celebrate!

I love to celebrate things in life, like birthdays, babies, marriage, or a milestone. I love it even more since moving, because I'm living amongst celebratory people. People who like to hug, teachers who say they love me ( what? in the USA? haha) and love my kids, people who meet with their friends and their families on the beach to toast their birthday.

When I was in DC over the summer, we celebrated my brother and sis-in-law's third baby. There is so much attention to the first baby as their ought to be, but why not celebrate each? It can be as simple as a few friends for coffee and pastries. My sis-in-law is one of eight kids, so to do it right and with a time limitation on my part, we went to a local coffee shop/restaurant and celebrated one evening. They never find out the baby's sex so after finding some styrofoam carrots after Easter on sale, the wheels in my head started turning toward Peter Rabbit. And it all came together so nicely.

I don't like spending money when I can be creative, so we used these blue and white checkered napkins with a few "carrots" strewn on the little tables along with one of the collection of Beatrix Potter books my mom saved from my childhood. As we were walking out of the door of my parents' house, I grabbed a rake, some boots, a gardening pot, and my mom even found this scarecrow that I put a blue "jacket" on. I won't walk you through the story, but I went a little nuts. ;) Even if everyone didn't know the story as well as I did, it's what made me have fun with it besides the joy it gave to my sis-in-law! If our attitude is bent toward putting on personal touches rather than on impressing people, it is more relaxed and people can really enjoy themselves, and isn't that what it is really all about?

Have a great Sunday, and start planning the next celebration whether it is little or big with your spouse, your kids, your family or friends!!!