Because Belated Is Best

My two younger brothers have birthdays not even two weeks apart. Matthew's is December 23rd, which means that, because Christmas is in two days, Mom basically has us chained to the house so that we can frantically clean/wrap presents/visit with my Grandmother. This means that we are ALWAYS there for Matthew's birthday. He has a birthday lunch, a birthday dinner, and always gets the most presents. Plus there's already a festive atmosphere: the house is decorated, and everyone is brimming with Christmas anticipation.

Jeffrey's birthday, on the other hand, is on January 3rd, which, most years, happened to coincide with what might be the most craptastic day of the year: going back to school after Christmas break. Definitely the short end of the stick. Everyone's always in a pissy mood, Christmas decorations are coming down (except in our house, where my Mom has been known to extend Christmas well into Februrary...no joke), and by the time dinner came, we were always exhausted by the first day back to the grind.

I used to think you were safe if your birthday was in the summer--mine's in the middle of June, and while not everyone always remembered, I NEVER had to go back to school, or even be in school on my birthday. Awesome. Preston's is at the end of August, and while he was a student, this was also awesome--a great big shebang right before everyone returned back to school for Labor Day. However, for the last two years he's been working, and Preston has been in beginning of the school year meetings on his birthday. Last year it was his VERY first day at his new job and none of his co-workers knew it was his birthday. NO FUN. This year, it wasn't his very first day, but it was MY very first day and therefore not only was I so nervous that I felt like I was about to vomit up my stomach, but also I was GONE until 6 pm and didn't have time to create an elaborately fabulous birthday dinner. Also no fun.

I remembered how to use my camera's timer! This was reason enough to celebrate.

However, because I am a firm believer that a birthday without cake is a birthday not worth living, even though we decided to postpone his elaborately fabulous birthday dinner, Preston did request a chocolate cake, so I made one of our favorites, the Chocolate Lava Cake from the King Arthur cookbook. I can't find the recipe online, but here is, in my opinion, what makes it deeelicious: it's flourless (read: dense), has a molten truffle filling (made of heavy cream, butter, Grand Marnier, and chocolate...really, do we need other ingredients...EVER?), and is sprinkled with powdered sugar (because everything is prettier with a dusting of sugar on top!). Basically it's kind of orgasmic.

I made it just in time! I like this one because Preston's laughing. Probably at me.

So Pres blew out the candles, we took some pictures (of ourselves...always classy), ate some cake, and opened some presents. A pretty low-key birthday, but fun, nonetheless. We went to bed happy and very, very full of chocolatey deliciousness. Happy belated birthday, Pres!