It was a birthday with a zero, and though initially reluctant, my eldest sister decided to have a party. “Oh good!” I said as I suggested to my husband that we arrange our loop around the South Island to get to her place on the day in question. Our plan was doomed to fail, though, as work plans changed for him, and these days when work is scarce, it has to take priority, and so we found ourselves driving around the South Island in November rather than December, and calling into my sister’s house about three weeks early. Still, my younger sister who lives further north and I decided we should be there, and wanted to be there, and so on Saturday morning we met at Christchurch airport, sans Charlie (much to Charlie’s disgust, but not to her mother’s) and husbands, and drove south.
We weren’t the only ones who travelled, though, and we didn’t travel the longest distances either – our two nieces who live in Australia easily outstripped our domestic efforts. It was the first time since middle niece’s wedding early in 2015 that we were all together, and the first time there had been a family gathering in the area since our mother’s funeral in February this year, and so we marked it (though we almost forgot) with a photo of two generations of three sisters; a bit of familial symmetry is always nice.
We celebrated on Saturday night, but started early before the official event with whitebait (yum!) and a barbecue and lots of summery salad outside in the sun, then later at the party venue even as the rain came down outside, with a few drinks and lots of good (old) music and dancing and laughter and some good food and a birthday cake about midnight, and then more chatting back at the house before collapsing into bed around 3 am.
The next day was relaxed and happy, filled with much-needed cups of tea and restorative ham and eggs and catching up, and distribution of recently harvested avocados and birthday cards and Christmas presents and personalised cards and well wishes for the coming Australian baby, and even some cross-generational middle-child bonding, before youngest sister and I had to depart, giving hugs even though we’re not really a very huggy family, and fond farewells, with invitations for the southern families to visit us in the north, promises to get together again soon, and some emerging pressure on me to have the next party – though I have to emphasise it will be a few years yet before my birthday with a zero comes around.
Glad you had a good time! Dh is having one of those birthdays with a zero this spring… a few people have already asked me if I’m planning a party. :p The very idea exhausts me, but I know people enjoy these opportunities to get together. Having to travel for these occasions is a hassle (& expensive), but I’ve decided I need to start saying yes to more of these invitations. I was invited to a cousin’s 50th a few years ago — it was a bad time of year at work & expensive to fly there, so I declined. A few months later she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She’s still here 🙂 and I’ve seen her a few times since then, but when I got the invite a few years later for my aunt & uncle’s 50th anniversary, I said yes, even though it meant taking time off work & spending money on flights & hotels. The older I get, the more I understand that sometimes “next time” doesn’t happen, so we need to seize the moment while we can!
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I love when families are able to come together like that! We just had a mini version of this, for my mother’s 80th birthday – it was smallish (me, two of my sisters, our spouses, most of the grandkids and great grandkids – 20 of us total), but it was the first time in years we’d all been in the same room. So glad it was wonderful for you and your family.
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This sounds so lovely & I am jealous of you having sisters, although I have a fab brother. But our family is tiny, not many of us at all, and I love the idea of a larger family gathering.
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That sounds like you had a great time! And Australia! That’s so far to travel! I’m glad you could all get together and eat good food and be in good company. 🙂
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That sounds wonderful! I’m glad you got to spend time with your family – and even remembered the group photo!
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It sounds like a fun birthday celebration for all of you, not just the birthday girl.
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Sounds like a great time! I love the distribution of recently-harvested avocados. And summery salads. Living in the land of white and gray and negative windchills right now, I love envisioning a summery salad and barbecue! And I love “birthdays with a zero” — such a nicer way to talk about milestone birthdays.
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Bleurgh birthdays with a zero – don’t like those. But I believe in celebrating all birthdays, as it helps to have these landmark events in the year so that you remember what the hell you did from one year to the next. I was reading about that from a psychologist who said to celebrate everything in as elaborate way as you can manage, as it helps to kind of ‘slow down time’ (i.e. the year won’t be just a big amorphous mass of nothing like it is when you’re working 9-5 full-time and can barely remember what year it is). So although I genuinely dread the next zero birthday, I plan to have a spectacular trip – I won’t be throwing a party, though (my worst nightmare is to host a party…)
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“restorative ham and eggs.” Yes. Love this.
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Way, way behind on the commenting on this one, but happy happy “big ending-in-a-zero birth year” (which sneakily makes me not late, after all) Mali!
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You’re either several years late (and I think you did wish me happy birthday for my last birthday ending in a zero), or several more years early. But thanks, Helen!
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