Last week we had a monumental birthday around here; my husband, Chris, turned the big 4-0. (It’s also our 13th anniversary today, so we are in full on celebration mode in our house.) He’s usually a pretty challenging person to shop for, and year after year I struggle with what to get him. And I shouldn’t complain about that, because the reason he’s such a challenge to shop for is that there’s never anything he wants. He epitomizes the word contentment. He’s a wonderful husband and father and makes sure that we have everything we need, while making us laugh. On the days when he comes home from work, and I’ve managed to accomplish nothing and am still in my pajamas (it happens!), he doesn’t judge… he accepts me for every messy part that makes the whole. And for all those reasons, I always want to find him something special, but struggle. So today I thought I’d share with you how we celebrated at our house, and the gifts we gave, and possibly help you who might also be grappling with gifts for the 40 year old man in your life.
Disclaimer: This photo is not technically a 40 year old man as it’s two years old… but he looks the same today!
Even though this amazing man accepts me and loves me for who I am, that isn’t to say I don’t do some things that just drive him absolutely crazy. Let’s take “tool care,” or perhaps I should say lack thereof, for example. I am a MESS when it comes to the garage and basement where I work…. paint cans all over with lids not sealed on, screwdrivers here and there; a hammer? Well, who knows where that may have landed. As we worked together on our chicken coop this past year, I heard lots of squawking (pun intended!) about how screwdrivers were hard to find and that the ones we did have were terrible and he wished they were magnetic. Well, that gave me an idea! I gave Chris this magnetic Stanley screwdriver set.
Thanks to my friend Jennifer, our family was introduced to the best and easiest pizza dough recipe. We now make homemade pizza and calzones all the time, and Chris loves to create his own pizza once I roll it all out for him. We had talked about how great it would be if we had a pizza stone as we were always flipping over a baking pan and baking it on foil on that. I found this rectangular pizza stone and thought it was perfect. It can fit two small pizzas next to one another, or a few calzones, which is perfect for our family. This pizza stone made such a difference… the crust is now crispier on the outside, airier on the inside, and even more delicious!
I also wrote Chris a pretty sentimental card and let him know I had planned a winery outing for us. Unfortunately those plans were foiled by weather and a sick kiddo, so we’ll be rescheduling soon!
Chris had to travel last week and when he returned it was late work nights, so we celebrated officially as a family Saturday night and I was excited to create a meal of his favorites, so I thought I’d share some link love here… after all, we all know the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, right? I mean, it’s honestly the way to mine, too.
For dinner we each had our own grilled meat, because we all like different things…. Chris had steak, I had ahi tuna, and the kids had chicken. 🙂 I made green beans and an upside down tomato corn cake I had seen on The Kitchn. Thanks to my parents, we had an abundance of cherry tomatoes, so it was the perfect use for them. Mine didn’t look quite like theirs, but it tasted great! I think next time though I would add some herbs or seasoning.
(Clearly not the photo of mine. 😉 )
For dessert, Chris had requested a lemon cake, and we found this recipe which looked totally doable for me. The recipe itself is for one layer of the cake, and I decided that one layer was all this family needed as it has a boatload of butter in it. And the frosting has even more butter and loads of sugar. However, it was delicious!!! And this time, mine turned out well enough for me to share a photo of my version.
We put 4 candles on the cake, each one representing 10 years, and sang to Chris.
Then we all dug in! And let me tell you, this cake truly tasted wonderful. Sawyer doesn’t typically like cake nor does he ever try new things. I thought the word “lemon” would scare him away, but he tried and proceeded to inhale his piece and rave about it. And he’s pretty much always shirtless, so just accept it.
And there you have it! That is how we give to and celebrate a 40 year old man in our house! Happy birthday, Chris!
This and the photo of Chris by Jalapeno photography
And happy anniversary as well! I am looking forward to celebrating many more anniversaries and every birthday you have for the rest of our lives! I love you so much and will try not to touch your screwdrivers, and if I do, I will try to put them back. That’s how much I care.
This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support of my blog!
