Christmas Round Four/Birthday

It was a beautiful clear day as we drove to Vancouver. We went in Opa's Rav 4 but Andrew drove. It was a tight fit, but we stayed warm that way.

The basement of the church that was rented was just the right size and had all the amenities we needed including a place to lock up all the ankle biters. :) Here, Lis and sister-in-law Margaret are helping with the lighting of the big beautiful birthday cake. We nixed the idea of having eighty candles even though there was a fire fighter in the crowd. The cake was deeelicious!

Here the birthday girl is mustering up enough wind to blow out the candles. I wonder what her wish was.

This is not a ladies quartet. These gals represented four different Omas. A question was asked and each one would give a different answer. Then we were supposed to guess which one was the real Oma. In spite of several trick questions, we all guessed the right one, but learned a few things in the process.

Almost all siblings, spouses, grandchildren and great grandchildren were there, but there was also this couple who were special guests. Gerhard ( giving a tribute with his wife Louise at his side) is a nephew of Oma's, her favourite nephew. And, he claims she is his favourite aunt. This is a convenient arrangement that guarantees they get to go to each others parties.

The food was great, and it is always wonderful getting to see everyone in the extended family. Not only have all the little kids grown a few inches from last year, but there was a batch of new ones, including a set of twins! After a few fun games, each of the six children of Oma gave a tribute to their mom. There were many kind words of love and respect, and many funny memories. Oma is not one to draw attention to herself so it was so good to see her graciously accepting the fact that she was in the limelight this time. She was presented with a book in which each and every person in the family had created a special page of photos and words to honour her. I am sure she will spend many hours studying it.

She is still energetic and very sharp at eighty. I think there will be many more birthday parties for her.