Birthday Le Rae de Forth...

My sister's birthday today! And as the title states, she IS the 4th 'Rae' in my family. (Those who know me well would understand.) So today, she was allowed to play as much computer as she wanted, with the reputation of being the Arcade Kid of the Family. And while she was enjoying herself, the Men went to set up the party set-ups, while the ladies went to do the cooking. Some of my parents' university friends were coming over to celebrate to and the plan was to have the party at the basketball court in the condominium, so that we could all have a friendly match with each other (You'd be shocked when you see them play...) and then have a nice dinner and cake.

Everything was going well until in the mid-afternoon, when my Mom found out that Uncle Alex still hasn't gone to the Multi-Purpose Hall to book and collect the tables and chairs for the party. She scolded him (Don't worry, this is the 'Sister-to-Brother' kind of scolding; Not so intense and not that fierce. And she's older, so she has her 'rights') and sent him off to go and collect the stuff with me. But by the time we arrived at the MPH, the security guard said that all the tables were already in use and that we could only take chairs. So towing back about 6-8 chairs, we told the bad news to my Mom, who immediately tried to fomulate another way of substituting for the tables. In the end, we found a couple of bench tables in the store room and just told ourselves that it would just have to do.

Then the desert cakes (not the birthday cake) were just about to be put into the oven. I watched Aunt Mary while my Mom and Uncle Alex entertained Granma. It was suppose to be a mixed-breed of cake and coconut pudding, but I'll take it that it's delicious (Aunt Mary came from a province in the Northern parts of the Philippines, in which is where you can find the best cooks in the country! That's a tip if you're gonna get a maid from there...).

Then here came the frightening part - It rained.

It came as a slow shower at first, then it gainned into a hard pour. I quickly went to my room where my Mom was with Granma and told here, "Pray hard." She turned to the windows and saw what she prayed not to see for the day (The air-con was on so she couldn't hear the rain coming).

So we had to bring back all the chairs and both the bench tables and settle them evenly into the dinning and living room. When finally arranged, the cakes were done! And boy, did they smell good! Man, one of these days, I've gotta bring some to the school! But as tempting as they were, we all had to excersize our sense of control and get Plan B in order.

An hour later, our first guests arrived. It was the Wu Family! (If you didn't know, this was the family I went to Japan with.) We all sat down and had a nice chat. Father with Father, Mother with Mother, Brother with Brother and Sisters with Sister. The rooms were filling up, though some wern't able to make it. After a while or two, dinner was served. And I tell you, we had such a great dinner! Many Fillipino delicacies made by Mom, Aunt Mary, Auntie La La and some by my Younger Sis. (Granma was busy doing my Mom's accounts; se says she enjoys doing it so might as well make her short stay here enjoyable...)

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for! ... CAKE TIME!!!

We all had small slices of the cake and boy, it was delicious! Just what we needed to compliment Dinner! Many entrays were made and it was a hit! And while eating dessert, Uncle Wu and Dad decided to share the photos we took in Japan. What good memories we had!

But not forgetting what we were suppose to be gathered for, we brought out the Birthday Cake. Sang the song, blew the candles and sliced the cake, my Sister was well pleased with the outcome, even though it didn't turn out as planned.

Discluding the rest of the merry-making and the farewells, that's just about enough to rap it all up. God bless Morriel for being a good sister to brother for!