Jesus' Birthday Cake, A Family Tradition
by The best family food traditions are all about family and tradition and little about food, a lesson hard-learned from my ever-wise sister.
When her now-strapping teenboys were little tikes, she introduced the family to the Christmas Eve tradition of celebrating Jesus’ birthday complete with cake and candles and party hats and a round of the Happy Birthday song.
One year, I went to considerable effort to bake a fancy cake with good chocolate and toasted nuts and artful icing. It was good and all but really, nothing memorable.
[img_assist|fid=2625|thumb=0|alt=Jesus' Birthday Cake]The next year, my sister picked up some gaudy, gooey, sugary, frosting-thick cake from the supermarket bakery late on Christmas Eve.
(Yes. You can tell, right? It’s true. I admit it! I didn’t approve.)
That night, we gathered round the table, carols quiet in the background. The boys lit the candles atop the cake one by one. We joined hands to sing ‘Happy biiiirtttttthday, dear Jeeeeesus’ in loud, clear voices.
After a brief squabble over who’d blow out the candles, we sliced the cake and added big scoops of ice cream.
I took a bite, sure it would be awful.
Then I looked up, seeing with wet eyes the smiles on everyone’s faces, the tree lights reflecting in the windows, and understood with new wisdom the real meaning of family traditions.
It was the best cake ever. I ate every bite.
[cross-posted from Kitchen Parade, my food column]
[photo credit to Mistress of the Dorkness who says that the no-squabble rule is that the youngest one blows out the candles]
My family's not alone in looking for ways to celebrate the season with more faith than finery. The message board outside a church I passed this morning reads, "Don't X Christ out of Christmas".
Miss Tara's Recipe Box shares her family's traditional recipe for Jesus' Birthday Cake, festively red and green.
"I started early in my children's lives to keep Christ in our celebration and to make sure our celebration reflects our faith. We always have a birthday cake for Jesus. On Christmas Eve, we sing Happy Birthday, Jesus! -- and my kids just delight in singing and blowing the candles, making a wish for Him -- a precious moment too is when they'd go in a monologue as if He is part of our round table dinner." ~ Family Comes First
"Where did I go wrong?" asks Michelle when her five-year old insists, "Christmas is about Santa!" ~ Look@OKC
"When I was in my teens ... Both God and Santa were these benevolent old men (in my imagination; also the pictures I’d seen) who I never got to see, but who were looking after me, and keeping track of what I was up to. So, ‘no Santa’ seemed to point suspiciously in the direction of ‘no God’. Of course, I eventually figured out the difference, and all was well in the end." ~ Desmond's Place.
Where does Santa, where does Christ, fit into your family's celebration of the Christmas Season?
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Comments
Great post!
That was a very nice post. The idea of making a cake for our Father is such a great idea, i will be honest i never though about it, but i should have. It should really be part of our Holiday celebrations, i'll make sure to cook one this year, i am sure the whole family will enjoy :)
Thank you for the great post and the great idea!
Patty's Cake recipes
Birthday Cake for Jesus
Now, why didn't I hear of this, or think of it myself, when my kiddos were little? This is a fun idea.
Co-author of "Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts: Stories to Warm Your Heart and Tips to Simplify Your Holiday"
aw...
My son and I do that... well, I guess other family members are there, but, they just sort of play along, I think to humour me. Ty and I always go and pick out a little bitty, but, very nice cake at the bakery, and Christmas morning, before we open presents, we turn out the light, light a candle on the cake and sing to the baby Jesus in our nativity set.
And... I was talking to my buddy at work today and we both realized we hadn't rec'd a single card that had the word 'Christmas' in it yet! Everything said holidays... whether from other companies or friends. So, I grabbed a bit of scrap paper (I make blueprints, so there is a bit of this stuff around before recycling) and now a nice picture of baby jesus, a cross and a christmas tree decorate my front window. Rudimentary compared to the fancy snowmen and santa up and down the street? Maybe... but, it's just plain silly to see the word Christmas properly written out in so few places this season.
Melanie Perry
***not all who wander are lost***
Mistress of the Dorkness
Nice, Melanie ...
... your 'humble' picture ... I'm sure it's lovely! If you have a photo, e-mail it to me (ak AT kitchen HYPHEN parade DOT com) and I'll add it to the post! That would be the perfect touch, really.
Update: Melanie, fyi, didn't receive the e-mail.
Alanna Kellogg, A Veggie Venture
hmm
I wonder if it was blocked because it came from Gmail? I'll try resending it from my work account. sorry!
thank you
email is sent! :-) hope you enjoy.
Melanie Perry
***not all who wander are lost***
Mistress of the Dorkness
Catholic School
When I was in Catholic school I got in trouble for asking why
we didn't sing happy birthday to Jesus. I always thought that was weird. As Unitarians who celebrate both Hanukah and Christmas (my husband is Jewish), I want to make sure that my sons understand that Christmas in Jesus' birthday so I was planning on getting a small birthday cake this Christmas.
A. Elliot
Love it
Alanna, you made my eyes all teary.
Wonderful, wonderful post.
I've never thought about making a a birthday cake for Jesus before, I didn't know people did it. Great idea.
Dana
Mamalogues.com
In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Pop Mama
Since Eve
How Wonderful!
What a wonderful way to incorporate the most important part of the Holiday into your celebration!
Your children will always remember it and I suspect so will your Father in Heaven.
It would be nice if we could somehow get Jesus a piece of cake though. Maybe for a present we could do something nice for someone else or donate our time or resources to a charity as a gift.
God Bless
My Teenage Diary
http://myteenagediaryyears.blogspot.com/