18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Thursday, December 5, 1913: Ditto
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
The diary entries for both December 4 and December 5 say “ditto.” The “ditto” refers to a diary entry on 3rd which said, “Nothing—That word I have good use for.”
I’m enjoying browsing through the December, 1913 issue of Ladies Home Journal. Since Grandma didn’t write much, I’ll share some Christmas cake ideas that were in the magazine.
A Hundred Years Ago 
I had to laugh at the last picture. It looked like a stack of two ground beef patties when I first saw it 🙂 I am sure it was delicious though.
LOL–I never would have thought that the cake looks like a stack of ground beef patties, but now that you mention it, I can see it.
Beautifully elaborate cakes. Mine don’t even get frosted.
Such fancy cakes! I’m hoping Grandma is just busy getting ready for Christmas and that she’s not “down”….
oh my, would that be a splendid finale of the Christmas dinner!!! I love the star cake and I feel all inspired to create a desert that may compete a little with these woks of art! Thank you yet again!
I wonder if Grandma was really busy, or bored, or just didn’t feel like writing. . . These cakes sure look fancy!
My sense is that people were more likely to make fancy homemade desserts a hundred year ago than what they are now.
Yummy — and so pretty!
I love Marzipan!
So I have to ask … does the Ditto / Nothing mean she has nothing of interest to report? Or that she is bored? Or that she thinks she can’t share what’s going on in her life?
Just curious …
I think that ditto means that something is repeated. So when Grandma wrote ditto, I think that she meant the entry was the same as the previous entry.
Wow, those cakes look so good, I really like the star cake 🙂
I probably would have written “bored” too, if I had kept up my teenage diary! I love how elaborate these Xmas cakes are; cannot imagine taking the time to do something as beautiful as these.
I wish that I had the time to make fancy cakes like these. 🙂
I’ve never seen a cake that looked like any of these. I’m looking forward to a caramel frosted cake my daughter is baking for my sister’s birthday Saturday. Maybe I’ll stick a sprig of holly on top 🙂
I’ve never been a fan of that dense, rum cake with raisins and candied fruit that people love to make at Christmas. A good old Ginger bread man is the way I roll.