I think it was in 1990. Tina was about 1.5 years old. We were at the house on Guadalupe Terrace. We woke up one morning in December, went downstairs and caught Tina gulping down the bourbon balls and smiling so happily.
We have been making these balls every year to keep Tina smiling happily every year :) Without them, Christmas would not come.
This year – 2005 – I made these with my Mom. She’s good with rolling the balls, having helped co Hai make those chinese medicine balls.

• 1 box of Vanilla wafers (about 2 1/2 c when finely grounded)
• 2 T cocoa (I use Valhorna dark chocolate bar, which I got from TJs)
• 2 c pecans ( about 1 c when finely grounded)
• 1/2 c white corn syrup
• 1/2 c Kentucky Bourbon whiskey
• Powdered sugar (or a mix of chocolate shaving and powdered sugar)

Set oven to 325 deg. Roast pecans for 3 minutes, then turn pecans and roast again for another 3 minutes. Allow nuts to cool.
Use the blender to crush the vanilla wafers.
Same with the pecans.
Mix together wafers, pecans, and cocoa
Dissolve syrup in bourbon and add to wafer mix
Mix with a spatula until everything is blended, and refrigerate for 2 hours. 

Roll the balls in powdered sugar, and store in sealed containers. You should be able to roll them into a ball without the dough breaking up. If the dough breaks up, add more of the syrup mixture.

Best if aged for 48 hours.
Above recipe makes about 40 quarter-sized balls.