The Birthday Candle Joke

Austin’s birthday is in early September. There were some observations of his birthday, but nearing the end of the month, Austin asked if Melanie would be making a dinner for his birthday. Of course, we could do that. So, she planned and made one of his favorite meals. She had picked up an ice cream cake, and she put birthday candles on it.

When the boys were young, we used the small, single-stick candles. About the time the quantity of lit candles on the cake started getting dangerous, we found candles in the shapes of numerals and started using them instead. They were easier to light, and usually we only needed two digits. Eventually, we had a pretty complete collection of them.

Austin turned 39. When Melanie looked in our candles, she didn’t find a “3”, so without thinking too deeply, she substituted a “4”. (They are adjacent values, right?) When the cake was set in front of Austin, it said he was 49 years old! He was quite surprised, but we all laughed, and he blew the candles out.

Melanie’s birthday is in early October. Nine years ago, the kids were trying to decide what to get her for her birthday. She didn’t need new things because she already had everything she needed. So they came up with the idea to cook a gourmet multi-course meal for her.

We have a lot of very good cooks in the family, and it was a fantastic success. This dinner has now turned into a family tradition that everybody looks forward to, gets to participate in and enjoy.

Because Alan doesn’t live in the area, he usually hasn’t been able to be here. However, a business trip brought him to this side of the continent, so we did the dinner while he was here, the week before her birthday.

• Usually, Janae posts pictures of everything on Facebook.
• An image of bacon-wrapped scallops from the dinner of a previous year was the website front page banner.

When the time came for cake, Janae put on the candles. When the cake was set in front of Melanie, it said she was 84 years old! Oh, how we laughed, and Melanie laughed the hardest! She couldn’t even stop to blow out her two candles.

And again, the dinner was a grand success.