Gracie celebrated her 2nd birthday last Saturday the 8th (of Dec.) and it was a blast. She was so cute. She helped me and a friend make cupcakes in the morning and seemed to understand exactly what was going on. I had been telling her all her friends were coming over, which consists of a lot of Jie Jie s (big sisters), ge ge s (big brothers), and a di di (little brother).
I prepared several games, made a cake, sent Matt out for a bunch of snacks and drinks, and felt good about not spending over 400 yuan like we did last year at McDonalds. This year I think the grand total may have been 100. (About $13 U.S.) Her friends starting arriving at 2:30 and kept streaming in until after 4:00. The party was supposed to be from 3 - 5, but it was more like 2:30 to 6:30! We had competitions with a few magnetic fishing games and a small basketball set. It was a frenzy. Those kids, ranging from 1 to 12 had a ball.
When it was time to sing Happy Birthday and cut the cake I had a hard time pulling everyone away from the games. Adults were also enjoying the free moment to chat with new friends and watch their children play. Finally we got everyone together and sang Happy Birthday both in English and Chinese. (Today at KFC, we go there to play on the playground, Gracie sang along with Sheng Ri Kuai Le and then announced, "Happy Birthday!") She was really into it being her birthday. I had made a cake and 24 cupcakes thinking that would be enough, but surprisingly our Chinese friends like cake even more than us and had to have a try of each. The sweet and snacks were gone within a few minutes. It was like a bunch of locusts came through. I was glad they enjoyed the cakes, but Matt was sad there wasn't any left over. Even Gracie was asking for cake the next day - but no cake was left in our house!
Opening presents was also another big deal. We had asked people not to bring anything since she already has enough, but of course everyone did anyway. Gracie sat in her A-Yi's lap and opened one present after another until she finally got to the last one, a Little People Manger Set. She had seen it on top of our closet several times and begged for it, so she was thrilled to finally be able to check it out. There is an angel on top that when pushed plays a short version of Silent Night. I started explaining what the toy actually was, and when Gracie touched the angel and the song started playing all the children and adults alike were mesmerized. You could have heard a pin drop. That was the quietest moment of the whole party.
We really loved having so many friends and neighbors in our home. It made us feel very settled. It has been harder making relationships as a married couple studying Chinese than it was a single English teachers, but I feel that the relationships we've made are very solid. We are also blessed to have old friends in this city, and everyone knows old friends are the best friends!
