Sunday, December 5, 2010

A Milestone

It's early on a Sunday morning, and I've been the only one up for an hour. Bliss! While sipping my coffee and listening to Christmas music, I've been uploading and sorting through two months of pictures which need organizing and posting. It's shocking that my last post was 5 weeks ago, Halloween. The time goes by so fast, and here we are in December. Two stories seem blogworthy to me this morning...

First, my inlaws celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on November 23. They hosted 19 for Thanksgiving at their house as people began arriving in Gold Beach for the big celebration the next day. Truly, Thanksgiving paled in my mind compared to the import of the anniversary. What an accomplishment! What luck! How many couples make it to 50 years, I wonder? Chuck and Sharon met at a high school beach bonfire, which Sharon almost didn't attend. She thought it wouldn't be fun. Months later, after graduation, she headed off to San Francisco for dental hygenist training. Within a week, she was home and planning a wedding. Three kids and seven grandkids later, they travel the country in their rv and adore their 57 Chevy which Chuck completely remodeled himself.

The party was perfect. We all spent the night at Tu Tu Tun Lodge up the Rogue River from Gold Beach. The owners are childhood friends of Steve and his brother and sister so we were truly treated like royalty. It was the most gorgeous, classy setting! No decorations were required as the lodge was perfect with its beautiful rock fire place and huge picture windows framing the Rogue and lush forest. There were delicious appetizers, drinks, and about 50 friends and family to celebrate the occasion. Steve's sister had made a beautiful quilt and planned entertainment for the evening. Mary started it off by reading a poem she had written for her Grandma and Papa:


You're just gonna have to turn your head here. I cannot get this stupid thing to turn!

Next, Cousin Zac Houdenney and his Lovely Assisstant Diana performed some fantastic magic tricks:


Grrrr! Sorry!

My niece sang Love Me Tender beautifully, and Laura presented a Powerpoint about life in 1960. That girl is a natural born teacher, I tell you. Here are a few tidbits she learned: minimum wage was $1 per hour, Kennedy narrowly defeated Nixon in the presidential election, individual ketchup packets were introduced, and a postage stamp was four cents. I'm so proud of them all!
It's actually turning the pictures around by itself!

The Sweeney Sisters made a surprise appearance and entertained us with their musical/comedy sketch about Chuck and Sharon.
Why not this one??

And we had cake:



And, a few more pictures from the special night:





Thanks Lisa and Doug, David and Shelley for all the work you put into it!

Since the family got up, it has taken me two hours to finish this post...blogworthy story two will have to wait. We're off to get our Christmas tree!



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