Mama's 70th :)

Mama just had her 70th birthday. She does not like parties - and she does not like surprises. But we were able to pull off a surprise birthday party for her (ha! :) ).

It took almost 2 months of preparation: scouting for the perfect venue (should be casual, because that is how she is), looking for and inviting her close relatives, dress codes, give aways and making sure she does not have a clue.

After looking at several hotels and places, we settled for Vikings, a buffet place in SM Marikina. It is very casual. They have good and massive selection of food. They have a function room, which we can decorate (adhesives not allowed). They have free birthday cake, and staffs to sing for the celebrant. They are in a mall, which makes them very accessible to everyone and which ensures there is parking space for the guests. So...Vikings it was. The people who matter most to her were coming: us (which means me, my brothers, sisters in law, nephew and niece), her brother and sister in law, nephews and nieces (there were even those who traveled 12 hours to celebrate with us), her cousin  and his family, and my brothers' in laws who are like family to us. We agreed to wear all collared shirts , of different colors. It is a happy occasion and we wanted it to be colorful. We got Marks and Spencers tea,as give aways. 

All set.   

On the day of the event, I rushed to the flower shop at 5:30 am to get some flowers for the center piece decorations.  I was done arranging the flowers by 8:30 (which I hid in my bedroom), just few minutes before Mama and brother arrived in my house. We had a problem figuring out how to load the give aways and the flowers in the car. Luckily, she fell asleep, and we literally tip toed to get the stuffs from my room and load them in the car. 

The centerpiece

The give aways

When we got to the mall, I had coffee with Mama- while my brother and his girlfriend did the decoration in the function room of Vikings. They also ushered the guests to the function room. All along, Mom thought she was only having dinner with the family. She was so shocked to see her relatives and friends in the room when we walked in (or when I walked in because she was unable to take another step when she saw them) :).  It was one of her happiest and that made us very happy.

Family.

It was a good night of fun and laughter and lot of catching up (there are those who she has not seen for more than a decade).  Mama is now 70 years old, and happy 70 year old.  

I realized how lucky we are that our Mama is blessed with good health, good humor and good outlook in life. I realized how comforting it is to have her to share my problems with, to share my little victories, and to have someone to just share with, whatever happened during the day .   And, I am proud to have a 70 year old Mom who loves playing games on her iPad- a habit she developed because she wanted to be able to keep up with her grandchildren, her way of showing them how much she loves them.