Having my cake and eating it too!

Last week, we started a new tradition over here.  We LOVE traditions!!

As I write this, I can hear Tevye singing "Tradition" in my ears, I love that movie Fiddler on the Roof (see the youtube here).  I love it, but it so funny because I feel like we turn all of those "traditions" of which Tevye speaks inside out and upside down on a daily (maybe hourly) basis in our house, carrying on our own evolved, progressive traditional traditions... does that make sense?

For the quintessential American holiday - July 4th - (that is, other than Thanksgiving) we baked a cake.  A nice white cake from a box!  But we needed to kaleidoscope up the cake a bit - so we made our "white" cake - a red, white and blue cake...

Jonah & Vera had tons of fun making the cake and then watching it bake in the oven.  And yes also eating some of the raw cake batter...

We waited to decorate our cake until dessert time at our July 4th party (remember it here).  The traditional flag cake made with RediWhip, blueberries and strawberries.  Jonah's buddy was way into decorating it (the strawberry stripes were perfect!!) - Jonah was having a minor meltdown because he wanted to ingest the entire can of RediWhip.  Vera was screaming because she wanted to eat the cake already.

It was fun making, baking, decorating and then eating the cake.  Despite the mess and the minor meltdowns.

I give our attempt at "having our cake and eating it too" - which is a very interesting idiomatic phrase - an A!  But then I got to thinking, what does that really mean? It can actually mean a couple of different things - at least according to Wikipedia.  I like the most positive of meanings: having the best of both worlds.

I take that to mean, having traditions that we can cherish and keep but not giving them the power to discriminate, oppress or shackle us with outdated ideas of what is fair. 

We gave our cake some color!  We try to give our lives lots of "color" too.  We respect, honor and appreciate what every color brings to the table - that is a great metaphor for life.  Good to keep in mind when creating new traditions or just updating some old ones!  And it fits right in with our "kaleidoscopey" way of life around here - colors, more colors, look at the colors in a million different ways - and it will make you happy!

T - R  - A - D - I - T - I - O - N!!!

In the words of my beloved Tevye,

"A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? ... you might say every one of us is a fiddler on the roof, trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck. It isn't easy. You may ask, why do we stay up there if it's so dangerous? ... And how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word... Tradition. ...   Tradition. Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as... as a fiddler on the roof!"

PS:  For those who also love the Fiddler of the Roof, here is a post script.  A few years ago, Jocelyn and I went to see Fiddler on Broadway - Rosie O'Donnel was playing Golda and Harvey Fierstein was playing Tevye.  We kept joking it was the "gay" Fiddler!  At the end of the play, I was sure that if we had another two hours of the play to see what happened with the next two daughters, this is what would happen - the 4th daughter would come out as a lesbian and the 5th daughter was definitely transsexual.  If I could write the sequel, that is how I would write it!  I can see Tevye now - hosting PFLAG meetings in the Promised Land... and singing a revised version of the song "Traditions!" and how if you love your children - traditions must evolve to include them!  And to that I say, L'chaim (to life!) and AMEN!

measuring!

laughing!

mixing!

tasting!

stirring!

decorating with friends!