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A whole lot of joy over the new addition to our family

By Teresa Santoski - Tete-a-tete | Jul 9, 2022

Teresa Santoski

We’ve all seen the headlines about gender reveals gone wrong. Smoke bombs and pyrotechnics that were supposed to burn pink or blue to announce whether a couple’s baby is a girl or a boy have caused wildfires, explosions and destruction of property.

So when Younger Sister offered to put together a gender reveal party for Oldest Younger Brother and Sister-in-law, whose second child is due in November, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

Fortunately, Younger Sister decided to go the more traditional route of a cake-based gender reveal, the idea being that Oldest Younger Brother and Sister-in-law would cut into the cake, and the pink or blue colored cake would reveal whether they were having a girl or a boy.

Once Oldest Younger Brother and Sister-in-law had the sonogram that showed the baby’s gender, they had the results sent directly to Younger Sister. They still had all the pertinent information – they knew that the baby was healthy and that they weren’t having twins; they just didn’t know if the baby was a boy or a girl.

It was decided that the gender reveal would be held at Niece’s first birthday party, which meant that Younger Sister would have to keep the gender a secret for a little over a month. She took her responsibility very seriously so there was no danger of her spilling the beans, but the rest of us were practically perishing from curiosity.

A few days before the party, Younger Sister took Mom into her confidence so that Mom could help her buy the ingredients and bake the cake. Dad, Youngest Brother and I were still in the dark – until I unwittingly unpacked a grocery bag that contained some of the cake ingredients.

I pulled out a bottle of blue sprinkles, and my heart immediately plummeted. I had ruined the surprise for myself, and Younger Sister would be so disappointed if she found out. I would have to keep the fact that I knew the baby’s gender a secret and do my best to act surprised when I saw the blue cake at the gender reveal.

Since I already knew, I figured I might as well finish unpacking the grocery bag. The next item I took out was a bottle of pink sprinkles. I breathed a sigh of relief. We knew that Oldest Younger Brother and Sister-in-law weren’t having twins, so Younger Sister must have bought both colors of sprinkles as a fail-safe.

Relieved that the surprise had been preserved, I stopped unpacking the grocery bag. I didn’t want to tempt fate.

Once the cake preparations began, Dad, Youngest Brother and I were barred from the kitchen. This was not an issue for Dad, who was at work, but I work from home and need to get into the kitchen from time to time. I was begrudgingly given permission to enter at specific intervals, as per the instructions she had taped to my door, and I did my best to abide by those rules.

Youngest Brother did not exactly exercise the same amount of caution that I did when he returned from work in the midst of the baking process. I was not in the vicinity when it happened, but I could certainly hear Younger Sister reading him the riot act from an entire floor away.

Despite all of this, the surprise remained intact, and the cake came together without any mishaps, though I did hear later that Mom had to talk Younger Sister out of substituting a healthier version of one of the ingredients. Younger Sister went out to buy balloons and other decorations, and it seemed like everything was all set.

Until the next morning, when we were getting ready to leave for the party and realized that the cake was too tall to fit into any of our Tupperware. Mom ended up holding it in her lap for the entire hour and a half car ride to Oldest Younger Brother and Sister-in-law’s house.

Thankfully, the cake arrived safely at its destination. We didn’t even lose any of the pink and blue sprinkles that garnished its top. And after we had lunch and Oldest Younger Brother and Sister-in-law unsuccessfully attempted to put Niece down for a nap, it was time for the reveal.

First, each of us shared what we thought the baby’s gender would be. I thought it would be a boy because of the sibling pattern on both sides of their family. Sister-in-law has a brother, and then Oldest Younger Brother’s side has two boys and two girls. A boy would make sense, right?

The big moment had finally come. Oldest Younger Brother and Sister-in-law gasped as they cut into the cake and saw the layers, and the rest of us craned our necks like mad to see what they were seeing. I didn’t get a clear view until the first piece was lifted out and put on a plate.

The cake had three layers: chocolate, strawberry, and chocolate, sandwiched together with vanilla frosting. Another girl!

While we were celebrating, Oldest Younger Brother and Sister-in-law’s close friend and neighbor confessed to letting his competitive nature get the best of him and trying to sneak a peek down the decorative straws – one pink and one blue – that Younger Sister had inserted into the top of the cake.

His theory was that if he could look down the straws, he might be able to see the color of the cake underneath the frosting and make his “guess” accordingly. But since the pink layer was in the middle and not on top, all he got was an eyeful of the uppermost chocolate layer.

Younger Sister claimed she hadn’t planned it that way, but after my experience with the blue and pink sprinkles, I wasn’t so sure. She’s turned out to be a bit of a gender reveal cake mastermind.

I’m beyond excited to meet my new niece in a few months’ time. The whole family is looking forward to meeting its newest member, especially Oldest Younger Brother and Sister-in-law.

I’m sure Niece is as well – or should I say, Oldest Niece? – but being a year old, she didn’t have much to say on the matter. At least, not much that was intelligible.

Though there were some fraught moments along the way, this gender reveal was executed pretty flawlessly. Nothing exploded or caught on fire, and there was no damage to any property. Just a delicious cake that tasted like Neapolitan ice cream and a whole lot of joy over the new addition to our family.

Tete-a-tete is published monthly. Teresa Santoski can be reached at tsantoski@gmail.com or via www.teresasantoski.com.

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