The One With The Big Bithdays!

Well we succumbed to the landmark birthdays, with dignity, style, fun and laughter!! The big 3 0 and the big 4 0 was anticipated, by me at least, like a ticking time bomb! How on earth were we to celebrate properly over here. We had envisaged being able to have a party with friends, get dressed up and have fun and maybe even a glass or two of Champagne! Well the latter certainly wasn't going to happen in Saudi!

However, this is part of what is changing us as people. Allowing us to grow and develop as human beings. No longer are our expectations what they used to be. In fact we have very few expectations. This led to a wonderful time for our birthdays.

Still trying to get completely even with money, as the first year is always the most expensive and with flying back to the UK so soon after arriving there wasn't going to be a fancy Rolex for the 40th and dazzling diamonds for the 30th, instead we used our imagination and created something far more special for each other.

My birthday began at 6am with me crying buckets in bed! But happy tears I must add! Jason had made for me a photo album. It was about our journey here so far. With all the pictures having captions and questions about our experiences so far, this coupled with an amazing choice of photos of us, the children, things we had done. It was truly beautiful, on many levels! With some lovely jewelery from the kids and a nice cup of tea in bed, Jason had to promptly leave for school! Taking Joey into school, I felt like a million dollars with the children in the playground singing happy birthday to me, the kids here are so nice!

I had a lovely day, peaceful and relaxing and yet still had the weekend to come!

Next came the BBQ - never have we Had a BBQ on our birthdays before, not with them being in February. Last year it had snowed on my birthday, and yet this year is was 25 degrees, very surreal!

WE had our BBQ in true British style, the wind was really getting up that weekend, but like Brits we were determined to cook outside! We had all our new friends with us, from South Africa, Pakistan, India, UK, Egypt. It was wonderful, to be surrounded by all these people who we have really only recently met, yet they came to our house to be with us, for this I was touched! Oh and of course, some FAB presents!!!

The wind finally did beat us for dessert, after the head mistresses food flying onto my neighbours plate! So for the birthday cake, which I had made for Jason, chocolate with chocolate frosting, with flake and maltesers and galaxy chocolate! We went inside, enjoying the rest of our party!

We didn't need alcohol, late nights and loud music to have fun, this in itself is somewhat liberating! We had all we needed, good food, good friends and fairly good weather!

Next came Jason's 40th!!! Being his birthday he has to take food/cakes into work with him. Well the least I could do would be to bake them for him!!! So another late night, making 20 carrot cake muffins and 2 loaves of banana nut bread, and up again at 5am to put the fresh frosting on them and make them pretty!

My gifts to Jason were about the day I would make for him. Staring with his tea and pressies in bed! At 6am I wake the kids, who promptly run and jump on daddy ordering him to open his presents, and he had better be quick or the kids are going to get them! For him I had taken a photo of the kids, turned it to black and white and had it enlarged and framed. Also a picture that I had taken in the UK at Christmas of the snow, where the snow lay on the branches of the bare trees, he had commented on that journey how pretty it had looked. So he now had a reminder of the UK and a reminder of one of the biggest achievements in his life, our babies! This was banded together with some youthful clothes and surfer jewellery, and chocolates and his favourite biscuits to comfort eat through any forthcoming pain of turning 40! Poor guy then had to go off to work!

He had some wonderful gifts at school, perfectly chosen from the staff and some really touching gifts and messages in cards from his pupils. This I know meant the world to him. Not only to be in a workplace where he was happy and with friends but also from the children. To be liked an respected by the children to the point where they would make him cards, choose gifts for him, not from the materialistic point of view but from the view that these children care and took the time for him! I can imagine for a teacher this must feel quite emotional and special, knowing that what you do affects people in such a positive way.

I spent much of this day cooking! I have been nagged since I arrived to cook rice! Now this is daunting experience for a Brit, where the only cooked rice know of is either in an orange, microwavable Uncle Ben's packet or it comes in a foil tray from the takeaway! But I set my mind to it and cooked him a Pakistani dish with chicken and potato cutlets, with home made mint and coriander dip and of course, his favourite, a home made cheesecake, Jamie Oliver 'stylee'!

The dinner was nice, slightly late, not because of my timing I should add, but because of upset caused by someone else, which Jason boldly sorted in defence of his wife and children, but this I shall not go into!

By this point we were both so shattered, from all our celebrations, preparations and the fat that poor Jason Had been suffering an awful cold the whole time! So a bit of TV and an early ish night!

Our birthdays were not quite as expected, not how we had planned we would have celebrated them, but then we aren't exactly where we had planned to be either. This is definitely not a negative thing. We are the happiest we have been for as long as we can remember, and isn't that what birthdays are about. Who needs lavish gifts, booze filled parties, it's all for show. We had true gifts for our birthdays, we had happiness, reflection, a sense of achievement and adventure, and most importantly we had friends (and cake!)

For everyone who helped make our birthdays so special this year, thank you, it is these friendships that we are making now that will shape us forever, and that's the best gift we could ever wish for.