The baby shower for our first grandchild was lovely. It was well worth the effort and we all had a great time, although I do wish we could have improved the sound quality, so we could have heard what everyone was saying in their different households. I did lots of baking - which I really enjoy, spending a full day cooking scones, cookies, coffee and walnut cake, Nutella and hazelnut cake (sounds much nicer than it is and is not worth the effort), and with a nod to GBBO, florentines, although the Mary Berry recipe, which is the one I used, advised that they should be chewy, not crisp. I am with Mary on this one. Mine were extra chewy and very bendy, perhaps because the battery has died on my kitchen scales and the recipe does state that ingredients should be carefully weighed. OOPS. They were very tasty, even if I do say so myself. I am including a link to the recipe in case you are tempted to give it a go. https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/marys_florentines_49833
I made hundreds of sandwiches (BLT, coronation chicken, smoked salmon and cream cheese, hummus and cucumber) and sent crisps in coded sandwich bags for a guess the crisp game (which I stole from my niece Natalie.) We bought lovely old tea cups and saucers for each of the guests from Vintage Retreat in Northampton, https://www.facebook.com/vintage.retreat.9 and everything was packed up into hampers along with a very special card drawn by my niece Stacey https://www.instagram.com/p/CF_k2uOJJ9u/
The parcels were delivered by Mr C to guests of the baby shower, along with another bag full of handmade bunting, balloons, games such as decorate the babygro, guess the circumference of the mum to be, and the usual predictions and wishes postcards. And a pumpkin each - as the baby is due on Halloween. Mr C set off on Saturday morning with very strict instructions (as usual, he had one job to do....). I had packed the bags and the hampers and labelled everything, and put the pumpkins in the boot of his car. I even sent a message to my sister in law who lives furthest away and who he planned to visit first, 'ask him about the pumpkin' because he is nothing if not predictable. Two hours later I called him to see if he was coming home as the party was about to start. He had of course forgotten to deliver the first pumpkin and had to go back.
The guests of honour arrived and at 2pm Mr C fired up the Zoom thingy and one by one each of the Considine households appeared with smiling faces and much excitement. There was a table full of gifts and flowers, and although we weren't able to be in the same room to celebrate this happy occasion, we ate afternoon tea and drank tea together and laughed and played silly games, and my stepdaughter was well and truly spoilt and left in no doubt of how loved she is, and how excited her family are to welcome her new baby when he/she arrives.
There are a few baby names on which Li and her partner agree, and after the party, there were more suggestions to add to the list - Terence, Alice, Violet, Leo, and my personal favourites, Matilda (I think it will be a girl), or Frank/Ernie if it's a boy. But actually I wouldn't mind if they called it Boris or Annunziata. I just want it to arrive quickly and safely, and for us to be able to hold it and smell it and bite it very gently.
My stepdaughter has spent most of her pregnancy in Lockdown, and we are hoping that when she has the baby, her partner will be allowed to stay with her, which he was unable to do with the scans. They have missed out on so much, but I am in no doubt that all will be forgotten once they hold their baby in their arms.
There haven't been too many positives to come out of 2020, but for us there have definitely been a few. A new grandchild, of course. Having my three children at home has been an unexpected bonus, and although they have at times driven me to distraction (and I them), I am grateful to have had this time, particularly when so many other people have been unable to even see their families. And a third positive was revealed this week. I was so proud when my first child, H was born. Mr C says every crow thinks its sh*t is the whitest, but believe me, he was amazing. This photo was taken at his Christening when he was three months old and you can already see what a marvellous specimen he was, and the pride shining out of me. He was an early talker, walker and super clever. When he was 18 months old, I was astounded one day as I drove home past a sign hanging outside The Cock Hotel. H pointed and said 'cock'. This was not a word he would have come across at that time, so he was not just naming the picture on the sign; it confirmed what I had always known. He was a genius. He could read. I told everyone who would listen about my clever boy, but when I next drove past the sign, I noticed something else below the sign and the penny dropped. There was a clock! He wasn't saying 'cock' at all. Nevertheless, I continued to call him a genius and he continued to amaze me. Sometimes I was disappointed as his genius went unrecognised, when he wasn't included on the gifted and talented register at primary school, when he wasn't accepted to do his A Levels of choice at 16. But I always knew, and this week, his genius has been formally acknowledged, as he has been awarded a first class honours degree in mmmm (here we go again - rearrange the following words; electronic, marketing, social media, advertising and digital to make the name of a degree course.)
I simply could not be more proud. That's my boy!
Now just to find a job, which is not as easy as it sounds in the middle of a global pandemic.
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