May Day Celebrations!

Quite of few of the towns and villages around here have May Day celebrations and every year we attend a village fete or two – the kids love the singing, dancing and especially the cake eating! (Actually, that’s my favourite part too!) However, this year we took things one step further and organised our own May Day celebration! I’m not sure who first had the idea, but my sister Judy liked the idea so much that she volunteered to organise it and hold it in her garden. The weather wasn’t great, but that didn’t matter as my brother Ed provided a large marquee for the day (acquired for his wedding some years ago) and festivities were held under cover.

Dozens of friends and family turned up, contributing lots of lovely food and drink. And Judy had the great idea of having a knights and princesses theme for the kids, who mostly turned up in appropriately themed fancy dress.

Simon (who loves fancy dress) wore his boy’s medieval crusader knight costume from Cachet Kids which comprised: a top with padded shoulders and a blue lion design on the front (not red, like the picture below), trousers, arm covers, chainmail look helmet, boot covers and a sword. He looked so cute!

Keith (who loves to play the rebel) came dressed in a smart boy’s five piece black striped suit set from Cachet Kids and wore a cardboard Alan Sugar mask from Play.com. When people asked why he’d come as Alan Sugar he replied that he’d come as Sir Alan Sugar, the knight! But when his friend Michael pointed out that Alan Sugar had been made a lord and wasn’t known as ‘Sir Alan’ any more, he went home to check on his computer whether a lord was still a knight!

Sarah and Crissy came dressed as princesses with fabulous costumes from Cachet Kids. Sarah wore a pink princess Frilly Milly dressing up costume with several layers of soft wavy net, a velveteen bodice and a fluffypink marabou feather boa. She also wore gorgeous princess glitter girl’s pink party shoes and a faith communion tiara.

Sarah wore a first Holy Communion princess dress with net bolero and handbag. And to complete the look she wore girls white party shoes and a diamante glitter Communion Alice band. They both looked absolutely beautiful.

The celebration itself was a lot of fun. As well as all the great food and drink, there was improvised Morris Dancing (led by my brother Dave), a Maypole dance that descended into tangled chaos and the crowning of a May Queen. We had a vote and Dave was elected May Queen in recognition of his outstanding hanky waving abilities! In addition, Judy bought some space hoppers, plastic buckets and inflatable swords and we had a bouncing jousting competition, which Ben won! The object was to bounce around knocking the plastic buckets off the other competitors’ heads with your inflatable sword and the last competitor with a bucket on his/her head was the winner! I knew that having a large head that was just the right size and shape to jam into a bucket would one day pay off! (Only joking Ben, if you’re reading this!) Judy also hired a bouncy castle which was a lot of fun for the kids (the adults were too big and heavy to use it) and she bought some dragon piñatas which were great fun for children and adults alike. You never really grow out of enjoying bashing things with sticks and eating sweets; and the idea of combining the two into one activity was pure genius! However, I had the most fun watching Uncle Jim repeatedly missing his dangling dragon after six pints of lager, getting more and more frustrated with every unsuccessful swipe. In the end he grabbed the piñata and pulled it down, nearly bringing the whole marquee down with it! 

Happy Easter!

I hope you had a great Easter, I certainly did. We spent quite a bit of the Easter weekend enjoying the Lake District, which is pretty easy to get to from here. It was so lovely walking around Kendal, having lunch on the banks of Windermere and exploring the Grasmere area. The weather was pretty good on the whole and the views were magnificent. If you’ve never been to the Lake District you really should visit.

Although we spent much of the weekend out and about there was still time for my favourite pastime – eating chocolate! (There’s always time for eating chocolate!) The kids bought Ben and I a huge Easter egg to share and the kids received lots of eggs from the family, as usual. They spent most of the weekend scoffing chocolate and feeling sick … oh to be young again! We also had the customary giving of clothes – a tradition that has been in our family for as long as anyone can remember.

My grandmother once told me that when she was young it was very common for families to give presents of clothes at Easter. Back in her day buying new clothes was a special occurrence for most families and it often coincided with special occasions like Christmas, birthdays and Easter. These days buying new clothes is much more commonplace, but in my view buying new clothes for special occasions (like Easter) is still important – it makes those occasions even more special.

This year Ben bought me a beautiful new Armani Collezion double-breasted trench coat from Selfridges online. It is so comfortable and stylish; you can really feel the quality. And it goes perfectly with the Armani stretch-cotton pencil skirt that Ben bought me last year. I can’t wait to show Judy, she’ll be so envious!

I bought Ben a collection of high quality ties from M&S online. He already has dozens of ties but they’re getting a bit old and shabby so I decided he needed some new ones. They have so many great ties at M&S that I was spoiled for choice, but in the end I went for two from the M&S Collection and two from the Collezione collection. They’re all great quality, but the Collezione ties are especially good – they’re made in Italy from pure silk and they feel so soft and smooth.

