Some holiday traditions are written in recipe cards and passed down like heirlooms. Others live in long-remembered songs, handmade stockings, or ornaments collected over the years. And then there are the quiet tradition, the simple, almost overlooked gestures that hold a family together more tightly than anyone realizes.
For many families across the South, Peach Buds are one of those traditions.
A Grandmother’s Annual Ritual
Every December, one grandmother comes into our shop and pauses in front of a familiar little gabled box. The twinkle in her eye is just too much for me. She has the sweetest smile. They have picked up this very item, this same brand, this same flavor year after year, long enough to watch her children grow, her grandchildren blossom, and now there is a great-grandchild joining the family.
As her fingers curl around the box of Peach Buds, she feels more than just the smooth surface and the familiar window opening,
She feels history.
She feels home.
She feels the presence of her own mother, who once tucked the same Peach Buds into her stocking when she was still small enough to believe Santa might be hiding behind the Christmas tree.
The moment is so tender she presses the box gently against her heart.
The Flavor of Memory
For her, these candies are more than peach-flavored treats, they’re the taste of belonging.
She remembers:
- Her mother’s neat handwriting on Christmas tags
- The soft crinkle of wrapping paper after the children finally drifted to sleep
- The scent of pine and coffee on Christmas morning, mixed with the faint sweetness of Peach Buds set out in a glass dish on the counter
When she buys them now, she’s not just choosing candy.
She’s choosing continuity.
A Tradition Passed Down Again and Again
She buys Peach Buds for her grown children, who still ask every year, “Mama, you brought them, didn’t you?”
She buys them for her grandchildren, who think Grandma’s house is the only place Peach Buds taste exactly right.
And for the first time this year, she buys a box for her great-grandbaby still too young to enjoy them now, but ready for the tradition to begin.
With every stocking she fills, she feels that bittersweet mix of joy and nostalgia that only a grandmother truly knows. She pictures those stockings lined up on the old wooden mantel: some handmade, some brand new, all holding the same little treasure.
The Gift That Outlives the Giver
She knows that one day, maybe years from now, someone else will be the one reaching for this box.
One of her children.
A grandchild.
Perhaps even that great-grandbaby, grown tall and carrying her memory forward.
And they’ll say with a smile:
“We always had these. Grandma made sure of it.”
The Heart of Peach Buds
At Butterfields, we’ve always believed the simplest traditions are the ones that last. For over a century, our Signature Peach Buds have been more than a candy, they’ve been:
- A reminder of where we come from
- A way to keep family roots strong
- A sweet thread that ties generations together
And every time she slips Peach Buds into a stocking, she’s not just gifting a treat.
She’s gifting a legacy. As she walked out the door, she looked back at me and she said, "whenever I see these little Peach Buds out in the world, they just remind me of home." I hugged her fiercely because she wants that same feeling for her family too.
A legacy of love.
A legacy of memory.
A legacy of home.