We are preparing to be invaded

later today. I wrote about this a couple of days ago. The family is descending.
I am worried I am not sufficiently prepared. The house is not "child-proof". We will just have to distract the fourteen month old from the adult books with some children's books and the building blocks, assorted soft toys and other things.
I have made large quantities of soup and pasties to feed them tonight. My father says, "What about dessert. We have to have dessert."
Do we? Our desserts are simple. They consist mostly of fruit. I am wary of other desserts. They may be nice but are they necessary?
When my father's cousin came for lunch her sister-in-law, a lovely person, volunteered to bring dessert - a cheesecake. There is a shop which sells such things near us. It is actually called "The Cheesecake Shop" although it also sells quiche and a number of other items. I knew it would come from there.
I make cheesecake once a year, for Christmas Day. My sister's BIL likes cheesecake and it is one of my tasks to make one. Mine is quite different from this. Mine has a slight tartness to the flavour. It has fruit as part of the recipe. People help themselves. There is usually little or none left.
The promised cheesecake duly arrived. It looked lovely. We put it to one side. Eventually we reached the point in the meal where it was cut and served. My father and I struggled through our portions. I suspect our guests may have struggled through theirs too. It was far too sweet, sickly sweet.
The remaining cheesecake, more than half, was left behind. We gave it to our neighbours who said, "Scrummy - we loved it!"
I am not going to make cheesecake. There is no time for that. I am not going to buy cheesecake.
I am quite sure the invading hordes would not like it in the least.
I explain this to my father. He agrees with respect to the cheesecake and then asks, "What about that white stuff?"
He means pavlova. Hmm...I could buy a pavlova shell. I could buy cream. What is more I have raspberries in the freezer and I could splash out and buy bananas (still $12.99 a kilo).
Yes, pavlova is sweet but the slight tartness of the raspberries will neutralise that somewhat.
I rather like the idea because, more importantly, we will have fruit.