The Rural Voice, 1998-12, Page 24Delores Shapton will spend
Christmas this year as she
always does, surrounded by
her own children and
grandchildren, but she'll also be part
of the Christmas celebrations of
many fricnds and neighbours because
her Christmas pudding will be the
highlight of their Christmas feast.
Come early November the kitchen
of the farmhouse west of Exeter she
shares with her husband Bruce takes
on the sweet smell of Christmas
baking as she begins making dozens
of Christmas puddings to meet the
demand from people who have been
coming up to her since summer
putting in orders for puddings.
Each year the number of
customers for her carrot pudding
seems to increase, she says though
it's still a hobby, not a business.
"Whatever I make I spend on my
children and grandchildren for
Christmas.
"The most important thing is
keeping the Christmas pudding
tradition alive," she says.
Many people want to keep the old
traditions like Christmas pudding as
part of their Yuletide celebrations but
fewer and fewer people have the
time. People knew Shapton made
puddings and began to ask her to
cook for them.
Delores and Bruce attend a couple
of craft shows each fall, Delores with
her puddings and Bruce with his
woodworking including shelves,
plate frames and hall trees. Still, most
of the puddings are sold through
direct orders.
"There's a social part to this too,"
Shapton says. When someone calls
with an order, usually they.chat for a
few minutes. When she delivers the
pudding there's often more visiting.
Many of the orders come from
older people who want to have a taste
of their traditional Christmas but
don't want to do all the baking
involved. Other puddings are bought
to be tucked into gift baskets.
Shapton remembers, with a smile,
the story of one elderly customer
who bought puddings every year.
Apparently she let her family think
that she had baked the puddings
herself but when she got sick, she
decided it was time they knew the
truth. Her daughter then began
ordering the puddings for the family
20 THE RURAL VOICE
Keeping the tradition
Delores Shapton helps families keep the tradition
of Christmas pudding alive
Story and photo by Keith Roulston
Delores Shapton puts ribbons on her Christmas puddings.
celebration.
Shapton bakes the puddings as
. they are required so that she won't
have too many left over and so that
each customer gets a fresh product.
Last year she baked her last batch on
December 19. She got an emergency
call on December 24 from a customer
who said her family's Christmas
plans had changed suddenly and
asked if she could still buy a
pudding. Luckily Shapton did have
one and delivered it, though this time
she did charge for delivery.
The recipe for the puddings is one
passed from her grandmother to her
mother to her, though she has made
some alterations of her own. She tries
to buy all her supplies locally,
shopping at the local supermarket
and health food stores. She wants her
customers to buy locally, she
reasons, so she should too.
With so many puddings to make,
Shapton does some comparative
shopping before buying ingredients.
Dried fruit costs soared this year and
she had to increase her prices to
compensate, she said. (She makes
three sizes of pudding ranging up to
$7.)
But the reward is more than
money. "People share their stories
about their Christmas," she says of
her customers. "It makes me feel
good. It makes you feel useful."
Those kinds of feelings are
important. There was a time a few
years ago when Shapton wondered if
her pudding baking was over. She
was diagnosed with Parkinson's
disease and worried that she wouldn't
be able to use her hands well enough
to keep on baking. But with the help
of medication she was able to keep
up the tradition with Bruce and other
family members helping to tie the
bright red and green ribbons on the
packages one year. This year she's
feeling well enough to tie the ribbons
herself, she says with satisfaction.
The pudding baking itself is good