Christmas cooking

I have always been a great recipe collector, and especially those I have used for 50+ years at Christmastime. The jam cake was my grandmother's recipe (the one who died when I was 9) and Mama used it and I always have also. The secret to the blackberry jam cake is the addition of pear preserves to the mixed up cake, making it very moist. Then the addition of Mama's caramel icing makes it perfect. I used to make a fruit cake which was from Grandma and we always made it at least a month ahead and "soaked" it in a lard stand. The cake itself was steamed in an oven for about three hours. No one bothers with a fruit cake any more, and few eat it, so this is a lost art! I do make fruitcake cookies which recipe came from a dear friend. She also gave me the recipe for the pfeffernesses and several other wonderful concoctions I no longer make. The boiled custard which is an absolute "must" was Grandma's sister's recipe. One of our children's favorites is candy cane cookies, kind of a sugar cookie, with half the dough colored red and the two colors made into "snakes", wrapped and curved into a candy cane shape, and baked. We call the cereal-nut mixture, "nuts and bolts", and always have to have this, which you cannot just eat one handful!
This has been another quiet day, seems I cannot get enough sleep, napping for two hours each afternoon. I guess I am still recovering from the infections of last week. Always in the back of my mind is the thought of resuming the chemo, dreading the feelings that follow, knowing I must do this. I started a baby dress today for our newest "great" due in a few days, and that is exciting!
God has given me a wonderful life, so far and I pray for more days, weeks and months. Psalm 118:28-29 says "You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God and I will exalt you. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever."...