party with the one (or ones) you love

Yesterday, my kids and I organised a party for Fatty. On the back deck, we wound coloured streamers along the rails, and hung them from the rafters of the roof. We blew up a few balloons and tied them here and there. We scurried about to straighten up the house. I cooked supermarket pizzas to eat with salad; I opened a bottle of wine. The kids helped me bake a chocolate cake, too (aided and abetted by Betty Crocker). So you may be wondering what the occasion was.... a birthday? An anniversary maybe? The celebration of a new job? Hey, was it to celebrate an unexpected pregnancy??? (um, no, no, no and NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!) There was no special occasion. As I said to Fatty on the card I gave him...welcome to your We Love You party!

Now, for anyone here who is clutching their throats and making retching, gagging noises....I am not some sycophantic wife, always cloyingly sweet and loving. Far from it. I am quite regularly grumpy, unappreciative, demanding and snappy. And our marriage is no peachy picnic of connubial bliss. It's a real marriage, with the usual ups and downs. But thank heavens we have our kids, because the whole party idea started with them, and their enthusiasm swept me along until we ended up having a celebration to be remembered.

It began in a cut-price bookstore. Ben spotted a book on birdwatching, and crowed, " Look, a bird book! I bet Daddy would like that!". I had a gander, and was inclined to agree. Laura chirped excitedly, "We could wrap it up, and give it to him when he gets home!".

"OK", I agreed, " and we could have something nice for dinner, too".

"PIZZA!!!!" my offspring screeched in unison. ('Hmm, I guess we're having pizza then', I thought to myself)

Laura wanted decorations, and did most of this job. The present was wrapped in a messy kid-done way; I resisted the urge to show them how to make it neater. It was fine.
I found a card to write in, and both kids made their cards. Ben was disappointed that the smiley face he drew looked sad (but was heartened by the fact that it looked happy if you turned the card upside down)
I set the table with a tablecloth and our 'good' plates. The 3 cards perched atop the gift, in the centre of the table.

Fatty looked really chuffed when he got home to see the deck all 'beautiful', and when he read the cards. The book he seemed to like, too, but he had the widest smile after reading what we each wrote to him (well, I of course had to take dictation for Ben's card). It made me wonder why I'd never done anything like this before. I mean, I've made a fuss over our anniversary, organised birthday gatherings, purchased Christmas surprises.... but never have I given him a party just because he is a good man.

Maybe you're still thinking this all sounds silly. I guess it was silly. But it was fun, and it was worth it just to see the pleasure on Fatty's face.

So I'm just putting the idea out there....there could be someone you love who would be thrillled to have a We Love You party held in their honour!!