It has always been a tradition on my side of the family to have some sort of homemade cake and the dinner of your choosing when it's your birthday. Of course, this developed in to having every meal of your choice, a homemade birthday cake if you wanted it, and other surprises all through the day.

As a person gets older, it turns out you typically have to work on your birthday. Unless it miraculously falls on a weekend or over a work holiday, you have to rise and shine and enjoy the labor of work rather than the surprises of your birthday.

Last year we were with Clark's family. He didn't have to work, so we set out and spent the weekend before and the day of there. It was his 21st, and unfortunately he didn't get the "normal" celebration that a 21 year old would have. So, I woke him up at midnight and took him out to get a drink. It didn't help that the night before I had been throwing up, but I was still determined to make the day special. Then we went out to Chili's with his parents, which was what he wanted to do to get a wonderful margarita as his birthday drink.
That night, however, we once again went out with the family to do caroling in a horse and carriage for a good cause. While it was a wonderful night, it wasn't exactly what Clark had been expecting to do on his 21st birthday.
Then, when we went to my family's house for Christmas, they had a more traditional birthday celebration with a funfetti cake and candles for him.

This year, lark's working. For the past three that we've been together he's been able to get off of work for our typical Christmas vacations. Since ours doesn't start until tomorrow, however, he had to drag himself out of bed and to his job site. No worries, though. I have plenty of treats planned for him. Part of it was giving him the movie "The Eiger Sanction" yesterday for him to watch last night. It's an old Clint Eastwood film from the mid 70s. He's wanted it for a long time and couldn't find it anywhere, so Amazon became my best friend and now he has it!

Today I will be giving you recipes for Chile Chicken (which is not a recipe of my own) and a Chocolate Cake with Coconut Icing. It's kind of like a German Chocolate Cake but not quite as intense! This is what Clark wanted for dinner. Throw in one of his favorite types of beer, another fabulous movie, some small gifts from the heart, and his birthday will be made right... even if he did have to get up around 6:30am to get to work!