My birthday is in December (11th of the month), so to my liking, it is the best celebrated compared to that of my older sisters'. December means presents and Christmas bonuses, so somehow I have more resource to celebrate. I remember when I was in kindergarten, I got to celebrate my birthday in our classroom in school. I still have a picture of that in my memory, blowing my white cake of boiled icing, with green edging and pink icing flowers with tulle and ribbon. My sisters were looking on, and I am sure, wishing they had one too. I knew they were happy for me, but young as I was, I was too happy to mind. Looking back, it had a lot to do with the sources for my celebration. My sisters and brother and Tita too, when they had their birthdays and the sources were scant they would have custard cake (chiffon cake topped with leche flan from La Paz bakeshop in town) or if funds were high, cakes like mine in varying colours depending on availability and if we were allowed by the baker, ...