Good people with good intentions have lost their minds and priorities. They waited all night in front of the doors of a Wal-Mart on Long Island, committed to getting exactly what was meant to be gotten on the list. Before the doors opened at 5 am (??) the crowd started to lose control; feelings of holiday peace, love and happiness errupted into a lava hot and myopic pursuit of get-out-of-my-way-that-gift-is-mine.
The doors were never meant for bending. A man hired for the holiday to keep the place clean tried to hold the crowd back until they were meant to come in, and ended up dead under the feet of people with their eye on the sale priced prize.
That is ridiculous.
Think candy popcorn, a cellophane bag and a ribbon. Who wouldn’t be happy with that. It requires nothing more than a quick trip to the grocery store and I can guarantee there will be no fights in the bagged kernel aisle.

Popcorn for Peace:

Combine 1 cup of sugar with 1/2 cup of water, 1/4 cup of honey, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 cup of molasses, 3 tablespoons of butter, and 3 tablespoons of cider vinegar in a heavy saucepan. Stir just until sugar is dissolved. Simmer without stirring until the mixture reaches the hard ball stage (260 degrees or when a drop forms a hard ball in ice water.)

Remove from the heat and carefully stir in 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda (it will foam up and then go creamy).

Pour the mixture over 8 cups of popped corn. Spread on a greased cookie sheet to cool completely. If you really want to go nuts, toast almonds and pecans lightly in a pan, and spread them out with the popcorn. Cover everything with melted chocolate.