So birthday party season has come and gone

Most of you will know that all 4 of us celebrate our birthdays in less than a month :)



For K & C, we had a doughnut and hot chocolate party, in pyjamas, with their school friends on a Saturday morning two weeks after we moved in.

Now, to be fair, I am not normally that crazy, but I didn't think the move would be as bad as it was.

I actually "woke up" to the fact that there was a party happening on the Tues before the Sat.

We made it through - it was super easy - I bought nothing except food and washers for the doughnut necklaces. And the two packs of washers cost me R19.80.

I had the party pack stuff and the rest of the activity supplies already, and the food was all eaten except for some fun cereal which is now nearly finished.

Really easy. If you want a low-key party, do this :)

D doesn't like people too much :)  I joke, but he is an introvert so feels no need to have people around him on his birthday. They did throw him a party at work and really spoiled him - proper eats (lots!), and lots of gift vouchers from two teams.

So we went out to eat for his birthday and that was that.

(no presents this year because the house is not sold yet)

this is a perfect day for me

And then me. I had people over as I usually do, and it was fabulous.

I kind-of feel like if your birthday is on a weekend day, it's almost a sin not to take advantage of that, right?

I had my usual caterer cook my favourite dish, chicken biryani (no peas!), and we had some cakes for dessert.

I asked the friends not to bring presents and only one listened, and, I must confess, it was actually nice.to receive presents because every gift was perfect for me. Maybe the lesson here is to trust that the people in my life know me well enough and not to try to control everything :)

My MIL had a painting that she painted framed. This is so special because she painted it from a photograph that I took in Ballito a few years ago. It is beautifully framed and is proudly hung in our lounge.

That kind of thing. Everything was so meaningful.

I gave party favours as usual - mugs - and a couple of people told me they think of me when they drink from their mugs which, of course, thrills me.

Now at work, exactly nothing happened, except one colleague said happy birthday for tomorrow on the Friday afternoon, and another sent me a whatsapp the next day. That's it. Which is spectacularly underwhelming in every way. This year I was not hurt because I expected it. Another life lesson - make your own magic :)

And that was birthday season.

Thank you so much for all the wonderful birthday messages on my timeline, sent via text and whatsapp. I've been living in the real world, not online, today, celebrating with family and friends, so I haven't been on Facebook but know that I love and appreciate every single one of you who took the time to leave me some love ❤️❤️❤️ . . 📷: @mrsff2207

A photo posted by Marcia Francois (@marcia0608) on Aug 6, 2016 at 9:43am PDT

Funso took this picture of me which I love!

I'm planning to write more about the emotional stuff of turning 42 this week, and on my review process/ goal/ fun things process on the OQ blog, so stay tuned.

How do you like to celebrate birthdays?