It's birthday month chez nous.....

The month kicked off yesterday with the 3rd birthday of the littlest lady, who was a ball of excitement all day as she waited every so patiently throughout school until her party afterwards. I chose the easy option this year for her and invited around her 5 best English friends and their parents.

This was the easy option because:

1. She has only just started school and hasn't really made specific friends yet, so going down the class route would have either included alienating some of the kids or inviting all 30 kids (2-3 year olds)... Kind of didn't want to choose this option.....

2. I had to work all day beforehand and new that if some of my English friends and their kids came around, I wouldn't be so ashamed of the fact that my house was a mess. If it had been my French friends I would have felt compelled to clean for days. Why is that? It's not like the French are more obsessed with the housework, I guess it's an acceptance thing. Don't want to give them a reason for singling me out, like '....oh, the American woman, did you see the state of her floors? I mean honestly, how can I let my child mingle with another
culture if that's their idea of cleanliness.' Oh the shame. I just don't want to have that sort of stigma attached to my kids so young. They'll have plenty of time to be embarrassed of me later.

3. I know that on the 21st I'll be having the oldest lady's entire class for her party(5-6 year olds), and just the thought of it exhausts me, so I thought I'd take advantage of the last year I'll probably be able to get away with it and gave her the birthday party of my own design. She can choose who to invite next year. And I'm pretty sure it'll be her entire class. So I'm starting to
squirrel away the Valium now.....

The Duke's birthday is at the end of the month, and once again, I think he'll be getting wine for his present. One of the best wine shops I've come across in a long time, Le Clos St Gabriel, which is located in a very hard to find location in Beziers, has recently opened a tapas and wine bar near the Allées Paul Riquet in the center of town, called Le Chameau Ivre, or drunken camel. Apparently now they do tapas and food, as well as letting you browse and taste and discover new wines. It sounds like a bookshop for wine lovers. I think we'll try it out on the Duke's least favourite day of the year, and I'll keep you informed.