Opening Day and Other Reasons to Celebrate
In another country, the holidays aren't always the same. The commercial side of Valentine's Day, for example, is non-existent here, so sometimes it doesn't feel much like a day to celebrate.
It's a bit easier for us, maybe, than for families with kids who aren't old enough to remember holidays in the States. We can't skip Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, or even Groundhog Day, without someone in our family suggesting that we celebrate, and furthermore, why not take the day off from school? The holiday isn't always important in and of itself--it's just a chance to practice a tradition from home, to do some of the same things that you all would be doing on that particular day too.
Birthdays can be a challenge, too, for two reasons: present options and lack of ice cream. It's possible to make ice cream here; but we're pretty particular about how homemade ice cream should taste, and so far we haven't been able to duplicate my Grandma's recipe here. And presents? The market (think huge, city-wide garage sale all the time) has an abundance of surprising things, but just because you found it there one day, doesn't mean it will be there when you want to buy it. Hardships, however small they may be, give opportunities for creativity, and so we're managing just fine. Still missing ice cream, though.
This cake was from Lydia's 11th birthday in January, and though it was not accompanied by ice cream, the cookies were good enough to make up for it. Making special meals for the birthday child is more of a treat here than it was in the States, because those kinds of foods are harder to come by here. Like these homemade eggrolls. They were delicious, but they took so much time to make, that we abandoned the rest of the menu and just had eggrolls.
Sometimes there are little surprise reasons to celebrate, like when Kaelyn, Joya, and Lydia took it upon themselves to make the pizza one Friday night, and turned it into a competition. Competition always increases quality, right? This was no exception. We had three different, gourmet pizzas...and I was not even allowed in the kitchen. That was definitely cause to celebrate.
There are days that are just ordinary days, but today was opening day of Cardinal's baseball, and if you ask me, that sounds like a good reason to celebrate.
Even when it's hot, even when we're tired, even when we're feeling so far from home...there are little joys to be found.
Comments