Birthdays

January always begins with two very special reasons to celebrate: my sister Linda's birthday on Jan. 8 followed by my husband's birthday a few days later. About 12 of us gathered at Ping's last week to celebrate Linda's birthday. It was a delight to have a great-niece and great-nephew there as well. Jenna always livens up an event and multiplies the cuteness quotient. (That literally makes no sense but I like the way it sounds.)

Linda's beaming smile lit up our corner as well.

She enjoyed opening gifts and took very seriously her candle-blowing role.

Due to uncertain work schedules, we decided to have Will's birthday dinner on Sunday, but I invited a few people to "surprise" him and drop by for cake and ice cream on Friday night.

We gathered in the living room, and as I welcomed them, I was struck with a brilliant inspiration. On the momentous occasion of his 60th birthday, it should be all about Will, so I invited them to tell their favorite memories or stories about Will. (Amazing how original I can be sometimes!) The weird things is, they agreed they really like hearing Will tell stories. Somehow the topic of frightening situations came up, and Will obligingly shared some stories about some of the most frightening times of his life.

Good times.

Very fun presents to the soon-to-be grandpa.

Christina is very creative! The little onesie was tucked in the pocket of the shirt. Can't wait to see them wearing their coordinating shirts!

I've never served a flaming birthday cake in the living room before. It was kind of exciting. Will is holding up a very cute framed ultrasound picture.

And our photographer apparently just couldn't resist this final self-portrait.

 I don't know, maybe he's a little jealous of how old Will is or that he was getting all the attention.

Kind of reminds me of the Seinfeld episode with woman who had man hands. Wow.  This picture was taken on New Year's Eve, not his birthday. See the bald eagle hanging behind us? Weird, huh? My dad got that on a trip to Alaska, and I chose to inherit it after he passed away. I keep it with my Christmas decorations and always display it somewhere during the holiday. 

60 years lived, half of them with me. What a fortunate pair. Here's to 30 more!