Heavenly Birthday Celebration

We had Sarah Annie's birthday party on All Saints' Day (after celebrating pretty much all week). It makes perfect sense to me to celebrate on this day. To me, she's definitely an All Saints' Day baby. And for the record, she was born on the vigil. I freely admit this party was all about me. First of all, it was small. Well, actually, not that small, because just immediate family is a good sized party by most standards and then we kept adding people, as is our style. But it started out as just a little gathering to eat beef stew (Sarah's only favorite meal), watch football, sing "Happy Birthday" and have cake. Along the way, it morphed into about twenty people or so. Oh, and a puppy. My dad brought his puppy. Puppies and birthdays go together somehow, don't they?

But back to my Sarah Annie's birthday party. For nine kids and 21 years, I've always wanted a birthday ring. Isn't it darling?(Sorry for the blurry pictures. Apparently, my camera jumped off the playhouse the other day. But nothing bad happened to it, Mom. I promise! Yeah, right, nothing. Except that it doesn't work the way it used to work.)

 

And then, this is the cake I thought about during delivery (no, kidding--as soon as I was sure I wasn't going to die, I started planning a party:-). It's a hazelnut cake with chocolate ganache filling and French buttercream frosting. Doesn't everyone have a nut and chocolate cake for a first birthday?

We were surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses last year during a tricky pregnancy and delivery. Some special ones are represented here. These are all the saints who kept me company, all the ones whose prayers were inside that pretty pink binder I kept with me at all times.

(Bl. John Paul the Great, St. Gianna Molla, St. Anne)

(Our Lady of Guadalupe (in the blue green), St. Joseph, St. Therese, St. Gerard)

 

(St. Gerard, St. Padre Pio, St. Sarah)

Sarah Annie had a wonderful time at her party. She seemed to love being the center of attention and she especially enjoyed the singing of "Happy Birthday," which is a great thing because Karoline is still singing it today:-). 

Many, many thanks to Tammy at Catholic Folk Toys for creating such beautiful dolls. I contacted her during the summer and she was lovely and gracious and very willing to fill special orders so that Sarah Annie now has a basket full of  replicas of very dear and holy friends.