Seven Cakes – Though Dirt Poor, They Had Cake For Christmas
Life during the depression in rural Alabama wasn’t too different from any other time of year for my people. You see, they were sharecroppers – dirt farmers who didn’t even own their own dirt. They wouldn’t have known if the world had been prosperous, their lives had always been a struggle of hard work and all too often relying on hope for the next meal.
This time of year, there wasn’t a whole lot to be thankful for, other than the fact that there wasn’t any cotton to pick. For them, winter was as bleak as the Alabama landscape. In Alabama, we are not often afforded the sight of glistening snow resting atop hills and trees in a winter wonderland. Here, the sky just gets gray and the landscape browns – bare trees, brown grass, and muddy earth where fields lay in wait for spring . . . as far as the eye can see.
My great grandmother had four children and they all lived in a small shack house. Wood was a precious thing and that meant only heating one room. My grandmamma says “it got so cold at night. Mama would heat rocks and wrap ‘em up in old towels and things to put in bed with us but we still got so cold. You didn’t dare get out of that bed unless you just had to”.
Families would work all year for the farmer in exchange for monthly rations of staples such as dried beans, flour, and the occasional bit of meat. At harvest’s end they’d get a percentage of profits on the cotton, but all of the staples which had been provided for them were then deducted from the final cost, leaving families in a continued state of dependence upon the farm owner for enough food to survive the winter.
But with winter, came Christmas, and my great grandmother always did manage to make it special despite their hardships. Lela’s life had always been a hard one. Growing up one of nine children in Jackson County, she had spent her childhood traveling from farm to farm with her parents and siblings, picking cotton and tending to whatever crops the farm owner decided to plant. Now she had four kids to provide a Christmas for and keeping them fed and clothed took about all she had and then some.
But she never failed them. She always came through, especially at Christmastime.
Lela squirreled away ingredients all year long. A little sugar here, some dried apples there, maybe some raisins and a bit of cinnamon. After the kids went to bed on Christmas Eve, she’d set to work. Using only what she had on hand and no recipes to speak of, Lela would stay awake all night baking cakes in her little wood stove. She’d make an apple stack cake, a raisin cake, yellow cake with chocolate icing, peanut butter cake, and so on. There was never a plan beyond that of needing to make seven of them – one for each day from Christmas until the New Year.
The next morning, four sets of eyes would open wide and four sets of feet would hurry out of their cold beds into the only heated room in the house where their faces would light up at seeing the bounty of seven cakes sitting on the worn kitchen table. I know how their faces looked because my grandmother’s still lights up the same way now, some seventy years later, when she talks about those cakes. The kids took turns being the one to choose the cake they ate that day and between the six of them and any company who happened by, they made short work of it and were ready to start with a new one the next morning.
Most kids today would consider having cakes baked for you as your only Christmas gift to be a disappointment. But amid all of the wrappings and bows, gift sets and feasts, I hope your Christmas somehow manages to be as magical as it was in that little sharecroppers house in Alabama during the depression, when four kids woke up with stars in their eyes at finding seven cakes.
Gratefully,
Christy
For a little Christmas gift from Southern Plate, please click here.
Merry Christmas from Southern Plate!
Posted by Christy Jordan
on Dec 17 2008. Filed under Holiday Favorites!.
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Christy,
I just got your cookbook in the mail yesterday. Tears came to my eyes as I began reading it. I am an avid cookbook collector and I have been a follower of your blog for a little while. However, I think your book is more than just a cookbook. It’s a little book of life. I really enjoyed all your heartfelt writing. I read cookbooks like many people read novels cover to cover and I must say yours is up there with one of the best! I can’t wait to try all your recipes. There isn’t one that doesn’t look good. I’m a midwest gal, from the Hoosier state but I think there’s a little southern in all of us!
Thanks for sharing your Christmas message with us, and the deeper meaning of the season!
God Bless you!
Carey
Christy,
That was a wonderful story and I too had tears because I grew up in home where we didn’t have much their was six children and my Father worked and Mother stayed at home. She was a wonderful coook. For the holidays she would cook like your g-grandmother al day long making cakes and pies. She would make a Peppermint cake, the next day she would put juice on the cake wrap it in cheese cloth. She woudl do this for several day and when CHristmas came the cake would be so moist ( melt in your mouth). the younger children would get only one gift, with fruit, nuts. We were poor but back then we didn’t know that. My Mother and FAther are no longer living and I miss them so much. My MOther died on the twenty-third of December, so it is still hard this time of year. But I have so much to be thankful for good health, my daughters and my five grandchildren, other family members.
