Mrs. Ramage & velvet cake

When I was little we had a neighbor named Mrs. Ramage. She was very old, nearly blind and had no family but still managed to live on her own. Every Christmas Eve my mom made us a really nice dinner and she would make a warm plate for Mrs. Ramage. My sister and I would walk the warm meal across the street and present it to Mrs. Ramage every Dec. 24. She was always very appreciative!
In November I was reading a story out of "Guideposts," wherein a woman wrote a story about her great grandmother and her Christmas cakes. This grandmother could not afford to give her children presents at Christmas so every January she would start collecting and saving as much "baking" items as she could, sugar, cinnamon, etc....On Christmas eve when all her children were asleep she would start baking cakes. Every Christmas morning she presented her children with seven cakes and they were allowed to eat one cake for the next seven days, now that would be exciting to my kids!!! The story included a recipe for a red velvet cake with cream cheese icing. I was inspired and went to the cake decorating store in my town and start baking them for my friends and neighbors. I made six cakes and I loved it! I hope to bake some kind of cake every Christmas season as a way to say Merry Christmas! If you want the recipe, here it is!
Red Velvet Cake:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1-ounce bottle red food coloring
Preheat oven to 350 and grease two 9-inch cake pans. In medium bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. In large bowl mix together sugar, buttermilk, oil, eggs and vinegar. Add dry mixture to wet. Beat on medium speed until well blended. Add vanilla and food coloring. Bake about 25-30 minutes.
Cream cheese icing:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 pound confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla