Birthdays

Journal Jar -- What did you do to celebrate birthdays when you were growing up?

 Birthdays in our family were celebrated with a wonderful cake....as seen in these pictures.  Dale above Larry below.  It looks like at first they were usually angelfood cake because we had eggs from growing up on a farm.  Mom was the best cake maker......I remember not being allowed in the kitchen when an angelfood cake was baking because they would fall so easily.

 Mom made cakes for all kinds of events, Karen is giving Bishop Rich his birthday cake. 

 Karen is also in the picture below as a little girl with her birthday cake.

 Mom decorated many cakes and then made wedding cakes too...I don't have pictures of her wedding cakes but I remember she would make roses and flowers long before the cake was due.  She was a perfectionist so when the mixer that made great frosting broke down that was the end of her stressing about making wedding cakes. (at least that is the way I remember it.)

Dave up above, and below however down below he is with Granddad and Lucinda (Lucinda is what the picture says but she sure looks like Grandma to me.)  Grandparents were included in the birthday cake celebration.  It was great having both sets live within 5 miles of home so that we could celebrate with them and they with us. (I love Dave's face below, it shows very well that Mom's cakes always tasted wonderful as well as looking great.)

 Here is a picture of Julie at her first birthday.

 And her fourth, I believe. 

 Mom made many doll cakes, and at least one witch cake.  I remember that she made a Halloween cake for an auction at school and everyone was trying to figure out how to get it.  The school was going to auction it off at first but realized that everyone might leave so they saved it for the last, which caused great concern for the bidders.  If they didn't get a cake before they may be left without one but they also needed to save enough money to bid for the one they really wanted.  I remember the conflict, and I wasn't that old.

 Here is a doll cake I thought was mine however I am not sixteen in the picture below so it must be Karen's.

We had great birthdays.  The one negative thing I remember is back in those days you got a spanking for every year old you were and a pinch to grow and inch.  It wasn't negative for me so I think the custom must have ended when I was younger but I remember taking food out to Dave who hid all day long one birthday so that he wouldn't get spanked and pinched by his older brothers.  If it weren't for that memory I would only remember the saying.  I am pretty sure we didn't ever have friend parties, but we did get to take a special treat to school for our birthdays, and we did have family parties.  Mom is a great cook so we were popular at least one day of the year.