Proud Parents
My husband and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary this year. I thought we should do something special to celebrate being together two decades, but neither of us are planners, so, a few days before our anniversary we did not have reservations anywhere special.
This year we also had a lot of fixing up done on our main floor. All of the walls were painted, the powder room was redecorated and the screened porch was re-screened, painted and tiled. One afternoon, after clearing out redecorating detritus from our porch I thought a small table would look nice on the porch - that it would look like a small bistro. Then I thought how nice it would be to have a romantic meal at home on our anniversary. I asked my kids if they would be willing to help out and they immediately began planning the evening. I told my husband I had taken care of the reservations and it was going to be a surprise.
On June 22 my husband came home from work and went swimming with our son so my daughter and I could get things ready. She wanted to make a menu. I had a few things to prepare for the kids to serve us. (I mostly bought prepared food, but some things were made at home). I ran up and got dressed in one of my better dresses and when my husband came home he dressed to match me. The kids did a great job pretending to be sullen and lazy and sat watching TV, barely saying goodbye to us as we left for our big night. The plan was that they would fix up the porch (bringing a table from the back yard, putting two tablecloths on it, setting it, lighting candles, setting up chairs, turning on party lights we had just put up and setting out the first course). Then they would call me but let it only ring once.
I drove around town, stopping to get gas and when the phone rang, pretended I was confused as to how to get to the restaurant. I drove back behind our house, and up the side street and parked in the back. At this point my husband was confused and I said "we're here". He was surprised. Then we walked in the back way. The porch was transformed into a private cafe complete with candle light and jazz. The wait staff, dressed in black and white (their idea, and a surprise to me), greeted us and handed us our menus for the evening.
For dinner we were served cheese and pate with imported crackers, tomato basil soup, fresh green salad, grilled, skewered chicken, beef and vegetables on rice and various pastries. We also had wine, sparkling water and champagne.
During dinner we were treated to a dictionary reading and a impersonation show.
After dinner we exchanged our gifts. I was presented a music box my husband picked up for me from the Potomac Celtic Festival. With its claddagh carving on the top and "Gallway Bay" as its tune, it held special meaning to us on our anniversary. 20 years ago we visited Ireland and stayed in Gallway. I wanted a claddagh ring as my wedding ring, but we decided to get a plain band in the States, and I would get a claddagh ring in Ireland. So the carving and tune are special.
I gave my husband a ceramic ear of corn because he is from corn country and was born on a farm. Plus the traditional 20th anniversary gift is China which is a kind of ceramic.
I also gave him a box of chocolates from Balducci's whose signature chocolate is called Platinum (the modern 20th anniversary gift).
My husband also received a book called "Weird U.S." because he likes seeing weird things when we travel. His final gift was a pen with a red robot on the end. I cannot remember what it was, but it was the robot that was a toy in the 70's that would punch an opponent's head off.
It was a really sweet evening and probably more memorable than if we had gone to an expensive restaurant. The kids were fantastic and I think they had as much fun as we did. I am really proud of them. I smiled for days after the anniversary when I thought about how they dressed up for the dinner for us.
Here is Andrew after his dictionary reading, cooking, serving and eating.
This year we also had a lot of fixing up done on our main floor. All of the walls were painted, the powder room was redecorated and the screened porch was re-screened, painted and tiled. One afternoon, after clearing out redecorating detritus from our porch I thought a small table would look nice on the porch - that it would look like a small bistro. Then I thought how nice it would be to have a romantic meal at home on our anniversary. I asked my kids if they would be willing to help out and they immediately began planning the evening. I told my husband I had taken care of the reservations and it was going to be a surprise.
On June 22 my husband came home from work and went swimming with our son so my daughter and I could get things ready. She wanted to make a menu. I had a few things to prepare for the kids to serve us. (I mostly bought prepared food, but some things were made at home). I ran up and got dressed in one of my better dresses and when my husband came home he dressed to match me. The kids did a great job pretending to be sullen and lazy and sat watching TV, barely saying goodbye to us as we left for our big night. The plan was that they would fix up the porch (bringing a table from the back yard, putting two tablecloths on it, setting it, lighting candles, setting up chairs, turning on party lights we had just put up and setting out the first course). Then they would call me but let it only ring once.
I drove around town, stopping to get gas and when the phone rang, pretended I was confused as to how to get to the restaurant. I drove back behind our house, and up the side street and parked in the back. At this point my husband was confused and I said "we're here". He was surprised. Then we walked in the back way. The porch was transformed into a private cafe complete with candle light and jazz. The wait staff, dressed in black and white (their idea, and a surprise to me), greeted us and handed us our menus for the evening.
For dinner we were served cheese and pate with imported crackers, tomato basil soup, fresh green salad, grilled, skewered chicken, beef and vegetables on rice and various pastries. We also had wine, sparkling water and champagne.
During dinner we were treated to a dictionary reading and a impersonation show.
After dinner we exchanged our gifts. I was presented a music box my husband picked up for me from the Potomac Celtic Festival. With its claddagh carving on the top and "Gallway Bay" as its tune, it held special meaning to us on our anniversary. 20 years ago we visited Ireland and stayed in Gallway. I wanted a claddagh ring as my wedding ring, but we decided to get a plain band in the States, and I would get a claddagh ring in Ireland. So the carving and tune are special.
I gave my husband a ceramic ear of corn because he is from corn country and was born on a farm. Plus the traditional 20th anniversary gift is China which is a kind of ceramic.
I also gave him a box of chocolates from Balducci's whose signature chocolate is called Platinum (the modern 20th anniversary gift).
My husband also received a book called "Weird U.S." because he likes seeing weird things when we travel. His final gift was a pen with a red robot on the end. I cannot remember what it was, but it was the robot that was a toy in the 70's that would punch an opponent's head off.
It was a really sweet evening and probably more memorable than if we had gone to an expensive restaurant. The kids were fantastic and I think they had as much fun as we did. I am really proud of them. I smiled for days after the anniversary when I thought about how they dressed up for the dinner for us.
Here is Andrew after his dictionary reading, cooking, serving and eating.