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Friday, May 23, 2014

Celebrating fifty years Aside from the photos of my parents, most of the photos do not show the rest of our family and friends. Not everyone is on social media so I won't post their photos without their permission. But we did have a full house of about 25-30 of us there together. We kept it very small and informal at my mom's request and did not even tell my dad about the party until the morning of when he informed me that he had ordered a cake for the weekend. That was a funny surprise. His cake went to church the next morning to share with the church family and it all worked out well.
After heading out early in the morning to forage wild flowers from around my parents property, I placed them in my Ikea enamel pitchers and set out the other flower arrangements so I could concentrate on the food prep.
Aside from my sister and her family, my brother and his family, my aunt and uncle from out of town, we just invited one family who we have been very close for almost my parents whole marriage. They have four grown children, two of whose families attended as well. Only a few introductions were needed, most of us having grown up together. My aunt arrived early in the morning after I returned from the grocery store with the cake and food and was a huge help in getting all the fruits and veggies washed and prepared for the serving platters. I could not have done it without her. My mom ironed the tablecloths and prepared one of the dishes my dad likes. The rest of the family pitched in and helped in many ways, from hanging the bunting and setting up the patio table and chairs, to bringing and arranging the food, plates, napkins and cutlery and picking fresh garnishes for the platters. It all came together in short amount of time with everyone doing whatever needed to be done.

We were supplied with two large containers of homemade iced tea by our family friends and other treats to eat. I also had made lemonade syrup following the recipe from here ahead of time to which my aunt added cold water, lemon slices, and fresh mint until we were happy with the flavor. This is my second time making it and it is very tasty.

To supplement the dessert table, I had made ahead of time, my mother-in-law's whipped shortbread cookies with the cherry in the middle, old fashioned snickerdoodles and addicting peanut butter fudge squares. Earlier that morning, I dipped strawberries in white chocolate, drizzled with milk chocolate. I prefer them dipped in milk chocolate, but I used what I had.  Somehow it all managed to make it to platters, many arranged by my ever present aunt, with just me working on the tiered fruit tray.

With the table set, our family friend prayed for God's blessing over our time and then at my aunt's suggestion, my parents led the way in filling their plates. I confess, I did not eat very much during the party, I still had the cake to figure out. The dining room chairs plus extras had been nicely arranged around the family room area to allow for seating and several people headed outside to the back deck and enjoyed the sunshine. My kids and my nieces and nephews ran around outside after eating which was perfect for them.

After eating, my parents cut the cake together and each enjoyed a bite before my dad said a few words about their marriage and thanked us all for the time together at the party. While everyone was enjoying cake and desserts, we set up a television to watch a dvd version of my parents' wedding film. It was only the second time, my parents had seen it and it was fun to watch it with everyone and hear the funny comments and oohs and aahs.

My parents were married at my mom's childhood home in the town where they both were raised. I do have good memories of that house, the gardens and the landscape, most of which have changed with new owners. It was nostalgic to see it how I remembered it as a child. I look like my mother quite a bit, so watching her on the film felt like looking in a mirror, a retro mirror.  And of course to see a young version of my dad, my uncle and my grandparents (both sides) was special too.

We finished up our time together later by taking a family photo of us. My parents have three surviving children and seven grandchildren from ages four to eleven, including a set of twin grandsons. Some of you know that my youngest brother, Tim passed away in 2003 from his injuries sustained in a car accident. I have posted about that before if you want to look for the label in the right sidebar or at the end of this post with his name.
We are not a perfect family(oh boy), but we do enjoy our time together. Shane and I are the only ones who currently live out of state(and country), so my parents are fortunate to have most of their grandchildren and children close by right now.

(I've been posting in segments about our recent weekend trip, so if you missed those posts, you can just click on the Prone to Wander header image at the top of the page and it will take you to the main page of my blog and you can scroll down to see other recent posts.)
Posted by Heather at 11:56 AM Labels: family, food, life stories, Tim

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