I write this very quickly, and quite tired, to inform you of my lovely birthday day and night: yes, christmas eve. I turned 18 today! and what a lovely day i had of it too.
23rd December
8.30
friends arrive, bringing good wishes, bottles of champagne and presents. cocktails are swilled and poured, and we all chat happily about inane things like the weather, and how good strawberries taste with champagne. someone materialises with a punnet of strawberries.
9.00
dinner begins. cream of celery soup to start, then a lobster and tarragon risotto where the rice was still a little chalky mmm, chocolate mousse and cloud cake with dollops of clotted cream to finish. Pink Champagne with desert, white wine with mains, little trays of truffles, cheese and crackers dot the table. Candles lighting our talk, which turns to embarassing stories about myself, and then onto what we all want for christmas. I unwrap my presents at the table, aside from bunches of beautiful flowers my friends have given me big rings, a new moleskine notebook, a beautiful edition of pride and prejudice, a charm for my bracelet, a slouchy black bag, lots of chanel make up (mascara, liquid eye liner, blush oh my!), big bangles, a guide to paris (yay!) and lots and lots of alcohol.
12.00
officially 18, and with the champagne haze to prove it, we head to fringe bar briefly for a drink, and then into kings cross to dance. The bouncer doesn't ID me. i feel old! Many mishaps and cocktails later dancing doesn't seem like the most fun idea anymore, no thanks to the blisters on my feet. Beauty is pain! Beauty. Is. Pain. Repeat after me.
24 December
3.oo
arriving home, tired, and feet sore from dancing, but very content, i let myself into the house, and see my parents and brothers have arranged my presents on the table at my seat like they always do. Unable to sneak a peak, i have a look. I know what some things are, there's the shoe box containing my new miu miu sandals, and the watch box containing the chanel watch we picked up at a junk sale, got authenticated, and resized, and is now mine. but some of the other things i'm not too sure about. There's a bulky box from my oldest brother, a dvd from my youngest brother, and of course my sister to come, who always gives the best gifts. But i'm too tired to play guessing games, and i retreat to my room, turning my ipod to shuffle and letting the soft sounds of the last shadow puppets and sebastien tellier lull me into sleep.
9:00
still tired, but it is my birthday after all. my little brother wanders in with a cupcake with one candle, which of course wakes me up. And if you can't eat cupcakes on your birthday, when can you? i run into the kitchen where poached eggs await me, my favourite. My parents look on happily as i have a champagne breakfast, ripping open the presents to find my oldest brother had given me a beautiful limoges tea pot in duck egg blue, and my youngest brother the DVD of miss pettigrew lives for a day, one of my favourite movies of that year. My sister arrives bearing veuve and gifts. She has made me a notebook to write on, each page individually customised by her with stickers, paper, quotes, photos, and other such things. I feel like crying, but instead i just smile. Big, wide smiles.
11.00
it seems like everyone i've ever met is squeezed into my tiny house, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, godparents, family friends, all of them feasting on the various treats mum has made (home made fudge and nougat), little pizza slices, prawn rolls, and with my invariably sipping from a glass of champagne, refilled too many times to remember and from many different bottles. As soon as people arrive another bottle is opened! And oh! the presents! My dressmaker friend has outdone herself and made me a copy of a scanlan and theodore skirt i loved but couldn't afford, a floor length wine grape purple silk skirt with an oversized hem. My little baby cousin has given me a silver credit card holder, which i cannot wait to fill.
8.00
Well ensconced at a table at the ivy, my uncle, my aunt, and my sister, are laughing as he tells terrible stories of me as a baby and toddler, how i used to steal his wallet and try and eat his money. I eat scallops with asparagus and a mushroom viniagrette, grilled duck breast with poached apricots on the side, and for desert a delectable mille feuille of champagne necatarines, cream and vanilla ice cream. I'm too absorbed in the beautiful food and wine to notice that megan gale is sitting at the table next to me. My sister points it out, and then i look eagerly, hoping that she is with her boyfriend, comedian Andy Lee, whom i find to be insanely attractive. However she's with a girl, so no dice.
10.00
i sit at a blackjack table, long skirt fanned around me, plunging top unsuccessfully pulled higher, faux diamonds in my ears, holding my cards in front of me. As the dealer deals me my second card i look at it. It is a queen of hearts. My other card is an ace of spades. Blackjack! Money at my first go! i gather up the chips and move to another table, my aunt and uncle leading the way. The rest of the night some money is won, some is lost, and i end up coming home with $200 in profit, not bad for the first night at the tables. my uncle drops me home in his sportscar, a bit too rich for his own good really, and a little bit of 'young at heart'
12.00
i make a post about it for the blog.
Merry Christmas everyone!
I hope you all have the best of days, and the most delightful stack of presents, and way too much pudding, and just enough of everything else.
I have had such fun this year writing this blog, and reading all of yours. You are all fabulous beyond words!
best wishes!
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