Parents GOLDEN Anniversary celebrations

Yep, my parents have been married for 50 years! Hard to believe in this day and age, but then, within our community/church many have been married for even longer than that. Of course, this particular celebration was particularly meaningful for my folks, cos they are now psyching themselves up for my Mum's bypass operation next Monday, and mentally preparing themselves for the worst, though they are hoping for the best, as are we all.

The event was held at the church (St. Thomas Church, on St. Thomas Road, off Jalan Ipoh, in Kuala Lumpur) on Saturday 25th Oct (though the actual date of their anniversary is 20th October). My parents sorted out the catering, tables/chairs, canopy, etc. My sister sorted out the programme (including design and copy!!), another friend sorted out the song sheets, our very good friend (S) did all the flower arrangements and they were GORGEOUS! I arranged for dessert (orange flavour cup cakes with multi-colour icing made by a good friend), my sister and I were the MC's, my brother did the welcome address, my sis-in-law did the thank you's, and all 4 nieces and nephews that were present all presented an item each. The missing niece (#1 grandchild) who is in Moscow, studying medicine, sent a message for her grandparents, which her mum (my sis-in-law) read out before the thank you's. Some of my parents very good friends did the opening and closing prayers, as well as the felicitations (which was really very funny!) We started at 6.30pm sharp, and managed to pretty much keep everyone ON time (or even slightly BEFORE time), and were able to finish by 8.00pm!! Following which there was a general charge for the food.

Anyway, the whole programme went on as below, as detailed in the script that my sister and I put together:

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6.30pm: Started with singing
Sis: Will everyone please stand for the opening hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness”, followed by the Kauma, led by George Vergis Achen.
ALL: Hymn
Rev George Vergis: Kauma
Aby: Opening Prayer
Me: Thank you Aby. We would like to now ask our brother, Ashok, to come up for the welcome address. After that, IF anyone is interested, we can tell you how all 3 of our fates hung by the thickness of a HAIR.
Brother: Welcome Address
Sis: So, anyone want to hear about the HAIR that controlled our fate?
Me: Let’s take you back about 50 years
Sis: Picture PZ – young, with a bit more hair, and a tad slimmer. With HIS father (our grandfather), going from house to house, checking out the GALS… seeking the “RIGHT BRIDE”
ME: Picture MP – young, demure, shy, nervously serving tea. Picture the tray, with two cups and two saucers.
Sis: The young PZ picks up a cup and saucer, as does his father. And, ON PZ’S SAUCER, …….
ME: A HAIR
Sis: A single strand of LONG, BLACK, HAIR…..
ME: And, to cut a long story short…
Sis: Let’s just say that if our Grandfather had got “THAT” cup, we would NOT be here, and neither would the grandchildren
ME: Which brings us to two of the grandchildren (#2, A, and #3, R) who will now be giving us the Bible Readings for this evening.
A: Bible reading
R: Bible reading
Sis: Achen, can we now call on you for a brief message – following which we will sing Malayalam Hymn No. 108
Rev George Vergis: Message
ALL: Malayalam Hymn No. 108
ME: Let’s have A back here again, followed by Grandson #2, L, to do something special for their grandparents.
A: Piano
L: Dedication to Grandma, plus bible verse reading
Sis: We would like to ask Philip Mathews, Sunny, to come up to give the felicitations
Sunny: Felicitations
ME: Now we have Grandsons #1 and #3, R and S, with their contributions to this event for their grandparents.
R: Piano
S: Dedication to Granddad, plus bible verse reading
Sis: We have now heard from 4 grandchildren, but I’m sure you all know there actually IS one more – the #1 grandchild, M, who is not able to be here today.
ME: For this we want to ask P, our very FIRST in-law, and more sister than sister-in-law, to read this special message from her daughter to our golden couple. P will also give the Vote of Thanks.
P: M’s message
P: Vote of Thanks
ME: We would now like to ask Mrs Susan John to come and do the Closing Prayer
Mrs Susan John: Closing prayer
Sis: I can almost hear some tummy’s rumbling away – but before we head out for the food, let’s all give thanks for the food we are about to eat by singing grace – Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow
Singing of Grace.
=======DINNER======

For anyone who tried the cupcakes and liked them (everyone must have liked them - I ordered 200 cupcakes, and there were only about 25 left at the end of the day!), go check out http://mamamin.wordpress.com/. Min has made birthday cakes, house warming cakes, etc, for me, and her designs are excellent and innovative!

As to the caterer, they were the BIG RAJAH caterers...you can get their details at http://www.thebigrajah.com.my/. Their food was really excellent and more than sufficient to cater to everyone, despite the fact that MORE than the expected number of people turned up eventually!!!

And that was it folks....
Till next time, have a good day!