Twenty

Just like last year, my eldest son was not home on his recent birthday. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) required his services that day 😉. I found a solution online and was able to order goodies from the army corner shop, which he was able to share in a coronavirus safe way with his fellow soldiers. He enjoyed that and then we celebrated together when he was next home.

Of course, birthdays in our home come with a handmade card made by mum! I have shown my eldest son in his olive green army uniform on his birthday card. He is currently about halfway through his compulsory military service. He is sitting at his laptop computer reading the Al Jazeera site, the state-owned broadcaster based in Doha, Qatar. I made sure to show their logo in Arabic on the screen since my son follows their news in Arabic for practice. As a matter of interest, Al Jazeera's distinctive logo is said to resemble a drop of water. Its calligraphic design spells "Al Jazeera" in Arabic.

I had to include the Arsenal crest on his card too. He has been a keen supporter since he was very young. This year Mister Handmade in Israel insisted I include the headline "Partey Time!" on the card, to mark the arrival of Thomas Teye Partey, a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for the club. He and the eldest son seem very excited about him!

Finally, a big blue number 20 marks our son's age.

Of course this year there was no meal out to celebrate, though we did order a feast from our local steakia. Since I don't eat meat, I polished off the pita bread and hummus! There was cake too, decorated with lots of chocolate buttercream icing and Klik balls. Maltesers would have been preferable but, without any trips to visit family in the UK, our supply of English chocolate has long dried up 😢

* This post has been shared on Little Things Thursday, Creatively Crafty, Funtastic Friday Link Party, Blogger's Pit Stop, Craft Schooling Sunday, All Seasons and Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday).