Our three grandkids have birthdays in September, along with their father Gregg and their maternal grandmother Suz (AKA Nana). Two of their birthdays are on the same day, September 1. With Connor, the first out of the chute, Amy went into labor and delivered on.... well, Labor Day.
So Labor Day holiday weekend has become a standing family gathering on Oxford. We celebrate all three kids birthdays. The result is that we arrive with a van load of wrapped packages that sometimes fill up half the living room. There are lots of gifts - no minimalist effort ever for this event.
The youths are wide-eyed with excitement as the gifts are unloaded along with our stuff and the 2 dogs. "Can we open the gifts tonight?" "Can we open just one tonight?" "Nana, can we open one NOW?"
We hear the same litany the next morning. The birthday party is almost always Saturday night. We usually hold them off until then. Other activities usually fill up the day. At last the big moment arrives. It's like Christmas. Gifts, anxious kids, adults scurrying around with cameras, and four dogs overwhelm the normally placid living room.
Zoey relaxes in the midst of chaos.
Let's take a trip!
Then a flurry of activity erupts, along with lots of chatter and wrapping paper flying through the air. In 10 minutes or less, the whole thing is over. The kids are exuberant. The adults shuffle around, picking up the mess and returning to more mundane activities.
alRIGHTY then.
The celebration winds down with a birthday cake and a movie. Just think....it's just a few short weeks until Christmas, and we can do this all over again. Financial crises and political turmoil loom large this year in the national news, but more important stuff goes on in Bittersweet Woods.
