it is quite common in the old country that when someone celebrates a birthday, it is a special occasion. even poor families like us would mark the occasion. when there was extra money, my father would cook his famous 'spaghetti with corned beef sauce'. famous because all relatives and friends look forward to such whenever my father cooked or was asked to cook when relatives had family feasts. must've noodles during birthdays because the old folks believed it symbolizes a long life. get it? long noodles, long life. anyway.
when we were little, my mother would save up money so that on our birthdays, she would bring us to the studio and have our photograph taken. the younger ones didn't have this opportunity because as the family grew (we were six siblings in all) money was spent for the more important things like school, clothes, and food.
when i started working, i revived that family tradition, especially for the younger ones. we'd have cakes and the spaghetti and of course other stuff that we used to eat only during Christmas when we went to the relatives' homes.
this was taken in december 1987; the children you see in this photo are all grown up now. miss honolulu over there is now 51 years old although she wouldn't admit it. hahaha!
@cheribug - hehehe! she's going to be pissed with me again when she reads this post. i don't know why women in general do not want to admit their real age. thank you, cheryl.
We were also very poor growing up - -but there was always a birthday cake and a gift on your birthday. No big parties or anything -- the cake was wonderful and all we needed! Lovely photo and memory and tradition!
so cute........love that you are carrying on the family traditions. I have friends whose culture does not involve celebrating kids' bdays........but there are here in America now - - and Auntie Jenny has taken over.....and forced them to make that day special for the kids. SING, DAMNIT, SING!......lol
Sweet shot and some fun memories to go with it. In my opinion things are far more special when they are hard to come by. Too many kids today are over-indulged so they appreciate nothing. It took a lot of sacrifice to have those cakes and presents for each birthday- but look how much you valued them. Somehow the ease of life here has produced a tremendous amount of dissatisfaction with the simple things- when they are really the most valuable of all.
November 23rd, 2012
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