The Big Surprise

December 20, 2007

We flew into Phoenix to spend Christmas with the family. As usual, what was originally planned as a relaxing vacation was turning out to be several days packed full of activities with the family.

With Corinna and her clan flying in from Florida, the whole family was in town and we took the opportunity to get some professional family photos done. I even managed to drag my mom into the photos. It has been over 14 years since the last time she had any professional photos done of herself. We called in the expertise of Lori Lott, our wedding photographer, to handle the herd of Mattingly's that had taken over Linda and David's house.

The following days were filled making our rounds to spend equal time with parents and grandparents. To reduce the amount of luggage we took we decided not to do our Christmas shopping until we got to Phoenix. (At some point near the beginning of December I swear we had all decided that because everyone's money was tight we would not buy any gifts for each other. But apparently the holiday spirit is stronger then the will of the wallet.)

So on top of all our, "you're-in-town-so-you-need-to-come-visit-us-because-we're-family-and-if
-you-don't-you-know-you're-going-to-feel-guilty-about-it" obligations, we also needed to shop for gifts, wrap them and get them under the tree without other family members noticing. We realized there would hardly be any time to hang out with our friends. So we promised ourselves we would visit them on our next trip down.

As the days went by my fantasized vacation slowly started to evaporate. There would be no dropping off Elektra with the grandparents and having a date night with my hubby that included wining the jackpot on the nickle machine at the local casino and celebrating with a big scoop of ice cream at Mary Coyle. (Hey, I'm allowed to dream!)

We did get a chance to have the grandparents watch Elektra for us, but not for a romantic evening out. Instead, we needed to do some more last minute shopping. The whole family had planned to get together for dinner at Linda and David's that night. Near the end of our shopping Ray started receiving phone calls from his mom. Supposedly Caleb and Zack were hungry and getting restless. We were holding up the dinner train and we still hadn't finished buying everything on our list. So we made a mad dash through the aisles and threw what we could find into our cart.

The cell phone was still ringing as we loaded the car and headed to Linda and David's. When we got to the house we parked in front since the carport was full. Rather then waist time opening the garage and going through the garage door we went through the front. We didn't want two hungry boys waiting a second longer then they had to for their dinner.

As the front door opened, I only had a second to notice the lights were out in the house. Then everything went bright as a large group of people crowded into the front room yelled, "Surprise!".

Ray, my sneaky little hubby, had planned a surprise birthday party for me and invited my family and all our friends. The party was awesome. I couldn't believe how many people showed up, especially with it being only a couple of days before Christmas. I discovered later that all those phone calls Ray was receiving was to confirm last minute party details and to check-in on where we were at.

Ray's brother, Frank, served up bowls of homemade chili. There was also chips & dip and of course a huge birthday cake. I think our friends were more surprised then I was when they found out that I never suspected a thing.

Well, it wasn't the jackpot at the casino, or a double scoop of honey banana ice cream, but with over a month of planning, Ray had pulled off a surprise 30th birthday party that was nothing short of perfect.