In the eyes of Giulia and Aidan, there were only a number of days in the year that stood out as Important. Capital-I Important. Giulia and Aidan were international children, after all, but couldn't celebrate all the holidays of all countries they lived in, otherwise there would be, like, forever celebrations.
There was Christmas, of course. Valentine's day. Mother's day and Father's day were difficult ones that were also of great importance- France celebrated Mother's day on the last Sunday in May or the first in June, America and Italy celebrated the second Sunday in May. Father's day? France and the US celebrated on the third Sunday in June, while Italy celebrated on March 19.
Birthdays. They were the last of the capital-I Important days.
Naturally, when the twins were made aware that their ‘father' and his brother were having a birthday on June 11th… neither one of the children could resist the urge to prepare gifts. The week before Father’s Day, and they already had plans for that! It was a tragedy that they would have such a glut of presents close together, but at least it was halfway til Christmas, so they would get more. Enjoyably, the twins were not afraid of doing handmade arts and crafts. They simply enlisted Jada’s help, carefully shaping clay and paint with her guidance, making both men their birthday gifts with the care only six year olds could give. Jada made sure the crafts were as solid as she could- Giulia and Aidan made them pretty.
Two mugs each, one for their family members and one for any guests the men may have over, like Ofie! (Giulia loved Ofie sooooooo much, she hoped she visited Elzo lots and lots. Jada was still in reservation of judgement, though she knew without a doubt that Ofelia had protected Giulia, which made her infinitely more likely to come out in the positive.) One little dish for keys or other such small items was made for each of them, carefully crafted from a quick cast of Giulia and Aidan’s tiny hands. And last, a picture frame for each, complete with thin sheets of protective glass, decorated with childish, handmade flowers, and filled with a sneaky picture of them taken by one of the twins.
The three of them picked out birthday cards for the brothers together- Giulia wanted them to be hand crafted, so they settled on one that could be printed into thick white paper. Taking the one for Elzo, Giulia elected to use crayon, and sprung to work with artless abandon, scribbling his name and her own big and proud across the art. Aidan and Jada used marker for Marlo’s, ensuring they took the time to fill in the lines as best they could, eliminating lines and then Jada was assigned to sign the card (“Neatly, Jada!!!”) for the three of them while Aidan scribbled his name in what little space Giulia had left him.
The last touch for their birthday was to make them a birthday cake. This part had to be planned and scheduled, and Jada made the plan to drop off the twins for lunch Sunday, to enjoy a nice early lunch with their family- Jada would pick them up later for them to spend their night as they wanted. Sunday planned, then Saturday they picked out the recipe and got the necessary ingredients- there would be no store-bought and store-made cake. Marlo wouldn't let them have one for their birthday, Giulia insisted, so this had to be the most nicest, the most bestest cake. Aidan said vanilla cake, so they could color it; Giulia was insisting on chocolate because it tasted yummier. Jada, the tiebreaker, took no side- a two-layer cake it would be.
And once she knew the toppings, there was certainly not going to be any color.
The enterprising trio of definitely-not-chefs topped the two-layered cake in smoothed buttercream icing and crushed oreos, brightly-colored rainbow sprinkles peering up cheerily through the dark, crumbled cookies. Little sugar flowers, at Giulia’s insistence, lined the edges, bright and incredibly obtrusive. Each color of flower had a different flavor- strawberry, almond, rose, lemon, espresso, peanut butter! (Jada had stopped her at six- there had been almost two dozen flavors available and Giulia had wanted to get them all.) The top layer was a rich chocolate, a neutral, thin layer of icing; then was the rainbow layer. Giulia had, after all, gotten her way with the flowers… Aidan would take nothing less than agreement to his idea.
Cake cooled and decorated, tiny ears cleaned and hair neatly brushed out, and then it was time to pile children and cake into the car. (Thank goodness, Jada had been about to …. Do nothing, probably. Giulia wasn’t sure, but Jada had always just sternly glared, before.) The cake was buckled carefully into the front seat, Giulia and Aidan watching attentively the entire drive, squawking at every pause, every imagined, minute shift. And then they didn’t want to carry the cake- they would hold the doors. They wouldn’t let the staff carry the cake, either, in case they- what? Tried to take credit for what Jada was calling a lovely decorating travesty job?
Ever so slowly and carefully, Giulia, Aidan and Jada made their way to the door. Jada had said she was dropping them off, not that she was coming in as a cake-deliverer. Hopefully, they wouldn’t mind her brief invasion to set down the sweet treat and wish them a happy birthday. Giulia and Aidan carefully fit their small kazoos to their lips before knocking, loudly. Jada closed her eyes. Waited. Dreaded the thing she knew was going to happen.
The door opened. Kazoos sounded. Giulia beamed at whoever opened the door, tackling their leg. Jada didn’t open her eyes, her nose scrunched.
Aidan kept blowing the kazoo.
“HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Giulia yodeled soulfully, “MAY ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE. HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM THE THREE OF US TO YOU.”
Aidan kept blowing the kazoo.
Jada was probably going to break the kazoo once she could put the cake down, Giulia reflected. “You can stop blowing now, Aidan,” she hissed to her brother, “the song is over.”
Elzo and Marlo better love this damn cake, Jada mused as she opened her eyes and ungritted her kazoo-clenched teeth to give a sunny smile.
There was Christmas, of course. Valentine's day. Mother's day and Father's day were difficult ones that were also of great importance- France celebrated Mother's day on the last Sunday in May or the first in June, America and Italy celebrated the second Sunday in May. Father's day? France and the US celebrated on the third Sunday in June, while Italy celebrated on March 19.
Birthdays. They were the last of the capital-I Important days.
Naturally, when the twins were made aware that their ‘father' and his brother were having a birthday on June 11th… neither one of the children could resist the urge to prepare gifts. The week before Father’s Day, and they already had plans for that! It was a tragedy that they would have such a glut of presents close together, but at least it was halfway til Christmas, so they would get more. Enjoyably, the twins were not afraid of doing handmade arts and crafts. They simply enlisted Jada’s help, carefully shaping clay and paint with her guidance, making both men their birthday gifts with the care only six year olds could give. Jada made sure the crafts were as solid as she could- Giulia and Aidan made them pretty.
Two mugs each, one for their family members and one for any guests the men may have over, like Ofie! (Giulia loved Ofie sooooooo much, she hoped she visited Elzo lots and lots. Jada was still in reservation of judgement, though she knew without a doubt that Ofelia had protected Giulia, which made her infinitely more likely to come out in the positive.) One little dish for keys or other such small items was made for each of them, carefully crafted from a quick cast of Giulia and Aidan’s tiny hands. And last, a picture frame for each, complete with thin sheets of protective glass, decorated with childish, handmade flowers, and filled with a sneaky picture of them taken by one of the twins.
The three of them picked out birthday cards for the brothers together- Giulia wanted them to be hand crafted, so they settled on one that could be printed into thick white paper. Taking the one for Elzo, Giulia elected to use crayon, and sprung to work with artless abandon, scribbling his name and her own big and proud across the art. Aidan and Jada used marker for Marlo’s, ensuring they took the time to fill in the lines as best they could, eliminating lines and then Jada was assigned to sign the card (“Neatly, Jada!!!”) for the three of them while Aidan scribbled his name in what little space Giulia had left him.
The last touch for their birthday was to make them a birthday cake. This part had to be planned and scheduled, and Jada made the plan to drop off the twins for lunch Sunday, to enjoy a nice early lunch with their family- Jada would pick them up later for them to spend their night as they wanted. Sunday planned, then Saturday they picked out the recipe and got the necessary ingredients- there would be no store-bought and store-made cake. Marlo wouldn't let them have one for their birthday, Giulia insisted, so this had to be the most nicest, the most bestest cake. Aidan said vanilla cake, so they could color it; Giulia was insisting on chocolate because it tasted yummier. Jada, the tiebreaker, took no side- a two-layer cake it would be.
And once she knew the toppings, there was certainly not going to be any color.
The enterprising trio of definitely-not-chefs topped the two-layered cake in smoothed buttercream icing and crushed oreos, brightly-colored rainbow sprinkles peering up cheerily through the dark, crumbled cookies. Little sugar flowers, at Giulia’s insistence, lined the edges, bright and incredibly obtrusive. Each color of flower had a different flavor- strawberry, almond, rose, lemon, espresso, peanut butter! (Jada had stopped her at six- there had been almost two dozen flavors available and Giulia had wanted to get them all.) The top layer was a rich chocolate, a neutral, thin layer of icing; then was the rainbow layer. Giulia had, after all, gotten her way with the flowers… Aidan would take nothing less than agreement to his idea.
Cake cooled and decorated, tiny ears cleaned and hair neatly brushed out, and then it was time to pile children and cake into the car. (Thank goodness, Jada had been about to …. Do nothing, probably. Giulia wasn’t sure, but Jada had always just sternly glared, before.) The cake was buckled carefully into the front seat, Giulia and Aidan watching attentively the entire drive, squawking at every pause, every imagined, minute shift. And then they didn’t want to carry the cake- they would hold the doors. They wouldn’t let the staff carry the cake, either, in case they- what? Tried to take credit for what Jada was calling a lovely decorating travesty job?
Ever so slowly and carefully, Giulia, Aidan and Jada made their way to the door. Jada had said she was dropping them off, not that she was coming in as a cake-deliverer. Hopefully, they wouldn’t mind her brief invasion to set down the sweet treat and wish them a happy birthday. Giulia and Aidan carefully fit their small kazoos to their lips before knocking, loudly. Jada closed her eyes. Waited. Dreaded the thing she knew was going to happen.
The door opened. Kazoos sounded. Giulia beamed at whoever opened the door, tackling their leg. Jada didn’t open her eyes, her nose scrunched.
Aidan kept blowing the kazoo.
“HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Giulia yodeled soulfully, “MAY ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE. HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM THE THREE OF US TO YOU.”
Aidan kept blowing the kazoo.
Jada was probably going to break the kazoo once she could put the cake down, Giulia reflected. “You can stop blowing now, Aidan,” she hissed to her brother, “the song is over.”
Elzo and Marlo better love this damn cake, Jada mused as she opened her eyes and ungritted her kazoo-clenched teeth to give a sunny smile.
iStoleYurVamps
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELZO AND MARLO AND YOU
