Today is my grandma's birthday. I could go on forever about both of my grandmas and their amazing qualities. All of which I inherited, obviously. But I think today calls for a story. A little tale about the funniest birthday party I've ever been to.
A little plot exposition to start: Grandma's parents grew up in Switzerland and came over to live in America in 1914. The house where Grandma's dad grew up is still standing and every time one of Grandma's kids/nieces/nephews go to Switzerland, they take a photo of this house and give it to Grandma. So over the years, Grandma has acquired many, many, many photos of this house, most of which look pretty much the same.
A few years ago, right before Grandma's 82nd birthday, my mom and I were over at Grandma's when she received yet another photo of this house from one of her nephews. She groaned and went off about how she has so many photos of this house--some including her dad's cousin who still lives over there, some just of the house itself. Then she laughed and said that she was going to take a photo of herself in front of her house and send it to her dad's cousin.
So my mom and I started thinking how funny it would be if, for Grandma's upcoming birthday, every one of her 9 kids gave her a gift with a picture of the house somewhere on it. So we planned a birthday party for Grandma and my mom called all of her brothers and sisters and some of her cousins who live around here and let them in on it and then emailed them all a photo of the house. All 9 kids were able to come, including my aunt who flew in from San Diego, just to come to the party. The gifts were so funny--everyone was so creative. We had a cookbook, a clock, bumper stickers, a calendar (with each month featuring a the same picture of the house only with different seasonal stickers pasted on), a puzzle, tee-shirts, a cross-stitch, hotpads and towels, and many other great gifts.
It just occurs to me right now that no matter how well I tell this story, there's no way it will even come close to conveying how hilarious the party turned out as Grandma opened each present and realized what was going on. So instead, I'll just post a few photos of the resulting fun and say "Happy Birthday, Grandma!"
3 comments:
My favorite was the scrapbook that had her superimposed in front of a whole bunch of pictures of the house.
Her standing in front with her cousin, her pointing out the linen closet, I could go on and on. I laughed myself silly looking at that book.
That was the best party I've ever been to. I think we were all crying because we were laughing so much! I have a picture of Grandma hold her "Hot Swiss Babe" bumper sticker--it's awesome! If I can find it on my laptop, I'll send it to you to add to your photos of the party.
Oh, and you make a great Daphne! I wish we lived closer and I'd borrow it from you. We have a residency party on Saturday (the day after Halloween) and we're supposed to dress up, but Josh and I aren't the type that really get into costumes. I thought I'd either go as Santino from Project Runway (already have all the stuff for that costume) or as a cat (where black clothes, make a tail and ears). Both pretty lame. Oh, and at the party I guess we're playing volleyball in our costumes (it's tradition, I guess). Should be pretty funny, though. Let me know if you have any easy, cheap ideas for Josh.
That was a fun party. I wish I had the ambition and energy to do something like that again. Maybe for Grandpa Hap's b-day in December???
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