Wishing you and your family a Blessed Merry Christmas. Oh! by the way I am from Alabama. Emma
Christy,
What a wonderful story for you to share about your family!! I thoroughly enjoy your letters and recipes. May you have continued success and have a blessed 2011! Keep sharing those family stories. That is to me what makes you you and I feel as if every recipe has a history! I can’t wait to share this story with the rest of my family as I go to holiday gatherings. I have already printed it out!
Merry Christmas from Athens, AL
Nikki
Your stories fill my eyes with tears and my heart with happiness.
Merry Christmas to you & your beloved family from Southeast Alabama.
Dear Christy, Thank you for sharing your stories with all of us and for reminding us of what is truly important–faith, love and family! Merry Christmas to you and your family and have a blessed New Year.
Lora from Tampa
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Christy to u and your family. may u be as prosperous in the new year.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Christy to you and all of your family. Enjoy your time off, You deserve it!
Christy, Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to you and your family! Just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed the Seven Cakes story & recipes. The story reminded me so much of the writings of Rick Bragg who claims Possum Trot, AL as home. Are you familiar with Rick’s writings? My favorite is All Over But the Shoutin’.
Thank you for sharing your story and MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!
Thank you for sharing such a heart-warming story. Merry Christmas to you and all of the Southern Plate family.
Christy thank you so much for sharing such a beautiful story. My grandparents and father grew up in central Iowa with the same background, so this story really touched my heart. Wishing you and your family a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!
Christy,
Thank you for sharing the story about your great grandmother and your family. My husband is from Decatur, and his mother was one of 10 children, so I know she could relate to how your great grandmother dealt with providing for her family. I’m so happy that you are doing so well, and I wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
God bless you and your family,
Debbie
Christy,
Your story is such a treasure. It really touches me because it’s very similar to my family’s story. My great-grandmother was the daughter of a freed slave. They were sharecroppers way down in Opelika, Alabama. She would tell us about “putting things back” during the year so they’d have something special for Christmas…If they were fortunate enough to have an orange one Christmas, they’d save the peeling and dry it to use for flavoring next year’s Christmas cake.
For you to be where you are today, I’d bet that your family wouldn’t give up their “hardship” journey.
Wishing you and your family a year of Peace & Blessings,
Shawn
P.S. I can’t wait to see you on the Today Show
Thanks so much for sharing your cake recipes and the story that went with them…it brings back many memories of my families history.
Wishing your family many blessings this Christmas, and in the New Year to come.
Thank you for the gift of recipes (and touching stories), Christy! You are so refreshing to me. Blessings to you and your family this year. Can’t wait to see you on the Today show!
Thank you so much for the Seven Cakes story and recipes. It was wonderful to read. How very sweet of you to give us the recipes so we can share also. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Dear Christy,
My husband surprised me this Christmas morning by wrapping your cookbook up in a box and hiding it under the tree for me. We had agreed that we weren’t getting each other anything for Christmas this year, but he knew that I really wanted your cookbook. I cried when I opened it and especially when I started to read the introduction…
Thank you so much for sharing your family recipes with us all! You and your family are teaching me how to cook! I moved to Florence, Alabama a few years ago after marrying me southern man! It was a hard to move away from all of my family and my mother especially, but worth it to give my 2 small children a truly wonderful daddy who has raised them as his own!
Just want to say Merry Christmas and THANK YOU! You have help fill a void in my heart! You are like a sister teaching me how to cook for my family!
Love,
Amy Wadkins from Florence, Alabama
Thank you for sharing that story Christy. I remember my grandmother telling of many a story of them growing up back in the day and the hardships. The greatest thing though was the family love. No matter what, they always found joy and loved one another. I love those stories from those days and really miss them.
Thank you for brining back some great memories. Hope you and your familiy had a beautiful Christmas and the New Year will be filled with great blessings.
Blessings to you,
Tammy
Thank you so much Tamy! We had a wonderful Christmas and hope the same for you!
Thanks for reminding me of the story and the recipes. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and have a Happy New Year!!
We did have a wonderful Christmas, hope you did too!
