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Nov. 15th, 2011 07:59 pmBeen rushing around trying to organise Liam's first birthday for Sunday. Turns out my mum who was all 'you do what you want, you're an adult now' has come to her senses and we *are* having a Vietnamese ceremony type thing for him too. Oh thank goodness. I didn't want to press it, as I really would have no idea how to go about it, cos then she'd have been all 'OH SO YOU NEED ME NOW DO YOU'
I totally would have stole up to my parents' house on his birthday and lay some fruit on my ancestral altar/lit some incense and hoped that would have been good enough if Mum hadn't come to her senses. It's funny - I don't believe my ancestors are still around in any sort of form but you know, bones, but it still means something to me to follow the traditions and rituals and pay my respects. Yeah, IDGI either.
So now Liam's getting the whole hog, literally. He's getting a big roast pig (those things, I always forget they cost about $350!) and we're cooking food for the altar and then we've booked yum cha for 30 people. Mum's paying, hurrah! It's still quite small as far as Vietnamese 1st birthdays go - the last one I went to had 150 people :\
The best part of a Vietnamese 1st birthday is a little ritual where a tray is set out with a whole bunch of different objects on it. A book, some money, scissors, a ruler etc etc. The birthday kid then chooses one of these objects and it's supposed to signify what he'll be when he grows up. I picked a ruler. I'm gonna be a teacher. My brother picked the scissors, and I'm still waiting for him to realise his true calling is to be a hairdresser and that there's no shame in that, but he'll finish his degree in Comp.Sci and make my parents happy first.
I was wondering whether there was any rule to what I can put on the tray. What if the worst thing I put on this tray means he becomes a rocket scientist or something? Haha surely I will not be the first person to game the system!!
I've got a regular children's party for him at my MIL's the next day - you know, with fairy bread, helium balloons and the like. I fail at being a super!mum though - I went to make Frog In The Pond today, and I put the chocolate frogs in the jelly too early and they kinda melted. So they're like, mangled frogs at the bottom of the pond.
Hopefully it all goes well. I am hopeless at organising parties :(
I've just finished the first season of Downton Abbey. WHY SO MALICIOUS, MARY AND EDITH? WHY?
I totally would have stole up to my parents' house on his birthday and lay some fruit on my ancestral altar/lit some incense and hoped that would have been good enough if Mum hadn't come to her senses. It's funny - I don't believe my ancestors are still around in any sort of form but you know, bones, but it still means something to me to follow the traditions and rituals and pay my respects. Yeah, IDGI either.
So now Liam's getting the whole hog, literally. He's getting a big roast pig (those things, I always forget they cost about $350!) and we're cooking food for the altar and then we've booked yum cha for 30 people. Mum's paying, hurrah! It's still quite small as far as Vietnamese 1st birthdays go - the last one I went to had 150 people :\
The best part of a Vietnamese 1st birthday is a little ritual where a tray is set out with a whole bunch of different objects on it. A book, some money, scissors, a ruler etc etc. The birthday kid then chooses one of these objects and it's supposed to signify what he'll be when he grows up. I picked a ruler. I'm gonna be a teacher. My brother picked the scissors, and I'm still waiting for him to realise his true calling is to be a hairdresser and that there's no shame in that, but he'll finish his degree in Comp.Sci and make my parents happy first.
I was wondering whether there was any rule to what I can put on the tray. What if the worst thing I put on this tray means he becomes a rocket scientist or something? Haha surely I will not be the first person to game the system!!
I've got a regular children's party for him at my MIL's the next day - you know, with fairy bread, helium balloons and the like. I fail at being a super!mum though - I went to make Frog In The Pond today, and I put the chocolate frogs in the jelly too early and they kinda melted. So they're like, mangled frogs at the bottom of the pond.
Hopefully it all goes well. I am hopeless at organising parties :(
I've just finished the first season of Downton Abbey. WHY SO MALICIOUS, MARY AND EDITH? WHY?
