When I was born...

There are some decisions in life that, while relatively inconsequential, are still incredibly difficult to make.

It seems to me like many of these situations arise yearly right around my birthday.

One conundrum I encounter is the singing. Do it or not?

The Happy Birthday song is a perennial favorite around the nation since it was popularized by a hit musical in the late 1930s. You won’t see it in many movies or musicals today though, since the holders of the copyright charge an arm and a leg for it–look for characters singing “He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” instead.

Now I know I’m not a Jolly Good Fellow, but I think I might rather have that sung at a party in my honor rather than the “Happy Birthday to you” which used to get dusted off every time mom walked in with a dessert full of candles.

Speaking of birthday dessert, whether to have pie or cake on your birthday is another tough decision with almost no weight behind it.

Of course, birthday cake with candles and your family singing is an American tradition. It just wouldn’t be a party without it.

While you could stick candles in a pie, it’s much harder to get wax off of crust than it is to pick it out of frosting.

Considering that many guests don’t take to extremely sweet things, which cake with its sugary frosted goodness always is, pie may be a better option

Pie also goes much better with ice cream, another staple of the birthday party. The trouble is that you’re going to need more than one if you’re planning on having more than eight friends at your party.

But that brings up another highlight of cake, the fact that there are always leftovers.

Need a high energy snack in the next few days after your birthday? How about some cake? Feeling down and in need of a pick-me-up? I suggest cake–especially chocolate. Looking for an easy breakfast because you woke up late after your party? Cake?

There’s the sticking point though, cake isn’t nearly as good for breakfast as pie.

And with pie you can pretend you’re eating healthy because it has fruit in it. It won’t be true, but who cares, you have pie.

If you wanted to pretend to have a healthy cake you could get a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. It’s still not quite as good as pie in the morning, but it comes close.

I know that it’s a personal preference, but I’ve always liked the texture of pie much better than cake. Where cake is spongy and soft, pie is slightly crisp with a gooey and delicious filling. If you time your party right, you can even have warm pie to complement your cold ice cream, which is much more difficult with cake.

If you absolutely can’t make up your mind, I suggest splitting the difference and making a cheesecake. Even though it includes the word “cake” it can still have that pie shape. Not only that, but you can make it as “healthy” as you want by choosing a topping from the multitude of delicious fruits or the decadent option of chocolate sauce.

If you don’t like cheesecake (are you crazy?) then you’ll be left with the unpleasant choice of having both cake and pie at your party.

Actually, that doesn’t sound so unpleasant at all. I need to get to a bakery.


Birthday Facts

There are more birthdays in August than in any other month, with July and September coming in close behind.

More people are born on Oct. 5 than on any other day, which is not surprising when you consider that their conception would have happened on New Year’s Eve. The least common birthday is May 22.

The two billion birthday cards mailed out every year make up 58 percent of the cards sent in the United States.

The biggest birthday cake ever made was created in 1989 for the 100th birthday of the city of Fort Payne, Alabama. It weighed 128,238 pounds and used 16,209 pounds of frosting.