The picture I didn't have

 

I've shared before about the delights of my mother's kitchen at Christmas time when I was a child.   At one time I wrote: "Kitchen gifts were somewhat of a tradition in my family as I was growing up.  My mother made pans and pans of her maple fudge, but she also made lots of Christmas cookies, and loaves of cinnamon swirled bread which she topped with a thin white icing plus sliced almonds and a few candied cherries. "

We didn't take photos of everything we did back then as many of us do now.  Taking photographs in those days involved a camera loaded with film.  When the roll of film was used up, one sent it away to be developed.  Both film and developing cost money, so in the 1950s we planned photos carefully rather than always being spontaneous with them.  (Although many snapshots, particularly of children, were taken spontaneously.) 

All that to say, at least in my childhood home we rarely took photos of food.  So I don't have pictures of my favorite Christmas goodies.  Those pictures all reside in memory's picture album, gilded with nostalgia.

The other day, I was sorting through some more boxes of Christmas cards and stationery to prepare for more Etsy listings.  And I came upon the card pictured at the top of the post.  It was just an inexpensive freebie card sent along with others to potential donors to a charity.  And this card just spoke to me of my mother's Christmas preparations.   Nut meats, and candied fruits, made an appearance in her kitchen every December.  The bread board resembles closely one that she had.  And oh, the bread itself!  Although this looks like a bread studded with fruit, my mom decorated her cinnamon-swirled yeast loaves almost exactly like this, with a thin white icing garnished with cherries.  The only thing she did differently was to add some thinly sliced almonds to the trimmings along with the candied cherries.  

What a lovely reminder of my childhood Christmases!  I am so happy to have come across this.