Mother’s Day is always a day full of mixed emotions since the loss of my own mother. Of late I have been finding life without her harder than usual (despite the fact that she passed away in 1999). But it goes to show that with the right support and attitude it can be a good day.
Why Mother’s Day was set to be hard this year
There have been a lot of special occasions lately that my own mother has missed and should have been here for: The birth of her first (biological) granddaughter, her grandson’s 18th, her son’s 30th. For me other emotional factors are the fact that my oldest son was talking about the upcoming solar eclipse this Friday: My mom was so excited about the last eclipse – and never got to see it. In fact my Nan died less than 6 months after my mom – the day after the solar eclipse. I still remember my last conversation with my Nan being about it. And finally, of course, knowing that this would be my last Mother’s Day with my oldest son, before he leaves for University.
The Day Before Mother’s Day
Mother’s day started early on Saturday with my oldest son. He had booked time off work to make sure he had time for me to do whatever I wanted. We dropped his car in for its first MOT and walked to town. He listened as I went on at him about things I worry that he needs to know (paying bills, elections and so on) without interruption. Then we popped in for a hot chocolate and snack and just talked some more. I did ask him if there was anything bothering him, but admit it was me doing all the yabbering on. Whilst this was happening my youngest two boys had gone on a trip with Boys Brigade and were making me some lovely surprises, and my husband had taken my final son off shopping. On returning home I was so tired and just slept, whilst the boys baked cakes, cake pops (which I had only mentioned about the day before) and cookies.
Mother’s Day
Mothering Sunday came and my husband got up with the boys and let me sleep in. When I came downstairs the boys (minus the sleeping oldest) were so excited to see me and gave me all my presents and cards. Amongst the beautiful home-made gifts and cards was a new charm for my bracelet. The thing with my charms is (obviously) they all mean something to me. My husband had bought me a Mum charm before but it was to represent my own Mom (I am from Birmingham by the way and I find it annoying that I was brought up to spell it differently than anyone else and can’t buy the stuff spelt right but that’s another story!). When I am away from my family and become anxious that no-one likes me I think of the charms as those who do being near me (silly huh) – and it was actually my 11 year old son who wanted me to have this charm to remind me of my own boys – how very thoughtful!
The rest of the day proceeded with my husband (who had already cooked breakfast for the younger boys) cooking me a full English, asking me if I wanted to see Home at the cinema, and generally looking after me and doing all the cleaning. I had a bath (with the bath fizzer I had been bought) and then climbed back into bed with the book Wonder – which my son had read and told me to read. I was brought up a salad sandwich, cups of tea, cakes, cake pops, biscuits, throughout the day whilst my children played nicely. My youngest two children went to visit their Great Nan (the older of which vacuumed her stairs too). My oldest son got up and gave me chocolate that he had bought himself from his wages and then worked until 5pm. We then had a table booked for 6 at the Brewer’s Fayre.
Mother’s Day at Elmbury Lodge Brewers Fayre
I think it is fair to say that no mother really wants to be cooking on Mother’s Day but that in fact makes it commercially one of the busiest days of the year to eat out. Having very recently eaten the Lunchtime Carvery at Elmbury Lodge I was confident that I would not be disappointed. Our table had been booked for us and staff promptly greeted us and sat us down. We had been placed so that we had a fantastic view of the indoor play area but not that people would be going backwards and forwards past our table. Everyone who worked there was very warm with us and remembered those of us who came on the last visit. It was explained what we could and couldn’t have – including the fact that the carvery was on beyond the usual 6pm finish for Mother’s Day. Even though it is clear that the offers on the menu only run Monday-Saturday this was explained too. There was also an offer on Bailey’s too for Mother’s Day – but I was happy with my Coca-Cola refill.
What I really like about Elmbury Lodge is how it caters for the whole family. It isn’t just the indoor and outdoor play area – it is how I can have a roast but they don’t have to. Previously I had not seen the Vegetarian option so asked about it: It is all made fresh on order and takes roughly 10 minutes from ordering to being ready. In fact it was just myself and my husband who indulged in the carvery (including the additional soup starter), whilst the older two picked from the main menu and the younger two the kids menu (including starters and puddings). As we were sat down the boys were handed activity sheets and crayons straight away.
In the time it took myself and my husband to eat our soup and collect our mains the rest of the party’s food had arrived (I asked for the children’s starters to come with their mains). Everyone enjoyed their meals and we were asked if it was ok and brought over all the relevant sauces requested. We went on to have puddings and again they were perfect and very quickly delivered to our tables.
To finish the day my husband got the children to bed, made sure all the uniforms and sandwiches were ready for the next day, and said something about not holding up his hopes that he gets the same treatment for Father’s Day. Well I had better get my thinking hat on I think!
I received £50 off our meals in return for an honest review. All words and opinions are my own.
