Happy New Year to me

Tuesday was my new year, the anniversary of my emergence into the world, thirty-something years ago.
It is also not long after the ten-year anniversary of my mother's death from breast cancer (on 14 January 2001).

I find that being motherless has a whole new dimension now that I am a mother myself. There are so many times when I ache for my mum and wish she was here to help me, to understand what it means to be a mother and to ask about her about her experiences of raising me. But this cannot be. All I can do is accept the way things are and do my best to remember my mum.

So I decided to mark the occasion of my birth and of the day that my mother became a mother with a small gathering at my place, with family (DeepSpice, CutLuce and DesignerMonkey, DesignerSis and Wigward) and a few friends (VolubleK and AussieG with PetitAmi, The Bibliophile with MasterW and LittleMissIs, The Librarian and The SchoolMaster with MasterF and LittleMissF).

In addition, I haven't had a birthday party since my 30th, and given that my 40th is only a few years away, I thought it would be a good idea to sneak in at least one more party before the big 4-0. (Which is going to involve a trip to France where VoluableK and I will celebrate out birthdays together in style... but that's another story for another post).

The evening was good fun, somewhat over-catered(!) and a just little chaotic, with 7 kids running amok. I am grateful for everyone's help with cleaning up (AussieG did the dishes - what a star! And a magic fairy tidied the toys up in the kids bedroom. Thank you!). I am yet to wash the watermelon juice off the deck and clean up the watermelon pieces slowly dessicating on the garden path. Though the snails seem to be helping with that! And we still haven't found the icy-pole that LittleMissIz lost somewhere - hopefully outside the house! But this is all just proof that a good time was had by all... especially me.

Thank you everyone for an enjoyable evening!
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