Allure of allspice , cinnamon and vanilla fills her culinary workshop , warm oven and sweet memories of pumpkin , sweet potato pies , oatmeal cookies , divinity on Christmas Eve , roasted pecans , ambrosia and fig butter. Children , grandchildren licking frosting bowls , sharing stories , learning the time honored craft of baking , tradition and bonding of family , close friend and neighbor . Scent of Winter , frosted windows , smell of burning oak , sweet gum , smoke rising into low cloud cover from distant homes on this cold afternoon , bathed in glow of fireplace , Mothers book of recipes in hand , assuring , comforting , stoking fire in my very soul . May this day last forever ......