The party was scheduled to start at 7pm but we were at Herbal Oasis at 545pm to set up and decorate the place. The 4 of us helped out under the leadership of Sharon the Designer, and with the assistance of Prim and Yati our helper, everything was ready by 645pm.
Pic Ee Hoon
Imm and Faith was in charge of the Guest Book which they later made it into a beautiful Coffee Table type book for Mom to keep.
Mom's birthday cake was delivered by Awfully Chocolate and Sharon decided she wanted to have a 3 tier one. She used her artistic skills to re-decorate Mom's cake until it was like a masterpiece. Sharon ordered 3 cakes and stacked them together and added ribbons, strawberries etc.
Uncle Harry and Aunt Helen was the first guests to arrive. It was lovely to see many show up in the traditional Sarong Kebayas for the Nonyas and batik shirts for the Babas. That added so much to the mood and atmosphere and if there was an award for Ms Nonya, it would surely be Immy in her beautiful blue and pink kebaya.
My father welcomed the guests and the evening was opened by Kenneth. He had just picked up the flute recently and played a beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace, a fitting song indeed reminding us that it is God's amazing grace that has allowed Mom and all of us to enjoy this special evening. His flute was nicely accompanied by Andrew on the violin and Jeremy on the keyboard. I had the privilege to give thanks for the food.
One of the stress factors I had was whether the catered food from Peramakan would be the same standard as that served in their restaurant. Fortunately, the Bibiks gave their thumbs up with Aunt Rosalind remarking, "Eh Alvin, itu makan sedap la!"
The following dishes were ordered -
Ayam Cleo
Beef Rendang
Buah Kerluak Babi
Ikan Garam Assam
Seafood Otak Otak
Nonya Ngoh Hiang
Nonya Chap Chye
Dessert - Chendol
Pic Silverliningsg
In the middle of dinner, we had a surprise guest pop in at about 8pm! It was cousin Stuart. He contacted me earlier in the day to ask if he could come. Was very touched that he cut short his stay in Koh Samui, Thailand and caught a flight to attend Mom's 80th. Everyone was so delighted to see dear Stuart!!!
I took the opportunity to share a little about our family's heritage starting with the life of Chia Ann Siang and brought everybody back to the days of the Straits Settlement in the 1800s with a violin/piano performance of God Save the Queen. This was followed by the Theme from Little Nonya as I covered the period of his family. Mom has taught at ACS for nearly 40 years and it was only fitting that the ACS anthem was played too. The message I wanted to put across was, "What legacy are we leaving behind?"
More of the presentation will be put up later.
The highlight of the evening was of course a special birthday serenade by my father Lee Cheng Hoon. They have been married for over 50 years and are inspirational parents to us. The song he chose was Slim Whitman's Silver Threads among the Gold.
It was of course fitting to end the special evening with the cutting of the cake and we all sang a rousing Happy Birthday to Mom. Her speech was short and simple - "I wish that all of you will live to 80, and MORE!"
The evening followed with plenty of photo taking and merry making. We could see that Mom was really pleased with her 80th birthday celebrations. We are so grateful to everyone who came and shared this special evening with us!
God bless you all.
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