The Christmas Cake

She baked a Christmas cake every year from the same recipe she got from Mam, written in Mam's handwriting on a piece of lined paper that had been folded and unfolded a thousand times. She kept it in a little plastic sleeve now because the paper was getting fragile. She baked the one that was served at the wake in September, when she was still well enough to stand for an hour. She said she wanted it to be a good one. It was the best one she ever made.