May Day

Every year, we have a May Day party, complete with May Pole and guests in visions of white. It is such a beautiful celebration but it didn't start out as it is now. When Oslo was a baby, we decided that instead of a formal Christening in a church, we would host a Naming Ceremony for him. We asked our dear friends to be Moon Mother, Earth Mother and Sun Father and asked that they be special people to Oslo in his life as he grew up. We planted a Cedar tree in the garden and said a few words about our sweet baby boy. When Indigo came along, we held a similar ceremony for her too and all of us involved in the service wore white. I remember looking back on the photos of all of us and thinking how dreamy we all looked. So from then on, we decided to have the party at the same time of year, but it became a May Day celebration welcoming of spring. I love the history of this festival and all it represents and the May Pole is such a fun and beautiful centre piece which the kids adore to dance around and decorate. Last year, I posted a little about my childhood memories of a May Day party and how special it was to me.

I adore to make the garden a dream scape of indoor things outside and love the luxurious feeling of sinking into a glam sofa while under the open skies. We were so lucky with the weather, as we have been every year since we began. The forecast was not great, but since it has not rained here in so long, I felt in my gut that the rains would not make it here when predicted. Luckily, they held off until the next morning and we enjoyed a glorious afternoon in the sun.

I sent the kids out that morning to find flowers in the neighbourhood - they did a great job and all the tables looked so beautiful.

These stunning amaryllis blooms were hiding behind the house in a dark and rarely used pathway - perfectly times to bloom and peak for the occasion. Oslo and I made more healthy gluten, dairy and processed sugar free muffins and I always struggle to make an icing but this lemon one was divine! And our lovely neighbours brought the delish rice krispie treats - they were very popular as you can imagine.

Not sure if I have posted yet a photo of the newest prop in the garden. It is a Victorian tub and I have already shot one heavenly shoot in it with flowers floating and can't wait to do loads of bubble bath shoots and flowers a plenty this summer - such fun. But for the party, so it didn't look quite so out of place, I made it a feature and filled it with blankets and pillows and draped the mosquito net over it - ended up being a huge hit. I didn't get photos, but in the back garden, I now have a wee wooden punt for photo shoots. I filled it with pillows and apparently the kids spent most of the afternoon in it dreaming up all sorts of games - so happy and wish I had captured some photos but was having such a nice time that took photos only twice.

The chocolate icing was much easier to make - just cocoa powder, agave and coconut oil which is my new fave item on the planet - I cook with it, eat it raw, make magic shell, use it as body lotion, hair conditioner and to polish my wooden floors - it is the miracle food. Love love love.

Finally we were ready to do the May Pole - Ben had downloaded loads of Celtic and Morris dancing music which added a real flavour to the day. Every year, it is such a struggle explaining what and how to do the dance and how to weave in and out of the each other to braid the ribbons around the pole. The little ones don't know left from right and under from over, and the older ones are too excited to start to properly listen. Ben tried at first to explain and then I took over in my typical micro managing fashion!

We had to enlist the help of a few parents to get it started and what usually happens is the adults do a bit first, then the older kids and lastly the wee ones. So when you look at the finished pole, there is perfect weaving at the top, a bit messy mid way down and the bottom is usually a disaster - this year it was a bit all over the place the whole way down but hopefully, the kids care less about the finished result and more about the fun of dancing in and out of each other holding a ribbon.

Skyla is my best friend's daughter and she decided that getting herself woven into the pole was the way forward!! Such a little monkey!

Cooper is Skyla's brother and he realised watching the scene from the toy car was definitely a better option.

Thank you all who came - it is always such a lovely event and everyone all in white looks so dreamy and old world so very romantic and a joy each year. Happy May Day and welcome spring - we now have no reason for the rains not to come so bring it on and let's make up the 10 inches we are short so far this year!  xxx