Mom's Holiday Pumpkin Bread--Mom's Way

In church today, they announced that there were empty boxes in the foyer so those who were interested could participate in the Salvation Army Food Drive. I know that many receiving those boxes also receive in a sense a bit of hope- for better times. My thoughts wandered a bit to the Christmas of 1986. And in honor of such I made Mom’s Holiday Pumpkin Bread – the way Mom makes it..

I grew up in a somewhat large family of six children. Each Christmas our family would carol to friends and neighbors and upon leaving with our parting tune of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” my little brother would give a loaf of Mom’s Holiday Pumpkin Bead to our friends. Many of the friends and neighbors we caroled to considered our visit one of the highlights of their season. Money was always tight in our home, but one Christmas in particular things were especially tough. My parents called the children together to discuss the caroling plans and to let us know that there just wasn’t enough money for both ingredients for the holiday pumpkin bread for caroling and for our traditional Christmas meal of ham, rolls, Jell-O, and pies. My parents let us know the decision was up to us to choose between making the bread and having our Christmas feast. My parents left the room to allow for free discussion amongst us children. It wasn’t but a moment until my older sister announced our unanimous decision to our parents. We wanted the bread!
We caroled on several nights in the weeks preceding Christmas. With our last batch of holiday bread, our final night of caroling was Christmas Eve. It was cold and we were tired, but as a teenager, when I saw a tear fall down the face of a lady we caroled to, I knew it was all worth the effort. Our family returned home that evening to find our front porch lined with numerous stuffed grocery bags filled with Christmas ham and trimmings and much, much, more. Those people, who had gone out of their way to our home, tended to our immediate needs, but also left a testimony to children, teen-agers and a couple of struggling parents of a sense of love, compassion, hope and a desire to serve.