Moms Birthday

Today was my mom's "38th" (again) birthday. The woman refuses to celebrate any other year, so for the past.... I don't know how many years, we have always celebrated her "38th" birthday. hahha! She is NOT one of those grow old gracefully type. She will fight it tooth and nail to the end. But she isn't the face lift, botox type either (if I am lucky enough to look as good as she does at her age I will count my blessings.) She is just young at heart, silly, funny, flirty, goofy, and playful.

Boo and I decided to spend the day with her picking out a Christmas tree, decorating it, having dinner, and ending with a champagne toast dessert. We arrive at her house around 11:30am and she already has lunch made. I tell her it's her birthday and WE should be cooking for HER. (But I'm secretly glad b/c I love me some home cooking. YUM!) After lunch of roasted pork tenderloin, green beans, rice and gravy, and biscuits, we put my dad on dish patrol while we plan what tree farm to visit. I know Dec. 13th is late for buying a Christmas tree, but ever since I could remember, we always decorated our tree on my mom's birthday. Since all of us (my siblings and I) have moved out the house a long time ago, my mom and dad still keep up the tradition. Before we left, I asked my dad to bring down the Christmas boxes from the attic. (After he finishes the dishes of course ) Well, we ended up going to 4 different places for a tree. Pickings were slim this time of year, but we scored at Lowes. My mom even got a discount on the tree, just for asking. She paid $24 for an 8 foot tree! We finally get home, turn on the stereo to the all Christmas music channel, and we decorated the tree for 2 hours. My mom was loving it. She was singing, laughing, and having a great time. It was nice to see her enjoy the holidays, it's been pretty tough for her since we all moved out and away.

After the tree decorating, it was dessert time. I started making Tyler Florence's (food network guy) cranberry champagne cocktails. (Really easy recipe. Some cranberry or pomegranate juice, champagne, and a squeeze of lime.) Now my mom isn't the traditional birthday cake person. She didn't want anything sweet, but come on, what's a birthday without a bite of something decadent and sweet? So Boo and I decided to get a few different desserts for all of us to share. My mom loves the white chocolate fruit tarts, my dad and boo like carrot cake. Me? I personally love the 7 layer chocolate cake :) With Christmas music softly playing in the background, I put out the assortment of sweets and the champagne cocktails. We sang the birthday song, toasted my mom and all had a bit of each dessert. (Oh... and my mom and I had no problem polishing off a bottle of champagne.) ;) Happy Birthday mom! I love you.