E. Dale and Elizabeth Millet married on October 28th, 1960. They have been married for 50 glorious years. Their six children decided this was an event that needed to be celebrated. On Sunday, July 18th 2010, via a conference call, the planning began. We decided to have a "family only" surprise party during the break between Christmas and New Years. But this would mean a "head fake" on their actual Anniversary in October. Gifts and projects were discussed and finalized. We divided up the tasks among the 6 children. The results were amazing! We couldn't have planned it any better. Here is what happened:
The first suprise: Make a "Happy Anniversary" banner with handprints of all children, spouses, and grandchildren. The banner started in Utah, got mailed to Georgia, then Houston, Dallas, and it's final destination - Lubbock.
2nd Suprise: The following announcement in the Lubbock Avalanche Journal:
"MR. AND MRS. CLUFF
Mr. and Mrs. E. Dale and Elizabeth M. Cluff of
My parents freaked out when they saw the announcement in the paper. Oh no! Who did this?Now they will be victims of telemarkers, and predators that stalk the elderly! My dad called each of us asking who was responsible. We each just laughed and denied all involvement. :) They soon discovered that instead of the negative response they expected, they received many well wishes and gifts from neighbors and friends. Silly mom and dad! The tricks are from your kids! Sit back and enjoy!
3rd Surprise: Gift - An embroidered wall hanging of the Lubbock, TX Temple was ordered.
4th Surprise: Head Fake - On their actual anniversary, the 2 local children - Catherine and Jonathan - arranged a surprise dinner with close friends at "Las Brisas." Flowers and balloons were added for the final touches.
The plan worked! They were thrilled with the evening and the banner/gift. They wished that all of the children/grandchildren could have been there in person, but they loved that everyone's hand print was on the banner.
Now for the real surprise........
*Just a little background, the Angell's and Doug Cluff's were in Lubbock for Christmas. With Jonathan's and Catherine's families living there locally, that meant only Paul's and Scott's families were missing. Unfortunately, Scott's family was unable to make it.*
5th Surprise: It started on Thursday evening, December 30th. Doug and Sandra asked dad and mom if they would take them on a "behind the scenes" tour of the temple since it was closed for the evening. Dad had taken Greg and I and local family members earlier in the week before Doug's family arrived. So the request was a perfect set up. While they were having "the tour," Paul's family arrived, the grandkids were divided between 3 houses with older grandchildren as babysitters, and the adults dressed up, grabbed their temple recommends/clothes, and drove to the temple. When my parents came out of the temple, they saw us all there dressed up with Paul and Kim. My dad wondered what the heck was going on! We told him we were there to HIJACK the Temple! We came to do a session! It totally caught my dad off guard. Here he was, the temple president, being asked to do something that he has never been asked before! His mind started to race. Did we have all the ordinance workers needed to do a session? Of course we did! Between my parents, and the local siblings/spouses, we had all the temple workers needed. We had that all figured out months before. Was this against the rules? After thinking about it for a while, my dad felt at peace. Words can't express what a profound experience it was to do a temple session with just us - my parents, 5 children and spouses, and one endowed grandchild. It was a "once in a lifetime" event! Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures that night. It was dark, cold, and raining "mud." Literally! Welcome to West Texas!
6th Surprise: For the morning of New Year's Eve, my dad had "planned" (or at least we let him think he did) to have the "of age" grandchildren do baptisms for the dead. Of course, he had no clue that Paul's family would be there to experience this special event. (Refer to my previous post for pictures.)
7th Surprise: The party! New Year's Eve: Another ruse - The children/spouses plan to take mom and dad to dinner. After the baptisms, I tell mom and dad to relax and take it easy for the afternoon because dinner is taken care of. Meanwhile, the children/spouses/older grandchildren are decorating the gym at the church.
When everything was ready to go, my brother, Doug, and his wife pick up my parents for dinner, telling them the rest of us will meet them there. Doug then proceeds to take my parents on a wild goose chase, driving them all over Lubbock while the rest of us are getting staged for the surprise. Doug brings them to the church and texts us they he has arrived. We turn out the lights in the gym and get our cameras ready. And then the fun begins!
8th Surprise: The memory book. This was my baby. Months before the event, I sent out letters, emails, and facebook messages to my parent's friends (past and present) and family members soliciting letters and pictures for the memory book. Besides confiscating my parent's Christmas card list, my siblings and I had to do some detective work to find key people from my parent's past that we wanted to include in the book. I received over 100 entries via email and snailmail. It was a joy to transcribe, scan, and edit these wonderful tributes to my parents. Each child and grandchild was represented as well. What a treasure! Each child ordered a book for their own.
9th Surprise: The Slide Show. My brother, Paul, collected pictures from each of the siblings and created a slideshow to music. It was about 40 minutes long and spotlighted mom and dad, and each child and their families. Every family received a copy to take home. Another treasure!
Introducing the Show
Enjoying the show!
10th Surprise: We referred to it as the "Replicake." We replicated their wedding cake and had them replay "the cutting of the cake." It was hard to take serious pictures because my mom kept cracking up!
11th Surprise: Musical Numbers. We had a group number and a number with just the Cluff children. The group sang "No Empty Chairs" - written by Orrin Hatch and Janice Kapp Perry -this has always been my dad's motto. He frequently reminds each of his children that he wants no empty chairs in heaven. (Sorry, no pictures because we were all singing!)
Because the "Cluff nose" is infamous for being gigantic, the children decided to perform "Daddy's nose." Enjoy!
12th Surprise: A 500+ piece collage puzzle of each child's family picture:
13th and last Surprise (no, we are not superstitious): Cds of their favorite music. Paul gathered all of their favorites via itunes, etc. Mom and dad enjoyed the music tremendously!
That's it folks! I'll sign off with a few more pictures:
The Group! A job well done!
Children and Spouses
Time to Relax and Enjoy!
