A celebration in London

On Saturday the party went off without a hitch. I was a little late because my sister in law insisted upon having a special dress which was specially made for all of the in law wives. My dress had not been picked up at the tailor's as yet by the time the event began. Remember that anxiety that I spoke of when I was anticipating this trip? That was nothing compared to what I felt while getting ready for this party. As MY luck would have it, the dress, although finished in time was not able to be picked up. Time was running out for me to attend the party which started at 4pm. What was even worse was that everyone at the house left ahead of my children and myself because they had already picked up their outfits previously. This made me anxious, hot, and sweaty.
I was still waiting for my dress by 7 pm. My husband (who left ahead of me) returned to the house. He informed me that there was no more time, and that I should put on a dress that I brought from home. By this time I was so tired and sick of waiting, that I quickly put on a dress that I brought from home.
In typical London weather, it started to rain and the air was quite chilly that evening. There was a lot of people at the hall. Even though I was fashionably late, and missed the beginning of the festivities, I was greeted warmly. The place was packed. My children and I greeted my mother in law who was seated at the front of the hall (at the head table). I saw a lot of my husband's family members whom I hadn't seen in a long time. There was a live band playing upbeat and rhythmic tunes. Food and drink appeared from every direction. The food was catered and there were servers walking back and forth. The menu included scotch eggs (a type of boiled egg covered and baked with cornbeef and flour), spicy seasoned rice, baked chicken, steamed fish, tossed salad, and a type of bean casserole.
After dinner was served, the presenter offered a little program of appreciation to my mother in law which was followed by thoughtful words from her friends, relatives, children, and grandchildren. The highlight of this part of the evening was when my little three year old niece took the mic and said "Granny, I love you." (So cute, with her British accent!) The photographer took group photos of my my mother in law with all of the family members. After which the cake was presented. it was a three tier, vanilla sponge cake, covered with pink and white frosting.
I danced to a few of the numbers to the mostly upbeat music with my husband and kids. it was nice to see people smiling and having a good time. There were many gifts presented to the celebrant and party favors for the guests. We received party favors such as canvas bags, tea bags, slippers, soap, coffee mugs, and t shirts.
The party was over at 12pm and most of the guests started to leave almost immediately. It seemed like there was enough nervous energy to go around leading up to this event. That was evident in what happened next. As my brother in law (whom we were staying with) was determining which family members would be carried home in whose car, he discovered that he didn't have his house keys. His wife left her keys at home as well. You have to understand that it was early in the am, and that place was locked up like Fort Knox! As everyone put their heads together to determine what to do, we sat inside the hallway of the party hall to escape the cold. The owners were gracious enough to let us stay while they cleaned the hall. We snapped pictures and paced as we decided what to do.
After a while my brother in law discovered that his friend mistakenly took his house keys home, and he lived very far out into the "outskirts" of town. After numerous calls and no response to his friend, we decided to sleep on another one of my sister in law's couch. So my husband, children, and I camped out on the couch for the evening. You can't make this stuff up. Real life is definitely more interesting than fiction, but what a night! I will never forget it whenever I recall this vacation. I am glad that we had this time to spend with family and we loved every minute of it.