A fantastic day

When Ed and I drew back the blinds yesterday morning, there on our lawn facing the house was a garden bench festooned with red balloons with “Congratulations – 40th anniversary” on them. It was a gift from the neighbours, and the start of an amazing day.

On the doorstep we found a red rose – “Ruby Anniversary” – in a pot, and later, when we returned from church, there was another red rose, “Ruby Ruby”. And this despite the fact that we said “Strictly no gifts!”

We arrived at the hotel for lunch and all 65 guests turned up. Our kids had taken over the table decorations, and had a vase of red roses on each of the eight tables, plus red glass hearts and rose petals. There was a party popper for everyone, a disposable camera on each table to take photos, and a little pot of bubble mixture in the shape of a church. All loved by kids old and young!

They’d also blown up a series of photos from the past – you know, those really embarrassing ones you’d rather forget – and turned them into a caption game, inviting each table to write their own caption. The results were hilarious.

Then they’d put together a slide show of our old photos. Someone had transferred them onto a CD Rom, which played on a screen throughout the lunch, and which we now have.

It was a great meal and the kids had also provided a fabulous cake with red roses in sugar icing and congratulations – 40th anniversary in red icing on the white.

We’d put out a box for donations to Macmillans Cancer Care for anyone who wished to give, and collected £300 – amazing!

Just a brilliant day. So much fun and laughter, and everyone having a really good time.

Now we’re back to Darby and Joan, and having difficulty settling back into normal life again. Roll on the golden anniversary – I really want to do the same again!