Day 8: A birthday celebration.
I’ve had birthdays on the mind a lot lately: Coraline will turn two(!) in September, so I’ve been wracking my brain thinking about what to do, what would be age-appropriate, what theme she’d like (I’ll take a wild guess and say Elmo). She won’t remember her party, but I will.
There are two birthday celebrations of mine that I distinctly remember. One was a party at Chuck E. Cheese. While I can’t remember too many specifics, I do remember my sister Samantha seated across the table from me when Chuck E. himself came up behind her to say hi to our table. She turned around, looked up, and let out a scream that only a toddler could make, one that the astronauts in orbit probably heard clear as a bell in outer space. Her reaction pretty much made that party for me.
The other childhood birthday party that I distinctly recall is one we held at our house, I believe the last one I celebrated in Houston before we moved to Knoxville. I remember having a lot of friends over, and we watched cheesy movies, including at least one starring Elvira*. But what I remember more than anything, still clear as a bell, is the awesome cheeseburger birthday cake my mom got me from our favorite local bakery. (Oh, to be able to travel back in time to eat more of the donuts that bakery made.) I think it’s because that is still such a great birthday memory for me — that cake, the likes of which I’d never seen before — that I hope to make one just as memorable for Coraline someday. I’ll be sure to wait until she’s old enough to remember it.
I remember that cake being as beautiful as this one. (Get the recipe here.)
*I didn’t know until I wrote this post that Cassandra Peterson, aka Elvira, and I share the same birthday. Synergy!
