Breaking the tradition

My birthday is quickly approaching. Only two days away. I have told family members that I do not want a birthday cake this year.

My reasoning is this-

1. My birthday is going to happen whether or not there is a birthday cake.

2. If I had a cake, not all the pieces will be eaten at once, so I would have leftovers. At some point, the leftovers would have to be eaten and I don’t want the temptation of having a half-eaten pan of birthday cake in the frig staring at me.

3. I could make a "healthier" cake, but again there will still be leftovers.

4. I have a difficult time avoiding having a 2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th piece of cake, if they are available, and I DON'T need or want any temptations.

5. I love cake, cookies and all desserts, but the only reason that I can think of to have a birthday cake is because it’s tradition. That’s not a good enough excuse for me (anymore).

I started the tradition of not having a birthday cake last year. Last year, I was out of the house the majority of the day. When I returned home it was about 9:30 at night and that is way too late for me to eat anything, let alone cut into a birthday cake. I started a new tradition instead of eating cake, we take a family walk. Instead of eating, we continue to celebrate my birthday by all breaking a sweat together. I hope to continue this new tradition this year, even if it’s raining.

My birthdays have really evolved the past few years. Two years ago, I bought myself a cookie cookbook for my birthday. That day, that only thing I wanted to do was bake cookies. If you didn’t know this before, I loved cookies. I made over a dozen cookie recipes. Each recipe made a dozen or more cookies, so I had a whole bunch. I have cookies stacked on top of cookies all over the countertops in the kitchen. The freezer was just filled with bags of homemade cookies. And yes, I continued to snack on them, because they were available.

So to go from baking dozen upon dozen of cookies, literally all day long, to the next year of eliminating my birthday cake and incorporating a family walk, my birthdays have definitely evolved with my healthier lifestyle.

Traditions don’t have to be broken to stick with a healthier lifestyle. I have learned that I need to take control of the situation and reduce, and sometimes, eliminate my temptations all together. The positive side of breaking a tradition is creating new ones. A birthday walk is now my new birthday tradition!