Celebrate

More Birthday Folderol

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What a two weeks I had of birthday preparations and folderol. They whipped by in a happy blur, first with my daughter Shannon and then with my daughter Dee. Their stay here overlapped long enough for all of us to go to Riverside Farm Restaurant for a birthday brunch on the lovely deck overlooking fields and a stream.

The best present, of course, was having my daughters here. Shannon lives in North Carolina, and we only see her twice a year. Dee lives closer, in New York City, but even so we don’t see her as often as we would like. This means when they are here, I focus pretty much exclusively on them, and I cherish the time I have with my daughters.

Normally, our birthdays are simple and low key, but as this was a 40th and a 60th, the celebrations and gifts were a little more elaborate. One of the sweetest gifts I received and have ever received was this necklace from both Dee and Shannon: A little bird “nest” with two fresh water pearls, symbolizing my two girls.

Here is a closer look.

Among other things, they also gave me a Maya-blue water feature that is solar powered. Right now, it’s on the patio, but next summer it will go directly in the garden. The water pouring from bowl to bowl makes a lovely, relaxing sound.

Going along with the gardening theme, my husband Clif gave me these snappy clogs. However, they are far too pretty for me to wear in the garden. At least not yet. Instead, I will wear them out and about on damp autumn and spring days. I have a scuffed pair of garden clogs for mucking around, and when these are scuffed, they will be worn in the garden.

For Dee, we decided to do something both fun and foolish—forty presents in honor of her forty years.  Numbered, so that she would open them in the proper order. Let’s just say there was a flurry of getting ready for this present extravaganza, and we all agreed that forty was as high as we would want to go with this idea.

Dee lives in a small apartment, and we made sure to mostly give her presents she could eat, drink, wear, or experience. Naturally, we had to indulge in a few punny gifts—four boxes of tea, four T-shirts, forty rocks in a vase. (Shannon came up with that last one, and I love it.) We all had some good laughs as Dee unwrapped her forty presents.

So now the celebrations are over, and Dee and Shannon are back in New York and North Carolina. I don’t mind saying it’s been a bit of a let down as Clif and I settle back into our routine of biking, working on our various projects, and taking care of the house.

Well, birthday celebrations can’t last forever, and what a good time we had. Happy memories for both Dee and me as we go forth into our respective decades.

One more thing to note: We also celebrated Clif’s 66th birthday, but it was definitely eclipsed by Dee’s and my birthday. However, please don’t fret for Clif. When he turned 60, we threw a big party for him,  which he thoroughly enjoyed.

 

32 thoughts on “More Birthday Folderol”

  1. Happy happy happy birthday!! It was an extra wonderful week of birthday fun! 🙂 I was a little blue coming back to reality too!

  2. So glad you all had such an amazing time with wonderful presents and memories to cherish forever – a finest series of celebrations and a very happy birthday once more to you, Clif and Dee! ☺💖 xxx

  6. Your family sure does have good taste in gifts. The necklace is a treasure. What fun to open 40 gifts. Glad you had such nice visits and celebrations.

  7. What beautiful presents your daughters gave you!!! I love that necklace. Fun shoes. And 40 gifts for 40 years is a genius idea. 🤓

    1. Thanks, Robin. As I mentioned in my post, 40 is probably the upper limit. Luckily, we were able to fill in with little treats and homemade gifts. Otherwise, it could get very pricey.

  14. Happy birthday to you all. I remember being 40 like it was yesterday – I felt so middle-aged! I’m 60 next birthday and wondering where it all went.

    🙂

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