Appreciating the Small Stuff

This past Saturday we celebrated my first-born's 6th birthday. That little angry guy up in my banner turned 6. Hard to believe . . .

We had a small family party - no big party with friends from school. I don't feel the need to outdue every other kid when it comes to birthday parties. We had a big party with kids for his 5th birthday and will probably have one again when he's 10. There's just no way we're doing it every year. It's too expensive and, I believe, isn't necessary. Then he'll expect something bigger and better every year. Not gonna happen.

When I was young, we either celebrated with a cake and immediate family or I was allowed 2 or 3 friends over for cake and dancing. That's all she wrote. And I appreciated it and loved it. I'll never forget those parties because they were small and rare. I want my kids to appreciate the small stuff as well.

Maybe as he gets older and really starts to make friends, he can invite a few over or we'll go out someplace for his birthday. Until then, he's stuck with our motley crew.

So I let R pick a theme, decorated the house, ordered a cake from the local food market, had a total of 11 family members in the house, and celebrated for a few hours. I sure hope he appreciated it. It kind of looks like he did . . .