Table For Two

My parents celebrated 36 years of marriage a couple of weeks ago (August 18th). THIRTY-SIX!!! In this day and age, that truly is a celebration of their commitment and love to each other. I am so grateful for the model they were to me as a young child and the model they continue to be to me now. I wanted to do something special for them. I had an idea but it involved a little sneakiness. The only thing I told my dad was to tell mom that he was taking her somewhere as a surprise. He was to bring her to our house for the first stop. Only he didn't know it was the first and only stop. I hope we made their anniversary celebration a memorable one. The pictures below will tell the story....

Jake and Lydia asked to make signs to post outside to show them which way to go (we wanted them to go around to the backyard and come into the house through the back door to avoid the messy kitchen). I said that would be nice...what I did not know was that they insisted on making Grandma and Grandpa close their eyes as they were being led down the stairs from the backyard. Then J & L announced they could open their eyes and here were their reactions.
This picture doesn't show it very well and I forgot to get a picture of the ambiance beforehand. We had the table set for two, candles, white lights, pictures of them on their wedding day, and music playing softly in the background. We also had a makeshift dance floor (4 pieces of leftover Wayne's coating taped together). I could not find our duct tape, so I gave Uncle Matt heavy book tape and he rigged it the night before. It in itself was a memory, as it creaked when you stepped on it, especially near the "seams." The menu is hard to see here. I printed off 3 menus. Two for them at their seats, and one that had picture illustrations of the food, created by my sweet Lid, that was taped to the wall. Under each title of food was the description of that food. We served Festival Salad (came with pear, cranberries, Feta cheese...it was supposed to also have caramelized pecans on top, but I forgot to add them last minute, so we ate them plain later), Artisan Garlic Bread (again was supposed to come with dipping oil, but I forgot that as well), Four Cheese Stuffed Shells (Rachel Ray recipe), and the desserts were a choice of a Strawberry Shortcake Parfait or an Oreo Chocolate Delight Parfait. Our guests ended up getting one of each and sharing them. Beverages offered: Water, Iced Tea, and Coffee...Beverages actually available: Water and Coffee (the third thing thing I forgot). I had also had Jake shave some Hershey's chocolate bar for a pretty effect on the Oreo dessert, but did I remember?...no. Still, despite my memory loss on some things (I'll blame it on only being back on my medicine for a little over a week), we got compliments!
Here was our hired help for the night! Actually, this was a gift on their part as well, but they had a blast participating so they didn't mind. Some funny moments from our waiter/waitress: *Jake had tennis shoes on with his polo and khakis. I thought it was so sweet when I discovered he had changed into his black dress shoes (which he despises). He wanted to go the extra mile for his Grandma and Grandpa's special evening. *We tried to hush the kids from talking too loudly, but I'm sure our guests heard some funny things. We also had to discourage our help from being overly helpful. They wanted to keep going downstairs. And even though the menu was already decided, Lydia went down, unbeknownst to me, with pad and pencil to take orders. They also couldn't help but peek during the couple's dance time. *And our kindly guests even tipped J & L, for which they were very happy about. Lydia even gave change back from her tip...bet that's a first!

Special thanks to Sarah Beth and Matt for helping, too! Dan was out of town during this time and there is no way I would have been able to pull it off by myself. They are in the midst of planning their wedding, so I know time is precious. But them being there made the night even more special.

On the dance floor!

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad! We love you both very much!