Christmas Fruit Cake

Christmas is that wonderful time for family, friends, music, and.....fruitcake? This strange cake that came from ancient traditions is so loathed by Americans. Well, here is my fruit cake recipe. I think it is definately delicious and edible. Try it and see if I'm wrong!

Edible Christmas Fruit Cake Recipe:
1 moist yellow cake mix (any brand)
2/3 cup oil
1 (3 oz.) vanilla pudding mix (instant or cook is fine)
4 eggs
1 large can pineapple chunks
1 cup rum
1 cup sweetened cherries or marachino cherries, drained
1 cup walnuts (or pecans)
Optional: 1 cup of coconut

One day ahead, soak pineapple chunks in rum in fridge.
Mix cake mix, oil, pudding mix and eggs in a large bowl until well-mixed.
Drain pineapple chunks and add to batter. Add cherries and walnuts. Add coconut if using. Batter will be thick.

Grease/flour a bundt pan. Place extra cherries and nuts along the bottom of the pan to make a decorative design. Pour batter over all.

Bake in a greased/floured bundt pan for 1 hour at 325 degrees. Serve warm with whipped cream. This cake is quite dark when it's done.



Here is the history of the fruit cake:
Fruitcakes are holiday and wedding cakes which have a very heavy fruit content. They require special handling and baking to obtain successful results. The name "fruitcake" can be traced back only as far as the Middle Ages. It is formed from a combination of the Latin fructus, and French frui or frug.

The oldest reference that can be found regarding a fruitcake dates back to Roman times. The recipe included pomegranate seeds. Pine nuts, and raisins that were mixed into barley mash. Honey, spices, and preserved fruits were added during the Middle Ages. Crusaders and hunters were reported to have carried this type of cake to sustain themselves over long periods of time away from home.

1400s - The British began their love affair with fruitcake when dried fruits from the Mediterranean first arrived.

1700s - In Europe, a ceremonial type of fruitcake was baked at the end of the nut harvest and saved and eaten the next year to celebrate the beginning of the next harvest, hoping it will bring them another successful harvest. After the harvest, nuts were mixed and made into a fruitcake that was saved until the following year. At that time, previous year's fruitcakes were consumed in the hope that its symbolism would bring the blessing of another successful harvest

In the early 18th century, fruitcake (called plum cakes) was outlawed entirely throughout Continental Europe. These cakes were considered as "sinfully rich." By the end of the 18th century there were laws restricting the use of plum cake.

Between 1837 and 1901, fruitcake was extremely popular. A Victorian "Tea" would not have been complete without the addition of the fruitcake to the sweet and savory spread. Queen Victoria is said to have waited a year to eat a fruitcake she received for her birthday because she felt it showed restraint, moderation and good taste.

It was the custom in England for unmarried wedding guests to put a slice of the cake, traditionally a dark fruitcake, under their pillow at night so they will dream of the person they will marry.

Advent Candle

Here are some facts about the advent candle. It is a wonderful tradition. Different folks do it in different ways, so there is no "wrong" way to have an advent candle.

The Advent wreath was likely first used in the Middle Ages. The design was borrowed from the customs of pre-Christian (primarily Germanic and Scandinavian) peoples, who used candles and greenery as symbols during the dark and dead winter, often paired together representing light and life. The Advent Wreath is a circular evergreen wreath with four or five candles, three purple, one rose, and (if you use the five-candle model), one white one for Christmas Day. If used, the white candle is placed in the center. Some Protestant traditions have been using 4 blue candles recently. However, Catholics still use the traditional colors because they dually symbolize both royalty and penitence, two important Advent themes.

A wreath may be hand-crafted of real or artificial materials, or may be purchased at craft and candle stores. The candles symbolize the light of Christ coming into the world. The evergreen symbolizes renewal in Christ, the kind of renewal hoped for by those before Christ's first coming, and the ultimate renewal we long for in Christ's second coming. The circular shape symbolizes the completeness of God. It is likely the symbolism came after the actual wreath was conceived of, but that does not detract from the power of the symbols.

The candle colors are derived from the traditional liturgical colors of Advent and Christmas, purple and white respectively. The rose color likely is derived from an old Catholic custom of wearing rose colored vestments on the third Sunday in Advent (and fourth Sunday in Lent), called Gaudete Sunday, i.e. "Rejoice" Sunday. Each candle is first lit on the appropriate Sunday of Advent, and then the candles may be lit each day as a part of the individual or family's daily prayers. Certain candles have been given various names. Some systems name the candle thusly:
1. Hope (purple)
2. Peace (purple)
3. Joy (rose; the corresponding Sunday is "Gaudete Sunday")
4. Love (purple)
5. Christ (white)
Others do it like this:
1. Patriarchs
2. Prophets
3. John the Baptist
4. Mary the mother of Jesus.
5. Christ the light of the world


Since the Advent Wreath is a devotion, there are a variety of ways to make use of it, and we encourage you to develop your own customs and prayers if you wish, based in Scripture and Church Tradition. You may choose to light the wreath only on Sundays, however some families light the wreath daily to more fully celebrate Advent.

