounded by empty containers in shock.  We quickly retrieved the baked goods and still tease her about the year we pulled the best practical joke ever." A huge thanks to all 1,125 of you who shared your stories. Reading them made me tear up several times - how deeply we miss our mothers and grandmothers at this time of year. Happy holidays, everyone. ---------- When I received the following enormous box of President's Choice holiday treats in the mail last week, all I could think of was how excited I would have been as a kid to receive this: [caption id="attachment_3113" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="What could possibly be in here? . . . "] [/caption] [caption id="attachment_3114" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="**delighted gasp!**"] [/caption] Chips! Pretzels! Crackers! Chocolates! Cookie mix! This package also includes a $50 Loblaw gift card for you, Mom or Dad. With all the entertaining and food shopping I know our readers are doing this time of year, I thought one of you would be thrilled to receive this as a fun prize to share with your family. How to WIN this giant box of PC holiday goodies and a $50 Loblaw gift card: In the Comments section below tell me what your most cherished holiday food is, and why. Is it the dinner rolls you used to make with your grandmother? Is it your mom's shortbread cookies you and your brother used to steal out of the freezer? Is it the popcorn you and your dad used to eat and string with cranberries for the tree? (all of these are my personal true stories!) Start date: December 8, 2011 End date: December 15, 2011 Winner notified by email: December 15, 2011 Dig out those holiday food magic memories, and tell me below for your chance to win! Dec 15th Update: The comments are now closed. I am now reading your stories to find a winner. 2nd update: I've chosen a winner. Check your inboxes, I'll have to choose another winner at 9am tomorrow to ship the prize in time for Christmas.