"Mama would make lovely cakes at Christmas. This one was covered in white fondant and then the red ribbon tied around the side. On top were a variety of decorations (I remember a green fir tree and some figureines dressed in snowsuits. I was just a baby in 1952 so I don't have a recollection of what this particular cake was, but most Christmases mom would make a fruitcake. It never contained liquor and never tasted like the ones you buy in the stores. She had lots of nuts in hers, she started with a pound cake mix and then added in the candied fruits but I don't think she put in as many as you find commercially.)"The glasses on the table are a beautiful deep green, the tablecloth was Irish linen. Mom is wearing a pretty apron, she did that a lot.
Dad loved her fruitcake. She'd bake it right before Thanksgiving. He'd telephone her from work and ask how it came out. She baked the cake in a angel food spring form pan, all greased up and then lined with strips of wax paper that were then greased up with butter. After it was baked she HAD to taste a slice, most times she would wait for my father to get home and they would 'share' a slice. This one year she couldn't wait. She had her slice. She loved it. She had another. I think she probably had 3 slices before dad got home. Each time she'd just squeeze the increasing gap closed. She really didn't want dad to know she'd been gorging on fruitcake all afternoon.
I don't know if other people do this or not, but my folks loved to spread 'lashings' of butter on their fruitcake. This was a big treat for dad. He loved it.
This is my first Christmas without either parent. I miss them so much. Christmas just doesn't seem the same. They loved the season, but they were never extravagant about it. A simple meal rather than a big smorgasbord of food. One or two presents. Usually we had an aluminium
tree with a multi colored light that rotated red yellow and green, but sometimes we'd get a 'real' tree. Always after the meal we'd play a game, either Monopoly or a card game called NewMarket.
While Christmas has lost it's brightness for me this year, I am grateful for memories of happy Christmases past.
Bella
