Christmas cakes, cats and overalls

I made my Christmas cake last week. It set me to thinking back. I thought back to the early '60s when we were newly married and flat broke.

We couldn't even afford to buy each other a present that year and I decided to make most of my gifts to give to other people. I decided to make a Christmas cake for my sister, my mother-in-law and my husband's grandmother.

This meant starting to make each cake at around 8 o'clock each evening after I had finished work and cleared away the evening meal. It, therefore, meant setting the alarm clock for around 1.30 a.m. and taking the cakes out of the oven three nights in a row!

When the time came to ice the first cake, I put on the marzipan, made the Royal icing and struggled to ice the thing! I didn't do too badly and left the cake to dry out. It is a lot easier now, we even have glass turntables to ice and serve your cake.

Unfortunately, our little kitten jumped up there and left his paw prints in it and obviously lay on it , leaving cat hairs everywhere. What a dilemma! But I didn't succomb to the temptation to take the cat hairs out and fluff the icing up! Honestly! I re did the whole thing.

Christmas Eve and everyone was round at our house. I was wearing my best dress and was very nervous. My husband's Grandmother, wearing her usual tailor made skirt, cultured pearls and hand made shoes looked me up and down as I presented her with her cake and said in the loudest voice possible, " and tell me, is that a dress you are wearing or an overall?" The perfect "put down!"

Oh! how I wished I had left the cat hairs in the cake!

Eat, Drink and Be Merry