After 30 days of fasting it was finally time to celebrate Eid last week. In our family this means the gathering of approximately 40 people all under the one roof, ranging from 60 years old to 6 days old. To say it is loud and manic is an understatement. Cousins who have not seen each for months, cousin who talk very quickly, cousins who talk non stop, cousins who attempt to co-ordinate the constantly moving stream of people around the house, cousins who have cooked up a feast and cousins who can’t wait to tuck into that feast. Its always a very lovely time, even if you leave at the end of the evening a bit hoarse and totally knackered.
Throw a crowd loving toddler into that mix and you have a day that is spent doing the following:
1. Trying to coax toddler out of his PJs by reasoning that wearing that toothpaste stained aeroplane top is a bad idea.
2. Watching him show his new shoes off (one by one) to everyone he meets. That’s about 20ish people before he gets bored.
3. Trying to get him to sit down to eat when everyone else does.
4. Attempting to chase and grab him whilst he squeezes through the tiniest gap of 20 seated people having their dinner. All shifting politely to let the toddler through.
5. Failing to grab him and wondering how he’s getting so slippery.
6. Eventually seating him on the stairs and feeding him away from all the festive distractions.
7. Realising that he has tanked himself up on Indian sweets which are made from about 70% sugar.
8. Realising that this is why it is 9pm and he is still behaving like Sonic the Hedgehog.
9. Finally accepting he will sleep around midnight. Hopefully.
10. Saying “NO TOUCHING!!” every 10 minutes each time he goes near the goldfish bowl with a cheeky glint in his eye.
11. Cooing over my brand new 6 day old nephew and realising I’ve forgotten how to hold babies.
12. Watching Little Z stroke my new nephew very very carefully with just one finger.
13. Laughing politely every time someone asks Little Z whether he would like a little brother or sister. Ahem.
14. Trying to slink out of room where question number 11 keeps getting repeated periodically
15. Genuinely laughing when Little Z shouts “No!” in response to number 11.
16. Watching Little Z bust his moves to no music whatsoever. Then explaining to people how he loves dancing and will do it whenever the mood takes him.
17. Trying to strap a screaming, on the verge of meltdown, Z into his car seat at some point after 11pm.
18. Watching him fall asleep within 5 seconds of putting my seat belt on.
19. Hoping to God he has a massive lie in on the way home.
20. Realising Day 2 of the celebrations at the In laws will probably be exactly the same as the first.
Sounds like a wonderful and very colourful occasion. Hope he settled down in the end xx
Ah sounds like so much fun! x
Sounds wonderful and exhausting in equal measures!
Oh wow, the pictures are stunning. Eid Mubarak! Sounds like events when we get the Big Fat Greek Family together-utterly wonderful but tiring too!
Haha! LOVE this list of mother observations! What a great idea.
Lovely pics – Glad Sonic didn’t upset any goldfish x
It was fun reading this! On Eid, my toddler was his cranky best, would not wear his special clothes and wanted to go for a drive!
Hahaha…..You paint a perfect picture. I hope your festivities are all happy and memorable – have a great time 🙂
Happy Eid. It sounds amazing. I adore the images
It sounds like an absolutely amazing celebration! Sounds like little Z had a heck of a lot of fun.
Eid seems like such a wonderful family celebration 😀 x
What a fantastic celebration, I am so glad you all had a lovely time even if it was tiring xx
Thanks for linking up with #magicMoments x
Sounds fantastic though. Love how colourful your photos are x
I’m loving the colours of your photographs. Sounds like quite wild party – hope you got your lie in.
lovely photos, sounds like you had a busy and brilliant time xx
Sounds great fun! And completely exhausting. I chuckled at the end when I realised you had to do it all over again! Hope you managed to keep the Indian sweets away from Z second time around.
Some gorgeous bright photos – sounds like a great celebration!
Eid Mubarak!
And number 13 – ugh! Wish people would mind their own business!
X
Wow it sounds incredible and exhausting, I hope you got to enjoy yourself too 🙂
Sounds like a wonderful celebration – and completely exhausting! The toddler age is so fun, they are just little balls of entertainment 🙂
Happy Eid. What lovely colourful photos. And lovely colourful tales of Z. 😉
Haha this all sounds very familiar from our Eids spent in Algeria!! I hope you all had a fab time – Eid Mubarak x
Sounds like so much fun! The toddler stuff is so familiar- we had a family get together on Sunday – 20 or so of us meeting for lunch- dont think I finished a whole conversation without having to stop to chase Syd at least three times!
Eid Mubarak! I know it sounds like mayhem, but must have been so much fun at the same time (esp for little Z)! Love the pics, and have got my eye on that pretty ring. 🙂
Sounds like a fun packed and busy day – and most of all a memorable one!
Oh goodness it sounds exhausting! But it looks fantastic.
You do forget how to hold babies don’t you?!
it sounds fab. 🙂 although tiring. glad you had a good time. x
#pocolo
Sounds like a great day of celebrations, looks so colourful also xxx
From what I can see of your outfit, it looks lovely!
Eid and young kids can be fun lol
I love these crazy family gatherings. Busy, tiring but so enjoyable and lovely to look back on. Number 13 made me giggle! The pictures are beautiful too. Lovely post!
i love this post! thanks for linking up with #PoCoLo too 🙂
Popping back for #PoCoLo!
Great post. I hope the 30 day fast went okay as well. Eid sounds like such a wonderful celebration. Little Z clearly enjoyed himself !!!. X ps. such colourul pictures too…
Sounds so much fun x
Sounds lovely! Nothing better than all the family getting together to celebrate
awwww some of that sounds quite familiar to me too, my lot always get crazy and wont sleep til about midnight too excited running round with their cousins! hope u all had a great eid!