Birthday Party By Olana O’Connor
I loved birthday parties when I was little. Some people kept calendars about important monthly, weekly or daily events and I kept a special calendar for all the birthdays. We had a big family and I had a large group of friends, so there were a lot of dates to remember. It was not just a calendar, it was a party event database that I kept in my little head. In Ukraine, a party was a very very very big deal. Every birthday became worthy of the accolades of the Bocuse d’Or culinary competition mixed with the Michelin-Star-worthy attention to hospitality. The delicious smells and vibrant colors would intoxicate our senses, as our mothers would transform the simple ingredients from the markets and secret store shelves into a feast worthy of royalty. All of this magnificence was done with little or no money crammed into tiny Soviet kitchens and living rooms. We would all gather around a big rectangular table that we as children were entrusted to carefully set with beautifully patterned china and crystal that emerged from our wooden closets that lined the walls of our government-owned apartments. It was a time to let our best manners shine, as we set the silver pieces perfectly spaced apart silly with anticipation of the doorbell ringing and the party officially starting for the night. Our best large vase, a staple in every home, was placed near the table for the flowers brought by every guest regardless of the season. As kids, we would sometimes look out our living room window and try to spot beautiful colors of the birthday bouquet lovingly clutched in the hands of a family member or a friend heading to our party. Our family birthday parties transported us into a world of togetherness, happiness and an occasional family conflict that usually followed a long night of eating, drinking and sitting next to someone on an old worn out couch against a very big table filled with food. One of the challenges of every Ukrainian family hosting a party was always how to fit all of the plates at the table as they seemed to multiply after every course. As the years went by, we all learned the mastery of the ever-evolving Ukrainian birthday table Tetris puzzle plate game. All of
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