HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY, AMANDA!

We have had a lovely day celebrating the 50th birthday of our grandson’s mother, Amanda.  Back in January, she asked me if I remembered what I had done for her 40th birthday and I said I did - so she said “Well, I’m 50 in August!”  I don’t think I realised how much thought, time, wrapping paper and sellotape  it would take to buy and wrap 50 presents, rather than 40, but I managed it - in fact, there were 54 in total eventually.

Amanda and her husband, Sean, came for lunch and then began the grand opening of the gifts.  The first shot in my collage shows Amanda’s face when she walked into our lounge and saw 50 gifts laid out on the lounge carpet in the shape of 50 - that was the first lot of tears and there were others!

Because I had been buying the gifts for so long, I had almost forgotten what I had bought earlier in the year.  There were the usual bits and pieces like her favourite Heinz Tomato Soup - there should have been five tins, one for each decade, but I had to confess that one day, when I had been poorly and hadn’t felt like eating, I had plundered the bag containing the gifts and took one of them!  When I told her this, she reminded me that a couple of weeks ago, when I had been sick, I had “robbed the bag”  again and taken out a packet of ginger biscuits but I did confess this to her at the time.

Amanda’s family come from Scotland, so I couldn’t resist this little Scottish bear, complete with bagpipes at the top right.  

I was fortunate enough to be able to buy several gifts from our favourite charity shop, DEBRA, so when I saw the photograph frame with nine spaces, I thought that if I got stuck, I could always count that as a 10 - nine photographs and the frame, but In the event, I didn’t need to!  She loved that, especially photographs of her when she was much younger and with her Mum, who died a few years ago, but whose birthday would have been tomorrow, so a few more tears!

The opening took much longer than expected, because Amanda wanted to “feel” each present to try and guess what was inside and on the whole, she did very well, although there were a few she didn’t guess.

Amanda is definitely the “Real McCoy” - and has been a great friend to Mr. HCB and me especially during the lockdowns, when, although she lives almost 35 miles away, checked in on us every week and if we had needed anything, would have driven to Swindon to help us.  We are so grateful to Amanda - so today was our turn to show her how much she means to us.

Of course, we had to have the obligatory selfie, which was taken in the garden, so we were glad it was still sunny - but we don’t mind if it rains now!   I still can’t get used to seeing myself without glasses!

All in all a lovely day - Amanda and Sean have now gone off to stay in a local hotel before having a meal with the family - so we hope that their evening is a wonderful one for them all.  

We have already sung a Happy Birthday song to Amanda, so we just want to say again, “Happy Birthday, dear Amanda” -  enjoy the rest of your day, have a great evening and thank you for being you!  M & J xx


P.S.  I still can’t believe I didn’t buy you a large jar of Marmite!