My grandma died December 16, 1964. I was devastated. She was always accepting of me and seemed not to notice my faults. She had mailed her Christmas gifts to us the morning of the evening of her death. The box arrived two or three days after her funeral. It was a macabre feeling, being anxious to find out what she’d sent, knowing she was in her grave.
We rallied and had a wonderful Christmas. The gifts had special meaning, knowing they’d be the last. I still have a tiny jewelry box from that year. My poor brother managed to turn this sad situation into a mess. Grandma had included a small fruit cake in a red tin box. Mother put it up, intending to serve it on a special occasion. Well, my brother Bill must have had a special occasion of his own. Mother found the empty fruitcake can hidden in his room, not a crumb left.
She was furious! He had eaten her dead mother’s fruitcake……….the last gift she’d ever sent. He lived to regret his theft. She didn’t let him forget it for weeks, getting weepy every time she saw the shiny red box, sitting in a place of honor on the table.
This is probably the only documented story of anyone ever actually eating a fruitcake!
So sorry for your mother. Back home, that boy would have cried himself sorry for as long as mother lived
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Mother was a softie. He didn’t suffer too long.
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Ohh I love fruitcake! Bet your brother wished he hadn’t touched it! 🙂
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I think he wished she’d sent two.
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Ha!
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Mother used to put leftovers in the freezer to try to keep him out of them. She’d hear the freezer door creaking after everybody wa in bed at night.
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HaHA! He sounded like a bit of a handful for your mum! 🙂
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He was a walking appetite. He drank milk from a quart jar.
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Bless him. Nothing wrong with a hearty appetite, although not much fun for those trying to satisfy it! 🙂
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It was a challenge to keep hm fed.
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I bet!!! 🙂
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What I want to know is who still has the red tin, mother? or brother or you.
Call me weird but I like fruit cake. My mom used to make it every Christmas. I don’t know if it’s an Italian Thing or not but there is was every year. I also like Fruit Stolen, my dad was German and that was also a Christmas cake. I guess I would have to admit here that I like cake. :o)
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Mother still has the tin. Uses it for buttons and thread. Lots of people must like it.
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Your poor mother! I feel sorry for her. Your brother probably felt guilty for about 5 minutes. LOL! I actually don’t hate fruitcake. It isn’t my favorite but I would eat it if someone served it to me.
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He never mentioned feeling guilty. I made raisin bourbon fruitcake last night. I may have people complaining about me.
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Hahaha! Sounds good!
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So if there is such a generalised dislike of fruitcake, tell me, WHY do people make it? I’m feeling ignorant, it is not part of our Christmas tradition
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I don’t know. Mother made it every year. It was a big deal.
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It is here too for some families. Not something I would choose to eat let alone make!
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I made raisin bourbon cake yesterday, so I am guilty.
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That sounds more interesting 🙂
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It is good.
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Reblogged this on Nutsrok and commented:
Reblog of a story posted last Christmas
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I can sympathize with your loss and the strange scenario afterward, but I imagine your grandmother had a joyous time preparing for your family’s presents and actually getting them off in the mail. No doubt she was satisfied with her gift.
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It was sad but special to receive gifts after her death.
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I like fruitcake! But I wouldn’t eat it if my mother told me not to.
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Uh oh. Now, I have some questions. Does your brother still eat (even like???) fruitcake? Or is his guilt so enormous he feels slightly nauseated at the thought of all that gooey, weird fruit, that sticks to his teeth, and possibly tints his tongue green? Or maybe he buys one every year that he doesn’t eat, in honor of his horrible crime? (or so he says, cause really. WHO likes fruit cake.) 🙂
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I’ve seen him rooting around for fruitcake and never heard him mention guilt!
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While I can’t approve of your brother’s thieving ways, I certainly do have to admire his cast-iron stomach. Lol.
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Probably the first and last fruitcake taken out of circulation.
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Oh my ~ That was really sad for your mother, I feel her pain. Brothers can be so insensitive without a clue, I know, I have 3 of them 😦 On a lighter note that is the first time I have ever heard of unrequited fruit cake. (Sorry, I had to do it).
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Only fruitcake ever eaten. Much less stolen. He should have gotten a prize!
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This reminds me of a saying my Mum always used when we broke something, “Oh! That was the last thing Granny gave me”, it always intensified my guilt. It was years before I realized that every single thing couldn’t possibly have been the last thing!
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They really worked that guilt didn’t they
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Great story…did your brother say why he’d eaten it?
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I think it was the old dumb standby “I dunno” I think she was too busy yelling at him to ask. It was obvious he was greedy.
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Maybe your mother thought the same as me that there was only one fruit cake in the world and it just traveled around from re-gifting to re-gifting. And your brother had eaten it!
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This probably put your brother off fruitcake forever. Merry Christmas!
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A friend of mine use to leave making her cake until the last week or so before Christmas, and her son came in one evening to find it cooling on a wire tray prior to marzipan and icing. He cut himself a hefty slice and went to bed.
On Christmas Day, the completed cake had pride of place on the table, minus a wedge. Her son asked for a piece, and saying No, she pointed to the gap and said he’d already had his!
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Bet his heart was broken!
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could have been worse….. she could have hit him with the rolling pin! haha
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Surprised she didn’t!
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Nah, your poor BROTHER!
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Happy Christmas! Your poor mother lol
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You too
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