Happy Birthday Jesus.

I've mentioned in the past that our family celebrates the birth of Christ at Christmas. Every year since having children, we have some type of birthday cake for Jesus. My husband and I did not grow up with this tradition, but we were looking for some way to make this special time of the year meaningful for our children. Since I love parties and celebrating birthdays, my husband and I thought this might be a great way for our toddlers to interact with and grasp the significance of the holiday for our family. Our birthday cake for Jesus varies every year. Last year I was physically sick on Christmas day, and we used leftover cupcakes that were in our house from a Christmas party. We put a candle on each one and let the kids blow out the candle after we sang the traditional "Happy Birthday" song. Back in 2009 I made a six layered rainbow cake specifically for the birthday cake for Jesus. One year we joined up with another family who had kids the same ages as our kids, and put together a whole birthday party for Jesus.

This year, our kids are part of a weekly Awana club. After their Christmas program, they served a reception of refreshments featuring a gigantic layered birthday cake for Jesus. I knew this year I wanted to recreate thae cake in our own home. This cake visually told a story. The chocolate layer reminds us that we are all sinful. There is a layer of red velvet cake, which reminds us that Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood for our sins. The final layer is green and reminds us to grow in our spiritual relationship with Christ. The whole cake is iced in white frosting to remind us that through Jesus' death and resurrection we can have a clean heart and experience new life {everlasting life} in Him when we ask Him to forgive our sins.  Yellow decorations are used on top of the cake to symbolize heaven. And finally the candles on the cake are a visual reminder that Jesus is the Light of the World.

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." {Romans 5:8}