This is the original recipe. Of course, I had to fiddle with it.

First, no pecans cause my brother is allergic to any nuts except peanuts. He may not even be here for the cake but you never know if plans will change or he could be by and hope for leftover cake the next day.

Other changes: added some vanilla (real vanilla not extract), added cocoa powder and did not have ground cloves. Also, because it's Thanksgiving we have lots of pumpkin all cooked from fresh pumpkin so I did not use any pumpkin out of a can for this recipe.

I probably won't serve it with a brick of cream cheese and fruit. It's a birthday cake! We have candles and I have icing sugar, butter and cocoa powder to make some chocolate icing. 

PUMPKIN GINGER PECAN LOAF

Serve with a brick of cream cheese (soft, for spreading) and fruit.

1/2 cup soft butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 2/3 cup unsifted flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/3 cup water
1 cup cooked, mashed pumpkin
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

Cream together butter and sugar with electric mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until mixture is light and fluffy.

Sift together dry ingredients, add to creamed mixture alternately with water. Beat well after each addition. Add pumpkin and beat until well blended. Stir in chopped pecans. Turn into greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan and spread smooth.

Bake in moderate oven (350°F) 60 to 70 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out on rack to cool thoroughly.

Makes 1 loaf.

One birthday a year isn't really enough. Birthdays are such a lot of fun they need to be multiplied and spread out over the whole year. That's why I think the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland had it exactly right.

There are three hundred and sixty four unbirthdays in a year. That's a lot of cake and ice cream you're missing out on. Of course, some days are school days and some days are party days for other kids or even Christmas and Halloween. So you can cut out some of the unbirthdays. Still, that leaves you with several possible unbirthdays.

I'm not sure what people do on unbirthdays. Maybe you have to walk backwards all day or wear your clothes inside out and backwards because its the opposite of what you usually do on a birthday. Maybe you make three wishes, write them on a piece of paper and hide them under your pillow until your real birthday comes along. Maybe you try something new like flying a kite, phoning your Grandparents by yourself or making the biggest sandcastle anyone has ever seen. Or maybe you just call your friends and have a lot of fun at the park.

So what will you do with your unbirthdays this year? What kind of adventure can you plan?

This was posted to a newsletter I wrote for BackWash Kids Sandcastles and Dreamcatchers - Exploring, discovering and creating for kids. Build sandcastles, catch dreams, smell all the roses in your world.