Yesterday (January 9th) was my nephew's first birthday ever, so in accordance with local culture, a grand celebration was to be expected. But where my relatives opted for a more modern catered setting, I was forced to put up with a more archaic tone.
Anyway, cut to the last few weeks - the man did not develop a structured plan to work around, putting some things off because he was certain he could find better deals from his "friends." The cooking was also to be handled by them. Just to give you an idea of how big of a cheapskate this guy is, he did not even want to spend money on hiring workers to put up the lighting or clean up afterwards. Of course, on this issue, circumstances dictated that he had to comply and depart with his money. After all, Jul (my other sister) did exclaim that there was "no way in hell" she would clean up the used plates of 300 people.
You see, my sister wanted to hire caterers too. It was common sense that cooking for 300 people would be more than we could manage. Unfortunately, when Voltaire said, "Common sense is not so common," he was referring to people like my brother-in-law, who, in all his wisdom, insisted that hiring caterers to take care of the birthday party would be more than he could afford (never mind the fact that he has a buttload of money stashed away and that tiny expenses in preparation would add up to the catered equivalent anyway).
Eventually my sister caved in and complied to his wishes. I mean, it is his child, so he has the right to call the shots, but I am getting really tired of this guy pushing people around. The man does no service to the allusion that short people cannot be trusted.
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| Man putting up the tent outside our house. |
Thanks to the better judgement calls of my mom, however, things we organized sufficiently. We were able to get the tent up (yes we had a huge tent), bring people together and assign them respective duties. Nothing melts my heart like seeing chaos transform into order; and I think I probably inherited my logical intuition from my mother.
One thing that still remained, however, was the dessert. We were to have fruit salad, and guess which lucky bastard was burdened with the task of preparing it for the guests? Yours truly. Well, not entirely. Jul had to help me, and help me she did. Below are some pictures of us preparing the fruit salad.
They look like pictures of beautiful desserts you see floating around Tumblr, don't they? Well, behind the camera, things were a little more tense. Guests were starting to arrive and we didn't even finish 100 desserts yet! But ambition trumps circumstance, so we moved into hyper-speed paired with synchronicity, and not only did we finish the desserts on time, we had quite a bit left over.
The tediousness was not over for Jul though. When the desserts were put out, this little girl kept coming and grabbing the fruit salads. I know kids love things like that, but this one ate not two or three extra. No, she ate more than 20! I know we did a good job on them, but damn. So Jul stood watch over the desserts to make sure that the kid wasn't gulping down too many, freezing in the process because my brother-in-law took the only heater she had to keep her warm. Did I mention I don't much like the guy?
And his antics were not over. The little kid complained to him that she could not have anymore desserts, so he came to us and when we explained to him that we were serving them in moderation, his words were "Oh you can always make some more afterward." By this time, we were all dressed up in our finest, and he was expecting us to subject ourselves to more back-breaking messy work. I hardly think so.
We ignored his comment and continued to guard the fruit salads. After everyone finished eating, it was our turn to dine. As we were eating, he interrupted us by complaining about how there was not enough music and requested to move my sister's speakers to a better location. My mom had always taught us that when dining, we are not to get up and start something unless it was really important. I cling to that lesson as I am not the type to leave my food half-eaten and return to it hours later. When we asked him if he could move the speakers himself or wait until we were done, all he did was sigh really condescendingly and walked away, moving the speakers himself.
This whole experience expanded the rift between my family and my brother-in-law though, one that will be remedied with fake politeness and forced smiles.
We ended the day on some cranberry juice and vodka, so it was not all bad. Plus, the food was quite decent. My nephew got a lot of gifts and money, and the guests were pleased with the ceremony. Besides, I did look quite dapper (pictures pending), and I guess that's all that really matters.
The tediousness was not over for Jul though. When the desserts were put out, this little girl kept coming and grabbing the fruit salads. I know kids love things like that, but this one ate not two or three extra. No, she ate more than 20! I know we did a good job on them, but damn. So Jul stood watch over the desserts to make sure that the kid wasn't gulping down too many, freezing in the process because my brother-in-law took the only heater she had to keep her warm. Did I mention I don't much like the guy?
And his antics were not over. The little kid complained to him that she could not have anymore desserts, so he came to us and when we explained to him that we were serving them in moderation, his words were "Oh you can always make some more afterward." By this time, we were all dressed up in our finest, and he was expecting us to subject ourselves to more back-breaking messy work. I hardly think so.
We ignored his comment and continued to guard the fruit salads. After everyone finished eating, it was our turn to dine. As we were eating, he interrupted us by complaining about how there was not enough music and requested to move my sister's speakers to a better location. My mom had always taught us that when dining, we are not to get up and start something unless it was really important. I cling to that lesson as I am not the type to leave my food half-eaten and return to it hours later. When we asked him if he could move the speakers himself or wait until we were done, all he did was sigh really condescendingly and walked away, moving the speakers himself.
This whole experience expanded the rift between my family and my brother-in-law though, one that will be remedied with fake politeness and forced smiles.
We ended the day on some cranberry juice and vodka, so it was not all bad. Plus, the food was quite decent. My nephew got a lot of gifts and money, and the guests were pleased with the ceremony. Besides, I did look quite dapper (pictures pending), and I guess that's all that really matters.
