Happy Birthday Jesus Cake

Lexi Kate loves to help me in the kitchen and she loves to help me decorate and get things together for parties, she especially loves to help me bake. She is also very perceptive at this age, and understands a great deal about Jesus and what actually happened at Christmas. So, I decided to start a new tradition this year to further instill what all the celebration is about this time of year. Today, we made a Happy Birthday Jesus cake. My "plan" was to use the original story of the candy cane to talk about the cake we were making. So, we did a strawberry cake to represent Jesus and the blood He would eventually shed to cover our sins. Lexi Kate was okay with that choice, but was especially excited because strawberry is her favorite cake. I tried to get her to focus on the story, but I must remember she is only 4 and we are just planting seeds here.... We used white icing to represent the purity of Jesus, the plainness of his birth and lifestyle. My intention was to keep the icing plain white, simple. Then, just write "Happy Birthday Jesus" in green. I wanted to use green to symbolize new growth and hope we have in Jesus. Lexi Kate talks alot about being ready for spring to see the fresh green leaves and pretty things growing, so I thought she would get this. Lexi Kate was good with that. However, she was not good with the plain white icing being it. She insisted we add sprinkles to the cake. I went back over why we used plain white. But, she kept insisting that Jesus was the greatest person ever, and He certainly deserved sprinkles on His cake. And, she wanted to make His cake super special all by herself. So, I let go of my need to control the situation, and decorate the cake myself and handed her the jar of Christmas Sprinkles. She was so proud of herself. She was so proud, she insisted I set the cake on the floor and let her take the picture herself.

Happy Birthday Jesus! Thank you for giving us the greatest gift we will ever receive. We hope you enjoyed the worship we put forth in making your cake. I know we will enjoy the cake. And, Lexi Kate says you may get a little sick in her heart because she plans on filling you up with that cake she puts in her tummy. (Again, remember she is 4- but she is precious!)