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Donald’s Birthday

We celebrated Donald’s 18th birthday. He got some manly gifts, since he is a man now. As part of our family tradition he got to choose all the food for the day. We have never had such a detailed birthday menu. The best was his choice for a cake. He chose chocolate fondue.

porfarofondue

The little ones, Nelson, Joshua and Rania, couldnt believe such a thing existed. The sheer decadence of dipping fruit or cakes into a chocolate puddle. They persevered long after the adults called it quits. We tried to capture photos of them but they were moving so fast and consistant that even though we took about 10 or 20 photos this is the only one without motion blur. At one point Nelson (right) wouldnt take his eyes off of the wonder for fear it was just a dream. He was so focused he fell off his chair, didnt cry, got up quickly and almost fell off the chair again because he refused to take his eyes off the chocolate. I am sure they were swimming in chocolate dreams long after the chocolate fondue was put away.

It was extreme decadence. It was a celebration. I think that especially in times like these when funds are tight we need to celebrate. We are back to a breakfast of porridge oats this morning but even if we had to have porridge for every meal for the next week or month to balance out the decadence of a single day of celebration we still need to do it. Celebration brings joy and life. We dont need a lot of money to celebrate, sometimes what is needed is simply to make the mundane feel special. We have had years when we had no money to celebrate a birthday or other holiday and have pulled the strangest combinations of food out of our cupboard and melted it all together to create some kind of cake but we have always celebrated. Lets celebrate life. Lets learn from the little ones and not miss the wonder and joy, beauty and celebration of life.