This is what happens when you have two working parents. One of them has a birthday (in this scenario, that’s Papa), and the other doesn’t get around to buying a birthday cake (that’d be me). Actually, I wasn’t working the day we were supposed to have birthday cake. I was at a Broadway show with my mom. Priorities are priorities, you know. By the way, before you start thinking that I’m a horrible wife, the play and our intended birthday celebration did not take place on his birthday, they took place the day after.

Anyway, what to do? If you’re me, you shamelessly ask your husband to go out and buy himself a cake. That, of course, didn’t happen. Alternatively, you look in the cupboard for a substitution. Not much choice there. Oreos won’t hold candles. Crackers won’t do the trick, either. Nor will pretzels or potato chips. But fortunately, we have a very quick-thinking seven year-old, who is intimately familiar with the sweets in our pantry.

“How about a mallomar?” Chloe says. Brilliant idea. Those chocolate-covered marshmallow cookies, indigenous to the the East Coast, have just the right texture for holding a candle in place. And they taste yummy, too.

I have just about one year to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. I better start planning ahead NOW.