Beech Tree News Network

A few weeks ago, Garey was approaching another birthday.  When our granddaughter, Sabria, found out I had no plans to decorate for the occasion, she decided to offer her services as the party planner.  Sabria is a big fan of celebration.
    She spent the night before the big day with us, and when morning came, she was ready to bake.  We made a German chocolate cake and a lemon pie—her Papa’s two favorites.  (She tried to persuade me to make a coconut cream pie—her favorite—as well, but I didn’t buckle under the pressure.)  I put ribs in the slow cooker, and she and I headed to Walmart, her decoration destination of choice.
    We picked out birthday cards then went over to the party supply shelves.  Sabria decided we needed two balloons, one with smiling emoji faces and one with Disney princesses.  “Papa will like this princess balloon the best,” she said as she handed the balloons to me.  I secured them to the cart.
    Next she chose a green plastic tablecloth, some green napkins, green cake plates and green plastic wear.  “Green is Papa’s favorite color,” she reminded me, as she put the things into the cart.  I was thinking about how thoughtful she was being by choosing the green over the pink—her favorite color—when she spotted the Disney, Anna and Elsa large paper plates, which she decided would be perfect for the ribs and fixins.  She put those in the cart.  She saw a Super Hero Girls “Happy Birthday” banner we just had to have to tie the whole look together, and I let her add that to the collection, just happy that we were ready to leave the store.
    “Gee, we need a goblet,” Sabria said.
    “What do you mean?” I asked.
    “You know, like kings and queens drink out of,” she said.
    “Okay,” I said, “Let’s try to find one.” 
    Thinking to myself there was no way Walmart would have glass goblets, I led the way to housewares, specifically the dinnerware section.  And low and behold, there they were.  Goblets, both green and purple. 
    “We need the purple one,” she said.
    “Not the green?” I questioned.
    “No, the purple one,” she said.   
    We got the purple one, loaded everything into the car and headed to the house, so she could get to work.  At the house, I worked on dinner while she decorated the dining room.  Upon inspection of the dining room table, I noticed she had written on the plastic table cloth, in black marker, each guest’s name by his or her designated place.  There were: Papa, Gee, Mama, Scott and Sabria, and right by Sabria’s plate, sat the purple goblet.
    “Isn’t the purple goblet supposed to be at Papa’s place?” I asked.
    “No, I got that for me,” she said, matter-of-factly.
    Hmm, I thought, the Elsa and Anna plates and princess balloon were just decoys.  She was really after the purple goblet.  I’d been hustled by a six-year-old.
    I returned to the kitchen to finish dinner, while Sabria finished putting up the Happy Birthday banner.  She came into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator door and took out the can of whipped cream.
    “I need one of those little pie pans like we use when we play with play dough,” she said, “I want to give Papa a pie face for his birthday.”
    “Okay,” I said, “but you’ll have to catch him by surprise, or he won’t let you do it.”
    “I will,” she giggled.
    After dinner, and before the cake, Sabria told her Papa to close his eyes, because she had a big surprise for him.  She went to the refrigerator, removed her whipped cream pie, carried it carefully into the dining room and stuck it to Garey’s nose.  He scraped it from his face then stuck it to hers.  They both fell down laughing.  It was wonderful!
    The whole thing was wonderful, as only a party planned by a granddaughter for her grandfather can be.  There was no symmetry, no single theme, but the separate pieces were selected and fit together by a little girl who simply wanted her Papa to have a happy birthday.
    Except for the purple goblet.  That was solely for her benefit.