"These are the generals, the linchpins, the creative people that make sure things happen," said Weaver, author of 15 books. They have learned from relatives, cookbooks, and trial and error. They cook in basement kitchens, in the wee hours, and often, for whoever asks.
Nancy Quinn, 81, of West Chester, will make about 500 holiday cookies - 10 varieties - including one her mother named after a Revolutionary War general.
Alberta "the Cake Lady" Johnson, 84, of Willingboro, is in the midst of baking 30 cakes this month in what she describes as a calling and a "ministry."
"It just lets people know that you care," said Johnson, who learned the basics from cookbooks as a military wife stationed with her husband in Japan.
Johnson has delivered her banana nut cakes in the rain and mailed cakes to relatives stationed in Iraq. Bruno's fans are more local. Her pastor, Msgr. Charles Sangermano of Holy Saviour Parish in Norristown, can't get enough of her stuffed olives.
On Sunday, Bruno poured batter into two pizzelle irons, with her daughter-in-law Mary Ann Bruno, 59, and sister Dolly Braccischi, 82, pitching in to help. The licorice smell of the anise-flavored Italian cookies filled the house.
Bruno will give them to her hairdresser, her pastor, and a bunch of others. She says she was inspired to cook by her mother. Quinn says her own mother was also an inspiration, especially at Christmas.
"Can you imagine having seven children who got up at 5 a.m. to open presents? Then she'd make breakfast. We'd go to church and come home. She'd take a nap and then get up and prepare a buffet for 20 people."
