celebrate

Awhile ago, a friend of mine introduced me to the concept of “Birthday Eve.” It seemed like rather a delightful idea! For us, today it has meant making the last day of being “9” a specially-acknowledged day for our middle daughter. She also happens to be our budding chef, so that means we’ve baked up a storm (which of course, we’ll now have to eat!) and tidied and cleaned in preparation for the day to come. (Today’s photo happens to be of her cake). In saying that, her birthday doesn’t quite look anything like it was meant to (by that, I mean pre-covid) but we’re still finding ways to make it extra special. Thankfully, in this case, Miss-almost-10 has the model of her Daddy’s 40th and her Aunty’s wedding that happened during lockdown, which helps her to trust that it will be still be a day of much celebration. And it will!

This week also happens to hold our 14th wedding anniversary, quickly followed by my birthday (I’m always grateful to the Queen for the extra day “off” even if mine doesn’t quite fall on the same day every year) so as I pondered what to write about today, I decided it was worth considering the importance of celebration. Now, there’s the obvious (like birthdays, anniversaries and holidays) but what about the less obvious? Do you have your own dates that you connect with a reason to celebrate? Or days, or moments in time that just seem to fit the bill?

Recently, with lockdown looming, we decided to mark the day Daddy came home (for the four weeks of level 4) with a family movie night. Frozen 2 was the pick (I do love that movie!) and happened to be a timely distraction from the sobering reality of a worldwide pandemic. And near the end of last week, when hubby (carefully) started back at work, we celebrated with another family movie night. Because, why not? Last year, when our building repairs were finally completed, we celebrated with a “dinner” that consisted of three different baked desserts (you should’ve seen the delight on our girls’ faces!) Over time, we’ve celebrated the start of our school term in a number of ways, but I’d have to say that one of my favourites has been with a tea party, complete with a genuine tea set, tea cups and prettily laid out platters of nibbles. Do you have any meaningful moments that you’ve celebrated with your family?

Sometimes I think making it through a day can be a particularly valid point of celebration. For me, that type of celebration would definitely require chocolate. Even better if it’s peppermint! Some days are like that, and I’m sure we all know it. Perhaps your choice of celebration is less… um… calorie-laden than mine (in which case I take my hat off to you!) but please, however you mark it, do consider the fact that you are worth celebrating. You don’t have to wait for the anniversary of your birth to come around again, to take a moment to celebrate. You are, after all, fearfully and wonderfully made.

Whatever it is, and however you do it, I encourage you to find something – some reason – to celebrate in the near future. Because there’s always something to be thankful for, no matter what. My prayer is that above all, you’ll also know how celebrated you are, by a God who promises that He doesn’t make mistakes.

Kristy x

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