Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Rum Cake for Breakfast

Photo Credit


Scene:  December 25, 2012. 08:45 a.m. Somewhere in the upper east corner of Tennessee (they don't like to call it NORTHeast Tennessee, for some reason), in the kitchen of a century-old wooden frame house, a solitary female is at work, washing a few serving dishes, wineglasses, baking pans -- items that are too old or fragile or unwieldy to go in the automatic dishwasher, which will hopefully go on churning its way through several more post-Christmas Eve cleanups. In a bedroom down the hall, a TV blares, but the woman ignores it, knowing that whatever holiday goodwill she is feeling will be destroyed by the sound of the so-called "journalists" on the Channel That Shall Not Be Named. Instead, for some reason, the song "Mele Kalikimaka" is running in a loop through her head. She lets it run through several verses while she finishes the last of the washing, wipes down the counter tops, and opens the refrigerator to get something for breakfast. The woman's eyes scan the shelves, passing over the leftover ham, the crate of clementines, jars of jams and condiments -- and then the silvery foil catches her eye. 

Rum cake! 

One slice of cake and one cup of coffee later, the woman is ready to get to work, baking the birthday cake for her daughter, who decided to make her debut at 7:31 a.m. on a Christmas morning 22 years earlier.

The Christmas you get, you deserve.

16 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday to Daughter and Merry Christmas to all!

    I originally typed "Happty". Maybe I should have left it at that :-)

    Rum cake. Mmmm.

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  2. We're you enjoying some rum cake yourself, Doug? In any case, many thanks, and the same to you. Well, the Merry Christmas part. I already wished you Happty last month, didn't I? :-)

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  3. Happy Birthday to your daughter and a very Merry Christmas to both of you. Yum, yum - rum cake. I can practically smell it.

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  4. I skipped dessert after dinner, but the night is but a pup. My choices are red velvet or chocolate fudge cake, various goodies left behind by the ex, or Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate OR a bit o' everything :-)
    You did, you did wish me a Happty Birthday!

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  5. merry and happy day. wow. quite the gift.

    no rum cake for me, but i did go to an amazing brunch with partner and friends. lovely.

    hope your day was filled with blessings and delights.

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  6. Thank you, Leslie - and a belated Merry Xmas to you!

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  7. Doug, glad you have a variety of caloric vices at your disposal - have a bit of each!

    Harlequin, thanks! The December 25 birthday has always presented challenges, but I do consider it my best Christmas gift ever!

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  8. Close to the same thing my granddaughter turns 13 in two days. We have a date tomorrow. I will eat rum cake and get drunk on hanging out with her. That news channel that shall not be named is the best damn comedy on TV!!!

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  9. TV on any news channel is a downer. Of course you can't go back; but family time before 24/7 news,cellphones, computers and all the digital madness seemed richer and more memorable.
    the Ol'Buzzard

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  10. WM, have a wonderful time with your granddaughter...before you know it, she'll be old enough for rum cake, too!

    Ol' B - happily my family are not permanently attached to their phones & such. We have to pay attention in case someone starts talkin' about us!

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  11. Arrrrrrrgh, did ye say rum? Ye did! Mind you, twasn't rum that got me here latedly, but other, unstated excuses (OK, so analyze that there sentence and coined wordies). Nevertheless, hope you and intellikid had a merry happy one. And just in case I am latedly again...have a happy year after tomorrow. So there.

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  12. JJ, are you SURE rum wasn't involved, somehow?

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  13. Replies
    1. The latedly arrivening. Or the weirdly languaging.

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