Mom's 60th Birthday

My mom's 60th birthday was this month.  I'd like to say that we had a big party to celebrate the event, but I can't.  Most of her kids saw her this summer at the family reunion though.  I wanted all of us to do something extra special, which isn't easy without money.  I knew we'd have to go with sentimental.  The only thing I could come up with was a project I call "Letters to Margie."

I am posting the letter that we sent out to all the contacts we could round up explaining the project:

Basically, we wanted them to write a letter to her.  They could e-mail it to me or send in by regular mail.  I planned to put it in a binder for her to read.  This project is much easier with Facebook.  I  was able to get a letter from an old high school friend and a college friend.  It was also easier because I am living here where many of her close friends from 20 years ago are.  I contacted family too.  Of course, my 3 brothers and sister contributed great letters.  Our kids did art projects and little letters too.  It turned out to be quite a fun project.  Here is the binder cover I made for the project:

I sent it and made her wait for my sister to come over before she could open it.  She loved the gift and of course wept tears of joy.  Here she is looking through the binder with my sister:

This wasn't her only gift though.  Right now, she happens to be on an Eastern European tour with her husband.  They are going to exciting sites like Count Dracula's Castle in Romania.  They keep posting pictures on Facebook and seem to be loving it.