Happy Birthday to My Family!

My family is big about celebrations.  Pretty much for every occasions, we have cake and sing a song, even for holidays like Mother's Day and Father's Day!  For those events, we sing to the Happy Birthday tune but replace "Birthday" with "Mother's Day," "Father's Day," etc...  Now that I think about it, the cake comes out for all of our birthdays and Mother and Father's Day.  We just like to celebrate.  The night before a celebration, we decorate the house with streamers, balloons, and signs.  We really deck out the place, inside and out.  It used to be easy when we all lived in the same house but with some of us married or living far, it's hard.  But we pick a day to celebrate always, go to dinner, have cake and do presents, just with the family.  I love this tradition.  It's like the birthday parties you had when you were small but it's intimate because it's just with our immediate family.  Here's a pic from one of our many celebrations!

When someone's birthday rolls around, we pick a cake that the birthday person would like.  It used to be that we would try to remember what kind of cake the person liked and surprised them but lately, we have been asking the person straight out, what cake they would prefer.  We all know there are days you prefer an ice cream cake rather than a pie, so on so forth.  As for ice cream cakes, we usually go to Baskin Robbins.  For regular cakes, we've been going to Whole Foods.  We used to buy cakes from the grocery store until one day, we decided to try a cake from Whole Foods.  It's healthier, they use natural ingredients but it's quite pricey but let me tell you, their cakes are AMAZING!!!  There are many varieties as well.  When you go buy a cake during special holidays, make sure you go early.  They do run low or even out.  Because the cakes are make from fresh ingredients, they don't keep that long.  The whip cream they use for their cakes is unlike the artificial frosting's on the cakes you see at the grocery store.  It's like the whip cream you make from heavy whipping cream!  So good!  Next time a family member's birthday rolls around or if it's Mother's Day or Father's Day, honor that person.  After all, it's a very special day!