pound cake. not peppermint bark or divinity. not pfeffernussen or toffee. not even the trend-setting homemade marshmallows that have blogworld all a-buzz. nope. pound cake. i was bent on having one at christmastime, so that's what i churned out over the weekend and toted along to sunday dinner at the harms farms.

i won't rehash the recipe here, because deb's is perfect in every way. you can just pop over there and see for yourself. for me, summer 2009 will forever be remembered as the summer of the pound cake. we made many a batch of this golden loaf in the camp kitchen, using this very recipe. and that's when i fell in love for the second time at summer camp. i will never have need for another pound cake recipe.

it's beginning to look like cake will prevail over candies in my kitchen this christmas. i almost feel i'm doing an injustice to mom's good christmas repertoire by going rogue like this. her beat-up green plastic binder, stacked with hundreds of handwritten recipes on yellowing college-ruled, is crammed with accounts of lavish christmas baking that goes back years before i was born. when it comes to christmas, mom has always baked to beat the band. i love that about her. i can picture her as a young bride, standing in the kitchen of the little brick house in texas, copying her mother's recipes, and planning the magnificent production of dad's old-fashioned favorites. when i hold that notebook of hers, i feel i'm holding a piece of history. thanks, mom. you've made december a nostalgic time for me to be in the kitchen. and knowing you, i know you'll forgive my swerve from tradition for this year.

ps. mom, i just remembered, i made haystacks! bingo. redemption.