So as some of you who follow or know me already know, we'll be celebrating our daughter's first birthday in just a couple weeks. It's such an important milestone, probably more for the parents than the kid because they're only a year old and won't really remember it or understand what's happening.
For me, it's more than just a celebration of the day our daughter was born. It's also a celebration of love between my husband and I that created her. It's a celebration of our wedding vows to be fruitful and multiply. And it's a celebration for us on making it through her first year, as we have found was full of challenges and countless joys.
We had planned a Bambi themed party because, for those that don't know, I LOVE Disney and puns. Our invitations to her party said "Our Deer One is turning one!" Cheesy, I know, but we loved it! Starting back in maybe October 2019, or to be honest it was probably even earlier, I spent so much time scouring Pinterest for ideas, decorations, and foods for her party. I was so excited and couldn't wait to start planning it.
I had decided back in November that I wanted to be the one who baked and designed her cake and all the other desserts we would be having because I also LOVE to bake! Seriously, it's so fun and calming for me and I love to see the look on people's faces after they've tried what I made. So I got a cake decorating kit for Christmas and in January, I started making practice cakes.
***And let me just say, if you've never made a layered cake before, there are definitely some learning experiences there that I would be happy to share with you all in a later post.***
From January to about mid-March, I made 5 or 6 practice cakes. I've included a picture of the most recent one below and as you can see, still needs improvement. But hey, I've never made a cake myself completely from scratch before, so I'd say it's not too bad. And most of these cakes we didn't keep at home, I'd send them with the hubby to work and from his feedback, everyone was very excited that I had decided to make her cake myself.
But we had also decided that we wanted cookies for everyone else and I found the cutest design for Bambi/deer cookies on Pinterest that used royal icing for the design. We had chosen sugar cookies and it took a couple tries before finding the right recipe. I made a decent sized practice batch (about 65 cookies) and iced and decorated them all, with a little help from the hubby because royal icing is not an easy thing to use and it also took some trial and error. I sent most of that batch, save some for me to try, with the hubby to work and just like with the cakes, they were all very pleased.
On the far right is what I found on Pinterest.
***Again, I'd be happy to share my baking experiences with you all in another post.***
After I had spent all this time prepping the desserts for the party, my mom helped me design her invitations, and by that I mean I helped her. She designed them, but it was based on input from me. I've included a photo below because they're just too good not to share.
For obvious reasons I have blocked the location and phone number.
We sent them out to our close friends and family and those who have shared in our joys when we first found out we were pregnant. My hubby's family, who lives all the way in Massachusetts, bought plane tickets to come celebrate with us. Only his mom has met our daughter and that was at her baptism when she was just barely a month old. Everyone was looking forward to seeing her and meeting her and spending that time with us because we haven't seen them since September of 2018.
Well, as the title of this blog post suggests, we've had to make a sacrifice and it's not an easy one. At the end of last week, we had to cancel her party due to the escalation of the coronavirus that is sweeping rapidly across the world.
This means all the time and work spent planning and prepping for her party will not come to fruition. We will still make that day special and you can bet that I will still make her a cake so that she can have that experience of stuffing her face with cake. We will still decorate our home for her and make sure that she knows it's a special day.
But the part that breaks our hearts is that we won't get to celebrate with everyone. Even for my family, although they live only 2 short hours away, it wouldn't be safe to see them. But with all of the uncertainty going on, we have to make the choices that are best for the safe and health of everyone, especially those who are at high risk like our daughter and grandparents. Their safety and health takes precedence over the time and work spent planning a party. After all it's just a party and there are other ways to be together in this time of quarantine and social-distancing.
We will take the time to get together to video chat so that everyone can still spend some time with her and us and we will make the most of our situation. Obviously it doesn't compare to spending that time in person, but when the world turns into chaos, we can either choose to follow suit or find the joy in our days.
I pray that you're all staying safe and healthy. Until our next encounter...