Thoughts from Mother Teresa

I'm reading a couple books about Mother Teresa. What a saint. Here are some thoughts and sayings from her:

1. "Without love there can be no happiness in the house, no peace in the world. A work of love is a work of peace".

2. "Be smiling when you visit the poor. Even if you have nothing to give, smile to them; a smile costs nothing".

3. "Whatever misery, whatever suffering you have seen and experienced during the day, never go to bed without the joy of the Risen Christ".

4. Mother Teresa found a man in the gutter, eaten by worms. She took him home and spent 3 hours cleaning his wounds. Just before he died there, he said, "I have lived like an animal in the street, but I'm going die like an angel, loved and cared for".

5. When Mother Teresa was sick once with a high fever she says "I was in delirium; I went to Saint Peter, but he did not let me enter saying, "There are no slums in heaven"....In my anger I said, "Very well, I will fill heaven with slum people and you will be forced to let me in"....

6. "I am a pencil in God's hand".

7. "If I had passed by when I saw and smelt that woman who was eaten by rats ---her face, her legs. But I returned, picked her up and took her to a hospital. If I had not, the Society would have died. Feelings of repugnance are human but if I see the face of Jesus in His most distressing disguise, I will be holy".

8. "A clean heart can see God. And we should see God in each other."

9. "Charity begins today. Today somebody is suffering, today somebody is in the street, today somebody is hungry. Our work is for today, yesterday has gone, tomorrow has not come. We see a need, we go to meet it; at least, we do something about it".

10. "We love not in big things but in small things, with great love".

Christmas gift recipe: Oatmeal

Sugarfree Oatmeal in a Jar
(great Christmas present)

I wanted to make a present for my cousin who is diabetic and eats oatmeal every morning. I couldn't find a recipe on the internet, so I invented this one. It is sweet and delicious! If you want the real sugar, sustitute the Splenda with white or brown sugar.

Mix in a large bowl:

4 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup flaxseed
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 TBS sliced almonds
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups dry coffee creamer (I used fat free)
1 cup Splenda sweetner
1/4 cup raisins (or any other dried fruit)

Place in large-mouth jars or in a ziplock storage bag. Tie with ribbons and the following directions:

Stir 1/2 cup boiling water into 1/2 cup of oatmeal. Let sit one minute. ENJOY!

Advent Thoughts

Jesus had to become an earthly child.....so we could become a heavenly child

Jesus lived in a womb of darkness...so we could see the light

Jesus entered the earth through the humble and tramatic event of birth....so that we could easily and graciously recieve new life

Jesus could not speak or take care of himself as an infant.....so that we could have complete freedom in Him

Jesus cried to his mother in his need....so we could cry "Abba, Father" in our need

Jesus entered in a filthy, crowded, noisy, uncaring city....so we might live in a clean brilliant place called Zion

Jesus entered the limits of time.......so that we might taste eternity

Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes.....so that we could wear robes of righteousness

Jesus cared more for us than the glory of heaven......so that we could care for others more than ourselves

Advent is here!

I certainly love the 4 weeks of Advent. I purposefully do all my Christmas shopping and wrapping in October and November so I can just ENJOY December. For the past 6 years I attended a church that did not honor Advent. I really missed it. To spend 4 weeks in humble, quiet, peaceful contemplation of God becoming man is a wonderful experience. Yes, there are times of rejoicing and laughing and enjoying a glass of eggnog, but there needs to be a balance of remembering that our sin is the reason for Christ becoming flesh.


I love what the writer of Hebrews says:
"That is why Christ said, "O God, the blood of bulls and goats cannot satisfy you, so you have made ready this body of mine for me to lay as a sacrifice upon your altar." (Hebrews 10:5)

Advent. Waiting. Expecting. Needing. Receiving. These are all parts of Advent. O come, o come, Emmanuel!

Big Bail Out

In light of you and I personally paying billions and billions of dollars to save companies who have made poor choices over the years, I read an interesting proverb today.


"The world's poorest credit risk is the man who agrees to pay a stranger's debts". Proverbs 27:13


Interesting, huh?