Birthday weekend....

Last weekend was a special weekend, it was Fleur’s birthday. Friday was her actual birthday and she took cake and drinks to school as is the tradition in France, and now apparently in the UK too, never happened in my day that I can remember…

Saturday was the day of the Fleur’s birthday party, and to be honest it was something I was slightly dreading. The thought of having ten 6 years running around that I could not understand, and they not being able understand my feeble attempts at French, was not my idea of fun. However as it turned out I had nothing to worry about it all went well and I understood most of what was said to me and I think I mostly made myself understood as well.

Franca of course did most of the talking and she did an excellent job of organising all the games, and marshalling the children. We did all sorts of old fashioned games such as musical chairs, musical statues, blind mans buff and a few others I had never heard of, and all the children took part enthusiastically. Everything was conducted at 100 decibels or more and at lightning speed, as six year olds never walk they always run (not like Sting’s Englishman in New York). After three hours Franca, her mother and I were exhausted, but it seems like children had a good time, and fleur enjoyed herself which is the main thing.

Fleur got lots of lovely presents I think more than 20 in total as well as quite a lot of money too, from us she got a new bike, a proper one which is just a tad too big but she was enthusiastically riding it around the garden on Sunday. She also got a traditional Dutch game from Franca’s mum which we played at the party called Dutch Shuffleboard, which is quite addictive. Thanks to all those who sent pressies and money Fleur appreciated them all.

No sooner is Fleur’s birthday over than thoughts turn to Christmas, I popped in to Toys r Us in Bordeaux as it has been years since I have been in a toy shop (excluding Hamleys once a year for stocking pressies), to look at potential Christmas presents, and the queues at the checkout were enormous, I was glad I was not buying anything, Still my Christmas shopping weekend is this coming weekend as I am in the UK, still with the credit crunch hopefully the shops will not be too crowded.

Christmas in France is not as huge as it is in the UK luckily so we will not be mortgaging the house for presents like some folks do, though we seemed to have joined in the competition to see who can get the most lights on their house, though we are way down at the bottom of the league thank goodness. Christmas is a one day festival in France with the 26th being a normal working day. The turn of the year is marked very quietly too, no crazy parties, and no fireworks, though the French do push the food boat out even further than normal with a 12 course meal and midnight almost passes without acknowledgment in comparison to the UK and Holland.