Drain crushed pineapple and mandarin oranges, reserving juice. Add enough water to the juice to equal 1 cup. Pour juice mixture into sauce pan and add Jell-O mix; heat on low and stir until Jell-O is dissolved.

Fill your sink with about 1-2 inches of cold water, then dump in some ice and/or ice packs to make an ice bath. Set pan of cranberry mixture into ice bath, being very careful to not dump the contents of the pan into the water!

Add in cranberry sauce and stir until that cranberry jelly stuff melts. Add in remaining ingredients – apples (if desired), pineapple, mandarin oranges, and chopped pecans – stirring to mix.

Let the pan sit in the ice bath for about 5 minutes, or until it thickens and all of the ingredients don’t sink to the bottom of the pan and stir this occasionally. Remove from sink, pour into air tight container, and store in fridge.