Woman Discovers the 'Ultimate Treasure' While Cleaning Out Parents' Home After Their Sudden Deaths 2 Days Apart (Exclusive)

Every year, Lisa Jones and her mom Cathy would kick off the holiday season with their toffee-making tradition

Lisa Jones’ parents were her best friends, role models and heroes.

Her mom, Cathy, was an executive who not only mentored Lisa but also guided many other women in advancing their careers. Her dad, John, was larger than life — hilarious and vibrant, lighting up every room he entered. So, when Lisa’s parents died just days apart — her dad, age 91, on May 8, 2023, from Parkinson’s disease, and her mom, age 71, on May 9, 2023, from a lung disease — the loss was profound.

Six months later, Lisa, 34, began the challenging task of cleaning out their family home in L.A. She often went alone but also relied on friends and family for support. She found that focusing solely on the logistics — packing up photographs one day, clearing out the office the next — left her emotionally drained. The waves of sadness were overwhelming, whether triggered by finding a card she had written to her parents tucked away somewhere or by other poignant memories.

"My parents lived there for 30 years," Lisa, who works in human resources and recruiting, tells PEOPLE. "So you can imagine there was a lot of stuff, a lot of items, and a lot of memories."

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One day while cleaning, Lisa discovered her mom's large cookbook binder, which contained every recipe from her childhood. As she flipped through the pages, she saw all the Sunday night dinner recipes and holiday dishes — Christmas Eve treats and Ina Garten's penne alla vodka, among other classics. But one recipe was notably missing: her mom's toffee recipe.

Every year, Lisa and Cathy would kick off the holiday season with their toffee-making tradition. While getting the Christmas tree was typically done in the first week of December, the second week was reserved for this labor-intensive process. Lisa vividly remembered the trips to Trader Joe's to buy mounds of chocolate, the careful melting and the monitoring of the toffee’s temperature with thermometers. Sometimes, the toffee would burn, and the process could be chaotic, but it always took up a weekend and ended with a delicious result.

It became a staple of Lisa's Christmas Eve traditions: while her mom prepared the holiday meal, Lisa and her dad would drive around Los Angeles, listening to Christmas music on Coast 103.5 and delivering the toffee to family and friends. The memories of these festive deliveries and the joy of sharing their homemade treats were among her most cherished.

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However, despite helping her mom make the toffee every year, Lisa never paid much attention to where the recipe was kept or what it entailed. So, as she neared the end of the cleaning process and still couldn't find the recipe, she feared that piece of the tradition might end forever.

"Then, I was cleaning out the last part of their home on a sweltering hot day this July to clear out the basement, which was filled with Christmas trees, Thanksgiving turkeys and all sorts of holiday décor," she recalls. "I went through every single box because I wanted to ensure nothing with sentimental value was discarded. That’s when I found the toffee recipe — it felt like my mom was saying, ‘Thank you, Lisa, for your hard work.’ ”

“It wasn’t just the recipe — it had her specific notes on a lined piece of paper, including the exact type of chocolate she used and the ratios for making different batches. It felt like the ultimate treasure and a fitting tribute to the memories we shared," she adds.

After discovering the recipe, Lisa shared the happy news on TikTok.

She'd been posting her mom's recipes on social media since October 2023, and noticed the feedback from friends and family was overwhelmingly positive. Many people reached out to tell her that they were recreating the recipes, and Lisa was particularly touched when she learned that around 15 people served her mom’s toffee to their own friends and family during the holidays after she shared that recipe, too.

Since posting the toffee recipe, the video has garnered more than 630,000 views and received 1,400 comments.

"I am blown away by the virality of it," Lisa says. "It has resonated with so many people who have experienced the loss of a parent or sibling and the emotional challenge of selling a family home. For me, sharing their recipes, cocktails, and traditions has been a beautiful way to keep their memory alive."

"The greatest joy I get is when someone texts me to say they used one of my dad’s recipes for a special occasion," she continues. "It makes me feel like my parents are still living on through these shared experiences and their legacy continues. I think many people, after a loved one passes away, feel hesitant to bring them up, but I want to hear those stories. Talking about them helps me feel that they are still a part of my life and always will be."

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