我有51

在法语中，如果有人问你几岁，你回答，“J’ai 51 ans”, which translates to “I have 51 years.” It one of the quirks of grammar between the languages, which don’t always intersect. In English, we do say, “I own _______” (fill in blank with something of which you have global, all-encompassing command of), which is a popular phrase, one that I haven’t been able to translate to French friends.

（我最近说推特那个“……凯伦·卡彭特（Karen Carpenter）拥有圣诞节颂歌”，这可能使非母语说话的人感到困惑，也许是一些说英语的人，他们不足以像我一样欣赏Karen的圣诞节音乐。）

去年我有50年的时候，我庆祝了生日bouillotte。But this year, I’m not going to get so crazy. When your birthday falls two days after Christmas—and an unspecified number of days after Hannukah, and during Kwanzaa, it’s hard to rouse much enthusiasm amongst friends and family. And because it’s a week where a lot of people choose to travel, most people have headed out of town. Either that, or I’ve finally done it, and managed to offend everyone I know because they’re not returning my phone calls or e-mails. (And who says I have no talents?)

过去，罗曼（Romain）邀请了一些人，并在他的家中为我们所有人做了节日晚餐。However after spending a couple of days cooking and getting ready for the holiday dinner, even though he said he’d do it again, there doesn’t seem to be much enthusiasm for the most important day for the year, so toady is going to be spent engaging in low-key activities instead of revving up for a big宴请。

例如，兴奋du jour我要在市场上购买苹果和橘子。圣诞节前几天，我仍然有大量的根蔬菜从一场过度焦虑的购物探险中留下来。和他们一起去，我什至可能会疯狂地得到那些脱皮的脆皮的那些人之一poulet酱。I can certainly see myself celebrating by having one of those today, in addition to having myCinquante等人年。

Speaking of gifts to myself, I never did get a椰子蛋糕，我已经等了十年了，现在机会已经走了。因此，我决定一劳永逸地放弃希望。

But today I’ll have apples, tangerines, and one mighty good spit-roasted chicken. And fifty-one years? I’ll have some of those, too.