Sweet repeat: Brothers get back the same hard candy, ‘Santa’s Candy Book,’ for decades

It started in 1987, when Ryan Wasson gave Frankford a 10-roll “Santa’s Candy Book” with assorted fruit flavors to his brother, Eric Wasson, as a Christmas joke, knowing that Eric won’t like it.

“I don’t eat them,” Eric Wasson told WMUR-TV. “And so next year I thought, ‘Hey, I think I’ll give it back to him. He’ll never remember.'”

But Ryan immediately recognized it. Since then, they have taken turns logging their exchanges. They were creative about it.

Ryan Wasson told the station that the candy was frozen in an ice cube and put in Jell-O, adding, “Once he sewed it into a teddy bear.”

The tradition also involves family members, colleagues and even the sheriff’s department. Last year, it was presented to Ryan Wasson on a silver platter at a restaurant.

This year, Ryan Wasson turned to a social media group for ideas. Suggestions include getting it delivered via pizza delivery or Christmas markers, hiding it in a book or cake, or organizing a scavenger hunt for clues.

“If you were to ask who did the best when giving these things, we’d both say it was our own, wouldn’t we?” Ryan Wasson said. “We will never give in.”