The Birthday We'll Never Forget!

I just had a birthday (yesterday in fact) and have been reminiscing about past birthdays. Good ones and the not so good ones. Some funny and some not so funny. Here's one our family remembers very well.

When my sister, brother and I were little, our Mom always made our birthday parties special. Our grandmother, aunts, cousins, and friends were invited. She would have a bright paper tablecloth with matching napkins and cups on the dining room table. Mom would bake and decorate the cake herself. It wasn't fancy by today's standards―just an eight-inch round, two-layer, Betty Crocker cake mix.



Similar to our cake topper

   Once all the games were played and the presents had been opened, we'd all march into the dining room and grab the nearest chair. Grandma and all the aunts were lined up along the wall. We would be waiting for the arrival of the cake. Mom had a very special cake topper she would bring out only on birthdays. It was a round, plastic, carousel-theme with horses affixed to the tent with string. On the back of the base was the wind-up key. When you turned the key the little horses would flair out over the cake. We would all sing the birthday song. The candles would be blown out, Mom would remove the cake topper, then cut and serve a piece to everyone.

The one item we I never saw at any other birthday party was the individual ice cream cups with their own wooden paddle spoon. Mom didn't just scoop ice cream from a carton and drop it on our plate next to a slice of cake. No-siree-Bob! Everyone had their very own ice cream cup! She would call out, “Who wants chocolate? Who wants vanilla?” I don't know how she understood everyone with different answers flying around the room. We would pull the cardboard lid off the top, and dig in with that wooden paddle spoon.

My fifth birthday was different. It was the one we would not forget and will talk about for years.

Everything was going like clockwork. Grandma, aunts, cousins and friends were here. The table was set, the ice cream cups were in the freezer, the cake was in the kitchen along with the cake topper.

After the games were played and presents opened we traipsed to the table. Lots of talking, laughing and joking around the room. Everyone had their ice cream cups and the cake was on the table. The candles were lit, the carousel was wound-up, whirling and twirling on top the cake. Everyone started singing, but before I could make a wish and blow out the candles, WHOOSH!! The cake topper caught fire. A flame went straight up and the cake topper melted into the cake.

Mom picked up the nearest paper cups and threw soda on the flames. Suddenly, the aunts were tossing different things on top of it to smother the fire. Smoke curled up toward the ceiling. The carousel horses had been swinging out and some actually flew into the candles. Several aunts grabbed kids and ran for the door. Others scattered to a nearby room.

Kids and adults were stunned as they stared at what was left of the pile of burnt, melted plastic, wet cake and liquified frosting. My major concern wasn't that my cake had caught fire, it was that I was having a birthday with no cake. I remember putting my finger into the frosting and wanting to taste it.

That was the end of our very special cake topper. We never had another one like it. The cakes mom continued to make were still the eight-inch round, two-layer, Betty Crocker cake mix; but now, she bought the peel and stick edible candy decorations that had candle holders and letters you could spell out Happy Birthday. They made the cake look fantastic.

Later birthday parties were not as exciting as a cake on fire, but they were fun just the same. Every once in a while, we'd reminisce about my fifth birthday “blow out!”
 

My 10th birthday.