Trares
For most people, this time of year is late spring, leading into early summer. The time for swimming pools, sun tans and school breaks.
To me, it’s Celebration Season.
In our extended family, the time from early May until the Fourth of July is jam-packed with reasons to party. This year was even more festivity-laden than usual.
The season kicked off with Mother’s Day, where we created a love-filled day for my wife Marci and all of the moms in our lives. What ensued was an entire week of fun — Marci’s birthday was only five days later. And this was no regular birthday. She was hitting the big 4-0, and we had planned a daylong bash as Bloomington’s Oliver Winery for friends and family.
Oh, on top of that, there was another 40th birthday, that of my brother. So the day before Marci’s birthday, I hopped in the car and drove back to Ohio for a surprise party thrown for him.
I’m getting tired just thinking about it.
Those successful and oh-so-much-fun festivities behind us, we’ve had a bit of a respite to build back our energy. That won’t last for long. In the next few weeks, we’ll have birthday bashes for Marci’s mom and dad, as well as Father’s Day and our 12th anniversary.
It’s going to be intense. But it all leads us to the biggest celebration of them all: Anthony’s birthday.
For us, nothing is more fun that planning a big to-do for our only child. The food, the games, the invitations, the decorations — we really get into it.
When Anthony was younger, we picked the themes, from Elmo to construction trucks to Lightning McQueen and the characters from the “Cars” movies. As a big kid now, he’s made the final decisions these more recent years.
The most recent party was completely ninja themed, where he and his friends all received masks, soft throwing stars and foam swords to play around with. My brother volunteered to be the bad guy, challenging the group and taking the hits from the swords and nunchucks once they chased him down.
This time around, Anthony has set his sights on Minecraft. We have block-adorned napkins and plates, inflatable Minecraft swords, even a piñata shaped like a green monster-type thing that I’m told is called a “Creeper.”
Our backyard will be transformed into a fantasy world where Anthony and his friends fight creepers and other monsters, in between bites of cupcake. My brother should probably get ready for a few more attacks at some point.
The parties can be a lot of work, and with so many events all in a row, there’s always that stress to be sure you’re not forgetting something.
But to see the joy on everyone’s faces — especially Anthony’s — makes Celebration Season my favorite time of year.
Ryan Trares is a senior reporter and columnist for the Daily Journal. Send comments to [email protected].