We bought Keith a pair of top quality pretty originals boys white patent shoes in leather from Cachet Kids. They have 100% white patent leather upper and leather lined interior. He was so pleased with them and they looked great when he tried them on.

Crissy really loves fancy socks and so we bought her lots of pom pom socks and satin bow socks from Cachet Kids. They had many different colours and we ended up buying a few of each. I think that my favourite ones were the girls knee high fuchsia socks with satin bows; they looked really striking.

Simon is a bundle of fun and he loves to dress up so we bought him a boys pirate outfit in blue and white with hat and sword from Cachet kids. It was such good value (as you’d expect from Cachet Kids) and Simon really loved it. In fact, it was hard work getting him to wear anything else for the rest of the weekend!

Last but not least, Sarah is going to a friend’s birthday party in a few weeks and so we bought her a very pretty special occasion dress from Cachet Kids. I just love the intricate decorations and subtle use of colour on the dress. She’s going to look absolutely gorgeous!

 

A Happy Birthday

In our house this time of year is known as ‘birthday season’ because so many of us have our birthdays in March and April – Ben and I have ours in March and Jenny and Stuart have theirs in April. We always have a party to celebrate the kids’ birthdays and normally Ben and I have a special dinner to celebrate our birthdays, but this year Ben did something extra special – he arranged a wonderful surprise party for me!

In the morning I was awakened at the crack of dawn by the kids jumping on the bed, eager to present me with my birthday presents and breakfast in bed, which was really lovely. The kids bought me two pairs of slippers, some perfume and a new hairbrush and Ben bought me a beautiful new coat which I’d had my eye on for a while. (He obviously picked up on the subtle hints that I kept dropping, such as, ‘I want THAT coat for my birthday!’) 

I spent much of the morning watching DVDs with the kids while Ben prepared lunch and then after lunch we all went out for a drive in the hills and along the coast. It was a beautiful clear, sunny day and the view across Morecambe bay from the hills was stunning. 

We were out for a couple of hours and then when we returned the surprise party was set up and waiting for me. (My sister Judy had collaborated with Ben to set the party up in my absence.) Ben and the kids held back and then as I walked into the living room dozens of friends and family leapt towards me shouting ‘Surprise!’ I nearly jumped out of my skin! But after the initial shock had subsided I had a good laugh with everyone else. 

I should have expected something like this from Ben - he’s so thoughtful and it was big birthday. I won’t tell you how old I am as I’d have to shoot you afterwards, but let’s just say the number is divisible by ten without remainder. (I knew those maths lessons that I was forced to endure as a child would come in handy one day.)

Anyway, I chatted with the guests and enjoyed the buffet for a while then my kids appeared dressed in some of their best party gear. I was so proud of them.

Keith wore a premium quality boys white 3 piece suit with a boys white cufflinks shirt with double cuff and cufflinks, a boys white tie in shiny satin fabric and handmade leather junior boys white shoes.

Crissy and Sarah wore beautiful matching special occasion girls dresses in ivory and black and girls white party shoes with flower diamantes. And Simon wore a stylish 5 piece boys grey suit set and handmade junior boys black leather shoes.

They all looked so lovely. I’m so grateful to Ben for arranging such a wonderful birthday for me. I’ll have to think of something extra special to do for his next birthday.

Happy Christmas! In May

I can’t believe Christmas has come on gone! And what a happy Christmas is was. On Christmas morning I was awakened at the crack of dawn by Sarah (our youngest) bouncing up and down on the bed, begging Ben and I to get up so we could go downstairs and start opening our presents. Soon the whole household was awake, clad in dressing gowns and making their way to the living room for the annual orgy of frenzied present opening. I love to see the kids opening their presents, it reminds me of how excited I used to be when I opened my Christmas presents as a child.

Thankfully the kids seemed to like all of their presents. That is, apart from the adult sized black socks that their uncle Jim bought each of them this year. Whenever he buys clothes for the kids he always goes for adult sizes. I once asked him why he did this and he replied that the kids would grow into them and never grow out of them! What a guy!

Anyway, Sarah was particularly taken with her new Barbie dolls and Dreamhouse. I thought she was going to explode with excitement when she opened the wrapping and saw what was inside. She also loved a woodland fairy dressing up set that her aunt Judy gave her and she insisted on wearing it while she played with her Dreamhouse. She looked so adorable!

Simon (our youngest boy) is into Star Wars in a big way and leading up to Christmas kept dropping hints about wanting some Star Wars Lego for Christmas. So it was no surprise that he was overjoyed with the Star Wars Lego kits that we got for him. He was especially taken with the Star Wars Millenium Falcon kit, which he feverishly started to construct as soon as he opened the wrapping. He also likes anything to do with pirates and was very happy to receive a boys pirate outfit with hat and sword from his aunt Judy.

Crissy (our eldest girl) asked for mainly clothes this Christmas and was delighted with the new additions to her wardrobe she was given. She was especially happy with a beautiful mayoral girls sales brown skirt and ivory t-shit outfit that we bought her, commenting on how cute the bunnies were on the front. I love that t-shirt too! If they made it in my size I’d get one for myself. She also took a liking to Sarah’s new Dreamhouse and spent much of the morning playing with it with Sarah.

