40th Birthday Party, French Style--Post 5 of 9

B slicing the ham and N arranging it on
a platter

M cooked most of the day. . .AGAIN! Her organization and preparation for this event while touring about the countryside with us is amazing! B sliced the ham, prepared mint leaves to accent the melon/cucumber salad and helped with table set up. I snipped mint, sliced potatoes and cut melons. Then M made the melon/cucumber/mint/yogurt starter. She and N carefully put the salad in individual glasses and I did my best to clean the edge of each glass. S decorated the "party room" (AKA the garage) with banners that M had received for her 40th birthday! N placed photos of J on all of the walls. The photos were terrific and quite the conversation piece throughout the evening.

For lunch, M served meat stuffed baked tomatoes, bread, rice and green salad. The tomatoes were almost too pretty to eat! (Eat them I did!) We also had a cheese course with melon for dessert. Yes, lunch takes a couple hours to eat!!

Early in the afternoon, we met J's uncle Ja and his wife Ni when they brought over chairs for the party. Ja likes riding a bicycle for fun like B does so we had a common topic to converse about after we had met.

M and Jo looking at B's fish photos with Ma and A
playing in the background

After the chairs were in place, J, N and I went to the bakery to pick up the cake and of course baguettes. J said the cake had a little crunch and contained white chocolate. The baguettes--there were about 10 of them--came in the largest brown paper sack that I have ever seen!

The party kicked off about 6:30PM and included a visit to J's dad's gravesite. His dad died a couple years ago. While at the cemetery, I met cousins, spouses of the cousins and a child. Most everyone speaks English and all were so welcoming!

View of the table between courses

The party started with rillettes du canard on a slice of baguette as well as some other types of appetizers and of course there was wine and toasts to J! I met more cousins, J's uncle Jo, his uncle's wife and another child! Have you noticed how many of J's family members' names begin with the letter J?

J's Grandma and Uncle Ja

After about half an hour, we moved from the patio to the garage and M, Ni and C began serving the courses. The melon salad was a hit.  (Not a hit for B though as he dislikes yogurt!) Next came trays of sliced meats.  Salad followed the meat.

There was a tray of salad that contained at least four different types of salad, M's green salad and Ni (Ja's wife) had made two types of lentil salads. The sliced ham also was served. The sliced baguettes and wine were plentiful too.  I guess I was eating and talking so much that I forgot all about taking photos!! (Thanks, B for sharing your photos!) I don't even have photos of the birthday boy blowing out his candles as I was too caught up in the festivities!

For the kids, Cl age 2, Ma age 3 and A age almost 8, they ate at their own special table. When they were through with that course, they played. Often, an aunt or an uncle would take a turn chasing, swinging them and after a bit, another aunt or uncle would take a turn. Then back to the table they went for the next course.

Singing a special tune to celebrate J's 40th birthday

We were gifted with three songs from J's grandmother. At 94, her voice is still clear and melodic. One of the songs that she sang was one her papa used to sing to her. Around this time it was around 10PM and the kids were snuggled in to bed.

The cheese course arrived and M served J's favorite cheeses and M served her green salad. I sat between C and Jo, J's aunt and uncle. Jo farmed his father's farm; but, has now turned over most of the farming operation to Je, his son. We still talked a lot about farming. My dad farmed so I know all about irrigating and harvesting a variety of crops. It was fun to compare notes!

The whole crew

Jo spoke more English than I French. My French vocabulary is increasing; but, I am so thankful for everyone's graciousness to speak all the English they know!

The cake was served about 1AM. Yes, there was champagne and special toasts to accompany the cake. The whole family sang happy birthday and then they sang a song to a popular tune with words that J's brother had written. It was delightful and we all laughed when a police car drove by just as they had finished singing!

The party broke up about 2:30 AM. Parents loaded their sleeping kids into car seats and drove away.  In the span of about 20 minutes, we were down to the seven of us. We all helped turn the party room back into a garage. The dishwasher was loaded several times during the evening and around 3 AM we all went to bed.

There was food and wine the entire time!  Wow!!! The joy and love each person brought to the party was evident. Being welcomed to be part of the interactions of loving and caring family was so special.  Thank you M and J!!! What a special birthday, J!!!!