Smash Cakes

Apparently I've been living under a rock for the past several years. Although the name is descriptive, I'd never heard of a smash cake before this week. As soon as you associate 'smash cake' with a one year old's birthday, you understand what it is. Though babies have been smashing their hands into their first birthday cakes for decades, there was no separate (for baby only) small cake before 2001. There may have been some smart parents making separate cakes for the occasion, but 2001 is the first reference I've been able to find for the aptly named little baby cakes.

Smash cakes can be decorated to match the larger cake generally served to adults and other children at the baby's birthday party, but they may just as likely be a large cupcake or any small iced cake meant for photo-taking time at the celebration.

I learned about smash cakes from Sandy, my grandson's lovely mama. She ordered a small bakery cake to serve as the hopefully photogenic smash cake that Jace will be allowed to have his way with at his first birthday party, which we are busily planning. (That's another post - just how big these first birthday celebrations have become.)

We have spent the past few nights working on the invitations. Only a few months since I introduced her to card-making, Sandy is now a full-fledged crafter. She has great ideas and skill and, as my friend Diana always says to me, "A good, quick mind." These party invitations are so cute! After the party I will post a photo of the smash cake! Before and after it's been properly smashed.

Better and Better

I said it. I said, "I love my life." I said it not knowing that the affirmation would make the statement even more true. I had no idea of the joy that was waiting around the corner. That joy is my new grandson Jace Christopher. Already the light of my already loved life, this event has taken my life giant strides towards being even better! His mother and father, Sandy and Steve, are happy - how could they not be? That makes me very happy. I thank God for my miracles and am grateful every day for the wonders in my humble life. I wish on stars, I blow out birthday candles with fervent wishes going up to the skies. I wish on eyelashes, I see four leaf clovers as answers to my prayers. I pray. And every prayer, every wish has been the same for several years. With the birth of Jace Christopher I have learned that the daily and nightly and ever-present prayer has been answered. All those wishes have come true.

Will I stop wishing? Will I stop praying? Never. A dear old friend taught me many years ago the phrase: have an attitude of gratitude. I do. I learned that as a child, with the song lyrics, "I count my blessings instead of sheep...and I fall asleep, counting my blessings." I will always wish for the same things...not material goods, but heart-things. I will always pray my thanks. I will always count my blessings, of which there are many - and one more this month, that shines above all the others.

I am happy.

(Maybe that's why I keep those tickets...eternally optimistic.)