Keith (our eldest) wanted mainly X-Box 360 games for Christmas and loved the titles we bought for him, particularly one with zombies. I don’t know much about video games so I left buying them to Ben and he clearly did a good job. Keith then spent the morning slaying zombies with his dad.

After a light lunch (saving ourselves for Christmas dinner) we all dressed up in our Christmas outfits. As I said in my previous blog, the family likes to dress up at Christmas and this year we decided to have a ‘red’ themed Christmas. Ben and I dressed in our Mr and Mrs Santa outfits. Sarah dressed in a lovely little red leotard, a frothy red tutu skirt, some red pom pom tights and some red Mary Jane shoes with patent leather double straps. Simon sported a Spiderman costume. Crissy wore a gorgeous red smocked dress by Sarah Louise, some red tights and some girls red and black patent shoes with a lovely bow design on the front. And Keith wore a boys red shirt and tie set, some boys red trousers and some boys red leather shoes. He also wore an Elvis wig, sideburns and sunglasses.

Crissy and Sarah stayed upstairs playing with their presents, Simon continued to construct his Millenium Falcon in the living room, Ben and Keith went back to the X-Box and I started work on the Christmas dinner. I love to cook, especially Christmas dinner. It’s a lot of work, but very satisfying and the meal was very well received when we finally sat down to eat it. And it was great seeing everyone dressed up and having a good time. (If you’ve never had Christmas dinner with Santa, Elvis, Spiderman and a couple of little angels I thoroughly recommend it!)

In the evening the family gathered in the living room, watched Elf on DVD (as we do every Christmas) and then played some Wii games. It’s funny but no matter how many Wii games we get, we always end up playing the Super Mario Cart game. I guess it’s become the family favourite. Simon dominated the games (as usual) and Sarah and I kept coming last (as usual). Eventually Sarah got bored of losing and went back to playing with her toys and Keith got bored of winning and went back to slaying zombies. The rest of us continued playing for a while and then eventually settled down in front of the telly. Soon the kids were in bed and Christmas was over. I can’t believe how quickly it seems to come and go. Anyway, it was a happy Christmas that I’m sure I’ll always remember.

A Romantic Wedding

I’m happy to report that Judy and Dimitris finally tied the knot on Valentine’s Day! Hurrah! I’m so pleased for them. The whole day was perfect and very romantic. They got married in a lovely church in the heart of Thessaloniki (Salonika) in northern Greece. The church was very beautiful, with ornate wooden carvings and gold leaf decorations throughout and wonderful frescos on the walls. And Thessaloniki was simply breath-taking – a jewel of a city on the Mediterranean coast.

I’ve never seen Judy look so happy – I don’t think she stopped grinning all day. She looked absolutely stunning in her stylish ivory wedding dress with a lovely bow on the front, her beautiful bouquet tied with an orange ribbon. And Dimitris looked extremely handsome in his new tailored dark blue suit, ivory tie and orange handkerchief protruding neatly from his breast pocket, standing proudly by her side. As I said in a previous blog, Judy wanted orange included in the wedding colour scheme as it was her lucky colour.

In the end there were two ushers, five bridesmaids and six pageboys. The ushers were Dave and Ed (my brothers). They wore very smart three piece suits - one dark blue and one dark grey - and sported orange socks. I haven’t seen them look so smart since their own weddings!

The bridesmaids were: myself, Dina (the happy couple’s daughter), Crissy and Sarah (my daughters) and Eleni (Dimitris’ niece). The girls wore a beautiful special occasions ivory dress with ivory bow that complemented the bride’s dress perfectly. They also wore knee high ivory socks with bows, girls ivory patent shoes with bow and scallop decoration and orange ribbons in their hair.

The pageboys were: Keith and Simon (my sons), Bobbi and Ashley (my nephews) and Elias and Nik (Dimitris’ nephews). They wore three piece boys ivory suit sets, boys white shirts, boys bow ties, cotton boys high quality Spanish socks in ivory and boys black patent brogue shoes.

After the wedding we all returned to Giannitsa (Dimitris’ home town, located north of Thessaloniki) and attended an enormous reception. There were hundreds of guests, lots of singing and dancing and more food than I’ve ever seen in one place before. Dimitris’ brother (and best man) Kostas is a chef and he laid on the food and what a fabulous job he did – it was some of the best food I’ve ever tasted.

In total, we spent a week in Greece: three days in Giannitsa getting to know Dimitris’ family, a couple of days in Thessaloniki enjoying the beauty and history of the city and a couple of days in Halkidiki - a three pronged peninsula south of Thessaloniki where Dimitris’ family have a small hotel close to a beach. It was a great wedding, a great holiday and the thing I liked most about it was getting to know lots of lovely Greek people. They were some of the nicest, most welcoming people I’ve ever met. I will definitely visit Greece again.