Surprise!

I threw Dale a big surprise birthday party on Sunday. His birthday is too often neglected (it's December 30)... as a child, it was so bad he used to celebrate his half-birthday instead. I didn't know who would really want to come to a party on Dec 27; people might be out of town, or sick of parties, or whatever. But almost everyone I asked wanted to come and help Dale celebrate! So I told Dale that one family was coming over for dinner (so that he would not make other plans), and started surreptitiously cooking.

On the big day, first one friend showed up, then another, then more and more, and eventually there were 22 adults and 10 kids! Dale was very surprised! Our house has never contained such festivity before (at least not on our watch) and it was a lot of fun. There were neighbors, old friends, new friends, music friends, and family. Some brought iTunes gift cards (my suggestion), others brought balloons, some brought wine, some brought side dishes, one brought a pie. I had made two other pies (from our own summer fruit!) and a bunch of little cakes shaped like bugs, as well as a ham, a vat of mac and cheese, three kinds of fresh-baked bread, veggies and dip, etc. The secret cooking was really the most challenging part. But I somehow pulled it off without Dale thinking much of it. "She's always cooking, anyway," Dale said when people asked him how he missed it. I was amazed at how easily our house accommodated so many people. The kids all disappeared upstairs and apparently had a whale of a time shooting each other with sponge darts. Aaron at one point did a wild jumping dance with the entire bunch of balloons bouncing all around him, shrieking with joy, and in the process winding the balloon ribbons into a ten-inch dreadlock. The high point was when we all gathered around to sing Happy Birthday to Dale before his platter of candle-lit bug cakes, with our brother-in-law Tony playing along on the new piano.

Happy Birthday to Dale! And here's to the next 39 years.