Out of my element!

So what does a songwriter or music man do when a cake or cupcakes are needed for a birthday? We'll that's simple, he just watches his creative artistic wife take charge making the cupcakes or cake. She has made some amazing creative baked goods for our kids birthdays, Halloween, etc. So what happens when the birthday is my Wife's? In years past, the answer was some generic cake made by some lady at the closest grocery store who used whatever color icing she had in the tube on her table and wrote "Happy Birthday Theresa" on whatever cake I grabbed already made and frosted in the refrigerated case. But you know, my wife isn't generic and I can do this! So I made cupcakes!  The kitchen, at some moment in time, was hazed in powder sugar smoke. I made fondant icing that I shaped into artist pallets. Fondant is fun to make. Without a good dough hook on an electric mixer--you have to knead the fondant with your hands...FUN STUFF really! I must admit the little pallets turned better than I thought they would. The frosted cupcakes had four different colors with sugar-dusted sprinkles and a little paint brush made out of a tootsie roll...dipped in colored frosting that looked like painted bristles. They turned out pretty cool.  When Christopher walked into the kitchen he was all smiles!

I admit, I used an image from an online search to get the idea of the art cupcakes....and my wife could and would make them even better than the image online. The image online was much better than what I created....but they still turned out pretty good.

Christopher had to go to drum line practice for band tonight and Theresa wanted Red Lobster for dinner. So Theresa opened her present before she and I went to dinner. I gave her a Keurig coffee maker with the individual little K Cup coffees. I got the idea when my brother-in-law Rich got one for Christmas. Everyone seemed to love it when we saw it--particularly Theresa, so I got her it. Theresa had a cupcake before we left for Red Lobster-she said they tasted yummy. She managed to eat one before we could sing "Happy Birthday".

Which leads me to the history lesson for the day. Did you know the phrase "Happy Birthday" did not start appearing on Birthday Cakes until the early 1900s when the, song "Happy Birthday To You" was popularized? And yes, it's true I opted not to include the tradition brought to birthday cakes by the Germans of using lighted candles. However, judging by the lighted eyes on the face of Chris, Shawn, and Theresa, I think the cupcakes were a bright hit!

Tonight is the Twelfth Day of Christmas...The 12 drummers are drumming and by tradition, the Christmas Season officially comes to an end. However, do not fret, the official 2011 Christmas Shopping Season begins in just 323 short days.