Party weekend

Well, no alcohol was consumed at either party on the weekend, nonetheless I'm still recovering. Maybe I am 40 after all?

My 40th party

What I valued most about my party was the time to hang out with friends. Asking others to do all the practical things about the party left me free to just interact with people, which is how I like it. I end up in a terrible tug-of-war if I'm responsible for practical details as well as an opportunity to socialise. Usually it is the practical that gets ditched and my conscientious side feels guilty later. So Saturday night was a perfect way to celebrate my birthday.

The only practical thing I did was after almost everyone had left: I vacuumed the room, then disposed of all the left-overs in our fridge and freezer.

Here are some photos:

Here's my best Japanese friend, Tako with her youngest daughter.
I met her seven years ago, when my middle son was at
Japanese kindergarten with her daughter.

The party was casual and relaxed.

Catching up with friends was the best part. In the red is my
friend Teresa who had us all laughing with some fun games
between mains and desert. 

We had a large range of ages.

I love this photo of one of the games. So nice to see busy,
often stressed missionaries, having fun. 

Games, just like the sort we used to play at church socials,
when I was a child.

This is a nice action shot. "Go Christine!" The detail I love about it is
our colleagues to the left of Christine: Tim with his hand on his wife's
leg. Sweet!

And of course, I had to give a little speech. It was very little, so small that
I forgot to thank the friends who made the party possible.
(Like Nancy, the lady on my left, who cooked all the food!)

Our youngest son's birthday party

Comparatively, the party we held the next day for our new eight year old, was very small and easy. He ended up with three guests (out of five invited), and we basically guided them in playing, outside and inside, and fed them cake and snacks. Our son had a "ten out of ten day". My most precious memory of it was his reaction when he first saw the cake we made and decorated for him. He was speechless for a time, which is unusual for him!

A gorgeous day allowed a good hour of outside play in nearby small parks. 

Here's the cake that I baked and David and I decorated together. It is a definite family tradition, and one that David and I enjoy doing together. Thankfully we had two eyes on the situation when the candles were lit, because one of the cones caught alight! We could have had a disastrous end to the party.