glory days

You cannot simply have a birthday in our house. It is not about just opening cards, opening presents, thanks, whoosh there goes another year. Oh no. Birthdays are super special and so the day deserves the elevated status of super-special-this-is-your-one-extraordinary-day. And so, birthdays in our house come with a few rules.

Get your theme on

There must be a theme. Mainly an option for the little humans in the house but the big, grownup, numbers with an 0 birthdays get a theme too.  This has ranged from super-heroes to hawaiin luau to Frozen to London Olympics 2012 to Lego to Bollywood to Eurovision for them and an N party for me and a black&white party for him (he's a Geordie...it wasn't a segregation party). Just prior to a birthday, we can be found huddled together, planning what this year's theme will be and then cue...Pinterest. I will then be found trawling Pinterest for decoration, food and of course cake ideas. More about cakes later.

Dance to the music

There must be a birthday playlist. Up until now, said playlists have been my area of expertise. With such an eclectic love of genres, a Mama Elsie playlist will take you down an 80s memory lane with a quick stop over at 70s disco, back to some Britpop, stroll with some reggae or country before hanging out with some good ole soul and funk. Since the 3G reckon they've 'discovered' music, they have hi-jacked the creating of playlists to consist of the top 15 songs that are played ad nauseum. These kids need some music education. And the steps to the 'Candy' dance.

Sugar, sugar

There must be cake. I like cake. We all like cake. I haven't got the patience to bake cakes. Before I got over my full-time working mummy guilt and started buying cakes, I used to make the birthday cakes. They usually took me three attempts, finishing well into the night and were presented with a slop of butter icing to resemble themed objects such as a disco dance floor, a princess dress or respective numbers. The best was a number three with orange butter icing; nicknamed by a good friend as the 'pizza' cake. This has now gone down in folklore.

Food, glorious food

There must be a birthday meal. Because they're a little bit young for me to introduce birthday beats, the deal is that the birthday person gets to choose dinner. Be it Sunday roast on a Thursday, Maccy-Ds in the garden, pizza in front of the telly, or getting spruced up for a meal in a restaurant. Your birthday, your choice.

So we got a theme, we got the music, we got a cake...of sorts and we might even get our gladrags on get someone else to cook. Time is running out. They are starting to protest. My theme party ideas will soon become a thing of the past. Although I do like the idea of my70th being a Superhero party so who knows?

This post was inspired by The Photographer's Gallery:familyphotographynow.net: still life

celebration day

My outfit for a Saturday night

I love St. George's Day: 23rd April. I love the fact that in a recent years high streets have become restricted to pedestrians as street parties are held.  I love that it coincides with Shakespeare's birthday so the nation is treated to a week long Look at England Fest.

Down my neck of the woods I will be able to stroll in the middle of the street under banners and bunting whilst shopkeepers and public houses do their best to create a sense of community and yesteryear, where this sort of this used to happen all the time it seems (look in a history book - there's always a street party going on!).

But it wasn't so big a deal when I was a kid. Unlike St David's Day which brought out the daffodils in our dinner ladies' button holes. Or St Patrick's Day which would see me cavorting around the streets of Kentish Town after university lectures with all my many Irish friends and taking my turn at singing a shutty-eye ballad after a few Guinness. St George's Day in the 80s seem to pass the majority of the country by without the batting of any eyelids. And as for Shakespeare...who he?

So yes I love it that there's historical, dramatical, fantastical stuff in books, the radio, and the telly about both events; St George, Shakespeare at 400 and oh look the Queen has gawn in and chucked her 90th celebrations in too. Cue a middle England combustion in sheer BBC exhilaration.

I used to be a bit reticent sharing my love of St George because of the whole flag waving thing which had always sat uncomfortably with me; as a black British child of the 70s there wasn't a lot of calling for me to join groups of marching people carrying the St George Cross. But then two things happened to change that.

 Firstly, I had created a quick starter activity on the history of St George for an English lesson and it sparked such diverse questions (like why is the saint of England if he was born in Turkey?!), discussion and theorizing about modern day 'saints' that it became a regular feature over the years (as did lessons on the other British Isles saints). I became a bit of a buff and enjoyed the mini diversion before settling back into the curriculum.

Second, having three kids who have an English heritage through their father's family. If they wanna wave a flag - know the history first , then make your choice to wave if you like.

On St George's Day we usually enjoy a good ole English roast or bag of fish n' chips (the choice usually denotes my energy levels) followed by the kids' fave of Eton Mess (or Rotten Mess as my youngest thought it was called).

Oh and another reason I love April 23rd. It's also my birthday. *Raises a glass to another year*