Christy,
I love hearing your stories about your family. My father had six brothers & sisters and grew up in a little wood frame home in the middle of an orange grove. There was never any money but plenty of love. His father (my grandpa) would sit on the porch and peel an orange (in one long continuous peel) for each of us grandkids and tell us stories about our parents. I never tired of the sound of his voice and the tales he’d tell. He definitely was the sweetest man on earth and I sure do miss him!!
Over Christmas while visiting my folks I happened upon their Guidepost. Lo and behold, there you were!!! I love that story. Thank you for publishing it for everyone to see and read.
[...] cute story about that, too. When I did the 700 Club, I made seven different cakes and talked about The Seven Cakes of Christmas story from my family (You can watch all of my tv clips by visiting this [...]
Christy: Well, listening to the cake story started my day with tears….My mother’s family must have been “kissin’ cousins” to yours ’cause she grew up in about the same manner. Hearing you tell about your great-grandmother staying up and making those cakes for her family hearkened me back to the life my own sweet mother must have experienced. What a precious thing for her to do! Thanks for sharing the story of the seven cakes. The BEST of holidays to you & yours! Ginger B,.
Merry Christmas to you Ginger!!!
Thank you, Christy. This is a delightful gift, the story and the cake recipes.
Merry Christmas.
And a very Merry Christmas to you Janie!
As I shared todays post on my fb here is what I posted with it :
I have grown to love this site. Even though it has allowed me to bake 2 items successfully that I thought I never would bake, it is not for that reason. It is for the stories she shares with each post I get… Please take a moment a watch the short short video. It may be short but the msg. is enormous.
Merry Christmas and all the Blessings of the Season
Christy, family and staff …
Oh wow Donna, I am so honored that you think that much of me. I am so blessed to have you as a part of my family here and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!!!
Thank you for the recipes and the story of the 7 cakes. My parents were newlyweds back during the depression and they too were sharecroppers, in Arkansas. Eventually they moved north and my dad got a job he kept for the rest of his life. We never had a lot, but we never knew we were poor, either! When I think about how they started out, I realize they felt rich by the time I showed up (as a surprise when they were in their mid to late forties!). I am proud of my parent’s hardworking legacy, and your story reminded me of that. I can imagine them having Christmases like the one you describe. My mother used to make that Fruit Cocktail cake and I do, too! Thank you so much for sharing with us.
Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful story Mary!!!
Your sweet story brings back so many memories of my childhood….my parents were sharecroppers as well and I can totally relate…they were wonderful (both deceased) and raised nine children through such tough times…we were so blessed to have plenty of food and baskets of fruit under the tree at Christmas.
I hope you never stop sharing this story at Christmastime…I always need the reminder of how far I myself have come and how truly blessed we are….I tried to make as many gifts as possible this year, I wanted my giving to come from the heart not the store. I love you Sis and I wish you a very very Merry Christmas and a truly healthy, happy, prosperous New Year…..xoxoxo
My parents grew up during the Depression and were poor as Job’s ole turkey. Daddy used to talk about how one Christmas he and his seven siblings each received an orange and another year a box of cracker jacks but most of the time they received nothing. At ten years old, his parents died leaving them to live with family and/or friends–whoever would take them in. He said they often dug up roots and other edibles in the woods to eat. Mom fared a little better but still went without food a lot. Dad taught me to love God, my family, and others. He also instilled into me the importance of hard work, responsibility, and helping others (I guess that’s one of the reasons I became a nurse.) When he died in 2000, he wasn’t a rich man but he owned his own business and left my mother in good shape financially. He gave all the credit to the Lord for everything he had. Christy, Thank you for sharing your heartwarming story, your tantalizing recipes, and your words of blessing. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
[...] it! Be sure and head on over to read My family’s Christmas story when you’re done, the Seven Cakes of Christmas (I have a free little ebook for you there, [...]
Christy, thank you so much for the Seven Cakes of Christmas. Would it be any trouble to e-mail this to us. I want to save the cookbook. If you can’t that’s fine. I know I will enjoy it. I love and enjoy your stories.
Many blessings this Christmas Season!
Christy, you are amazing! May you and your family have a joyful Christmas.
Christy, thanks for sharing your story and recipes. It reminds me of my parents and the hard times they went through with seven children. (Both deceased years ago.) I have three grown children and two grandchildren and so Blessed to have them and their love. Love carries you though. Merry Christmas to you and all your family.
You are precious. Thank you for the 7 cake story and recipes. It was truly a Kleenex moment. God bless you.
Christy, My grandmother used to make a 7 flavor pound cake. If anyone has it I would love a copy.