when pumpkin spice is ok … Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread

Try as I might to resist, I’m getting twitchy for pumpkin. The amount of pumpkin/pumpkin spice products in the grocery stores is obnoxious and some things just have no business living in the pumpkin spice realm – check this list out. While I roll my eyes at the vast majority, there are a few things that I do love. The original, OG pumpkin spice donuts from my youth (still working on recreating those). My pumpkin bundt cake. A slice of a good pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. They’re delicious and invoke feelings of nostalgia in a way that pumpkin spice Cheerios or Oreos do not. Inevitably, as I pass the cans of pumpkin puree on the grocery display, one will go in my cart. Maybe two. Which is exactly what happened last week.

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Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roulade with Pumpkin Spice Caramel Sauce

Early in our adult life, a former boyfriend and I couldn’t always afford to buy plane tickets home to Arizona for the holidays.  This made me a little sad, as Christmas is quite the thing in my family.  Being poor was depressing enough but missing our traditional holiday meals only compounded the situation.  No Christmas Eve oysters?  No pierogies?  No crazy cooking marathon with my mom or opening stockings on Christmas morning like when we were kids?  Exchanging gifts isn’t nearly as fun when you’re not there to see the recipients face.  Luckily we had some family nearby and many friends who were happy to invite us to their celebrations, and this helped.  One year, we were invited to the family home of a good friends girlfriend for what became a rather memorable Christmas.

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