20th anniversary celebration!

Today we celebrated the 20th anniversary of ANCL, the church I attend in Luxembourg. It's an international church and turns 70 countries a month. I joined the events team earlier this year and have absolutely loved the incredible group of women who are part of it. The planning meetings are well organized and run, and they take turns hosting it. Last month, one of the ladies hosted all of us at her campground for a simply stunning picnic! 

I've been traveling often when they have the events for church (welcome coffee, new member lunch, summer BBQ, etc.) so I was thrilled to actually be in town for the 20th anniversary. I somehow got put in charge of decorations. I'm not good at making things look pretty, just copying other's work. I drew inspiration from the many weddings I've been too and came up with a plan. However, as my first big contribution to the team, I was really nervous about their thoughts and feelings on my plan. Additionally, I was aware that Europe is a lot more elegant than the USA, and I didn't want to disappoint. 

I got home Wednesday night from the USA, so was tired and jetlagged, and hoping all my Amazon purchases and decor boxes had arrived. One of my main Amazon packages was stolen, so I had to reorder everything. Thankfully it came in time! I had asked three guys from church to bring the decor boxes I had seen and planned to use to my house while I was gone. The willing hands found totally different decor boxes and brought them! There were piles of candles in their boxes, and I was afraid if I used them all it would look like a seance! 

Thursday, I organized things, and finalized my decor plans! However, I also had agreed to cook for the international buffet and contribute American food for 25. I settled on taco salad and buffalo chicken mac and cheese as my dishes. I always was doing three grazing boards/veggie trays, so I bit off quite a lot with this event. 

Friday morning, I had my shopping list and woke up early to be at the grocery when it opened. I was happily shopping away, when I got a call. I had agreed to verify the drink delivery order (as I've done many times for weddings) and save the point of contact an hour drive. The driver was supposed to give me a 15 min heads up and put the drinks in the fridge. Instead, he called me when he was on-site, refused to wait for me to get there, and drove off leaving 4 pallets smack dab in the middle of the kitchen! I managed to get into the venue with my groceries, and with the pastor's wife put away more than a pallet of drinks before calling it quits. She and I then headed to the church where we gathered supplies and scrubbed a cart clean! She kindly drove me home, and commented on how heavy my grocery bags were. I was pleased to realize I'm getting stronger! In the afternoon, I headed back to the grocery to buy more food and finished my shopping. I also made a pit stop at the printers, as I needed to print pages to go into my acrylic holders. However, the designs sent to me were the wrong size, and would cost 30 euro per sheet. I attempted to fix them on the computers there, but French power point and I did not get along. Eventually I just went home and tried to fix it (no joy). 

Saturday began the cooking haul. First came cooking the chicken, that eventually turned into a delightful buffalo chicken cheese sauce  by nightfall. I cut up piles of veggies for the grazing trays, and also prepped the components of taco salad to be tossed together. I made a run to the print shop, finally just printing what I had as I could. I also grabbed a few last-minute things at yet another grocery stop :) B came in the afternoon to help me with the decor. She and I have become good friends as we both came to Luxembourg around the same time. She came prepared with a bag of art supplies, and we worked together to cut and stuff the acrylic frames. After that, she arranged the many bouquets of flowers into the smaller vases, and we lined it up prepped for Sunday morning! 

The pastor's wife had been insistent that I needed a car ride to get all the things to the venue (which is 8 min walking/3min driving away from my house). I had planned on dragging things down to the bus stop, and even discussed with a friend to help, but luckily, she found me a car ride. Sunday morning, I ferried everything downstairs, and was shocked by how many things I was taking, and incredibly grateful for the ride. I packed a lot of the decor and my charcuterie trays into a suitcase, but besides the frames and candles for decor, I had 4 boxes of assorted vases, charcuterie and veggies for 100, and food for 25 besides! Early Sunday morning, I made the pasta, and simply mixed it with the pre-made sauce, topped it with blue cheese and more buffalo sauce, and stuck it in the oven to warm through and melt all the lovely cheese. My kind ride took me to the venue where we began the decor! 

I loathe balloon walls. They are absolutely delightful and gorgeous, but they are insanely difficult to make. Added to the hardship, was that the venue did not allow any tape on any surface, just on a few displays they had. Luckily, I had a wonderful team of volunteers who came up with creative and beautiful solutions resulting in a stunning balloon entrance to the auditorium, as well as two beautiful walls of gold decor. I managed a friend with a car who drove me home as the decor wrapped up to grab my buffalo macs and final boxes of food! 

After the service started, I began on my grazing table. I had my giant turkey platter that I love to use for veggie trays. I put a few hummus boxes in it, and dumped veggies around. Next was my Aldi dip holder, a present from my first house roommate, which has been used countless times. This holder held dried and fresh fruit. Finally, was my giant charcuterie server, a gift from my dad. It held various cheese and meats, as well as an assortment of crackers and raspberries. The table looked gorgeous and full! People were invited to have "an aperitif" while the real food tables were set up. 

Next was my mammoth job: guiding volunteers to transform the 300 odd person auditorium into seated tables for lunch. We had a plan, but even the best laid plans go awry! I was grateful for an amazing team, even if I didn't know their names, and had never met most before and most did not speak English as a first language. I emailed the volunteers earlier this week, and simply stated that I was of Indian origin and would probably wear a black dress. Several did find me, so it was a win! We organized the tables, and then ran into hiccups with blocking fire escapes, which resulted in some creative rearranging. After we put and lit almost all the pillar and tealight candles, facilities said we had to remove them, which was another hurdle. Added to the fact that most of the conversations were being held in German! I followed enough to get the general vibes, but was grateful for the many multilingual people surrounding me. Nonetheless, the space looked beautiful at the end. 

Eventually, it was time to tear down. One of my favorite things to do with flowers is hand them to random people at tables. Often, the organizers don't want the flowers; some want the containers. As most of the containers were mine, I certainly did! However, it is a simply magical moment to just hand someone flowers and say have a good week. The change on their faces is something I always love to see. Their eyes always alight on the flowers, and often some refuse the first time. But their joy when they accept and realize the flowers are from them- unmatched happiness. 

One of my favorite things to do at an event is take a pause moment as everyone is in the peak of enjoyment. Today, that moment came during dinner. Almost every seat was filled, and there was lively chattering throughout the room. It truly felt like a celebration, and I was so grateful to play a part in it. 

The events team is incredible. While all women, many of their partners could unofficially be counted part of it. The ones with older children help, while the partners with young children free up their wives by taking care of the kids. Most of the team members cooked as well, and there was heaps of delicious food from them. I'm the youngest on the team, and the only one not married or with kids. However, I feel like this is my sisterhood. The warm squeezes and hugs and compliments from them through the event filled my heart. We were truly a team. Each checking in on the others, ensuring food and drinks were obtained. Sharing hurting backs and aching feet and venting at the inevitable mishaps. I'm beyond grateful to be on this team. 

I'm grateful for a ride home. I realized cooking, and doing the grazing table, and the decor, are all things I normally would happily do in the USA. However, that is with the freedom a car brings. Doing everything including the shopping and other errands without a car was extremely challenging. Add to that an apartment building and miniscule elevator, and it can turn into quite the adventure! But here's too one adventure down, and hopefully not being as jetlagged on the next one.