Happy Birthday, Frank!

This past Monday, November 10th was Frank's 66th birthday. On Sunday, November 9th, we got a dozen donuts and, after bowling and dinner, celebrated with Alex .

Singing a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday to You brings a smile to everyone's face.

We had to count to three twice to be sure the time was perfect to blow out that candle.

Yay! Applause! Applause! Happy Birthday! Yay!

On his birthday phone call from Robin, Jeremy, and Autumn, Jeremy pointed out to Frank that he shared a birthday with the birthday of the United States Marine Corps. In all of Frank's 66 years he had never known that bit of trivia. This year was the Marines' 239th birthday. The Marines' celebration and cake cutting ceremony were formalized, standardized, and recorded in their drill manual in 1956. Per Wikipedia, 

By tradition, the first slice of cake is given to the oldest Marine present, who in turn hands it off to the youngest Marine present, symbolizing the old and experienced Marines passing on their knowledge to the new generation of Marines.

I guess in the Chambers family, the parallel tradition to this is Alex and Frank sharing the blowing out of a candle on a donut.

Frank got multiple cards from me hidden about the house, two pet themed cards from Vickie, and a humorous but annoying phone tree card from my sister. The retirement card from me was to celebrate him about to get his first Social Security check on December 1st. 

Frank is a stout Harry Potter fan and I am a stout Frank fan.

The retirement card was to congratulating Frank on successfully negotiating the Social Security maze
for himself and with all its intertwined implications for Alex.
The phone tree card from my sister was cute... and a bit exasperating.

Inside the left card reads, "Older yes... but wiser, not so much."
Inside the right card reads, "Happy birthday and and many s'mores."

Frank's request was that his birthday dinner include sweet potatoes. He did not care what else, but whatever it was, to had to be served with sweet potatoes. We had ham. Instead of cake for dessert, we had his favorite, pumpkin pie.

One candle is enough! It is the thought that counts. Having fewer candles increases
the odds of 100% extinguishment and subsequent wish fulfillment.

Frank gets mentally prepared.

Frank takes a deep breath.

Success! Happy Birthday!

Frank and Vickie relaxed in front of the TV with Monday Night Football in a lopsided game where the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Carolina Panthers 45 to 21. Frank's best birthday present was that his fantasy football team TheSteamers (with a previous record of 2-7) beat Dan's fantasy football team, TheOneAndOnlyDan (with a previous 8-1 record).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FRANK!