Woman who lost both parents makes priceless find when clearing their home

A woman’s family tradition was nearly lost after the sudden death of both her parents.

Lisa Jones, 34, posted a video to Instagram about her journey to locate her mother’s Christmas toffee recipe after she believed it had been lost for good. Jones, 34, spoke to Newsweek about the importance of the family tradition, the fear she felt at its loss and the amazing discovery that proved her parents were still watching over her.

Jones said her family’s Christmas toffee has been a staple in her family traditions for as long as she remembers.

“My mom would spend an entire weekend working on it—I was her assistant—as it is a multi-step process to create; letting it set, applying the chocolate and the nuts,” Jones said. “It was a production, but the result of being able to distribute it to family and friends was always the reward. Oh, and it tasted absolutely fantastic.”

Despite being involved in the process, though, Jones didn’t retain the method step by step. After she lost her parents suddenly within a day of each other in 2023, Jones moved through her grief by sharing recipes and memories from her parents on social media. There was one missing, though.

In the many clear-outs of her parents’ home, she couldn’t find the toffee recipe.

“I was pretty devastated,” she said. “I had every single recipe, cocktail and Thanksgiving side…but not THE toffee recipe. There must be 200 dessert recipes, but the toffee was not in there. I envisioned one day making the toffee with my future children and was crestfallen that it had been lost.”

After the house had been sorted through and cleaned, the real estate agents selling the house contacted Jones right before it went on the market.

“[They] informed me that I had missed a cabinet in the kitchen, and that I needed to clean it out,” Jones said. “It had random college water bottles, holiday cups, a first aid kit. Random items.”

And there it was.

“When I found the toffee recipe, it felt like my mom led me there, to say, ‘thank you,’ and now, ‘you deserve to have the recipe and carry on our traditions,'” Jones said.

‘With Love’

Not only did Jones find the recipe, but she also found a lined piece of paper with her mother’s handwriting with instructions on how to make the toffee in batches, which chocolates to purchase and more. This, Jones said, demonstrated her mom’s attitude toward the tradition.

“My mom made the toffee with love,” she said. “Ina Garten always says that if she invites you into her home for dinner it is her way of saying, ‘I love you.’ I think for my mom, that was her way of showing her love to family and friends.”

Jones said she plans to make the toffee this Christmas for family and friends. She is even considering selling it to raise money for the American Lung Association.

But until then, she continues to keep her parents’ memory alive online—and enjoy the many ways they are reaching a new audience.

“I cannot tell you the joy I get when someone tells me that they made my dad’s margarita for a holiday weekend, or that they served my mom’s ornamentinis for Christmas Eve,” Jones said. “It feels like a way for them to live on, to talk about them, to make me feel like they’re still here, even though they’re physically gone.

“I do believe in signs, and I do feel that my parents are with me and have shown up for me when I’ve really needed them.”