There’s a barrio fiesta in the city because our nanny Marlyn is 60!

Last 22nd of May was a very joyful and memorable day as we celebrated the 60th birthday of our dearly beloved nanny Marlyn. I always get teary eyes every time I remember that we were kids when she entered our family. She had been with us since I was 5 years old.

For 32 years she had served us not just with doing many things for us but also doing those things with humility, loyalty, care, patience and love.

She took good care of me and my 3 siblings while my mom and dad were always at work. Now, she’s helping me take care of my daughter. Sometimes she also helps baby sit and watch over my nephews. For a long time, she served as a second parent to us which is why we treat her as a valued family member. I really thank God for giving her to us. I deeply pray to God that she’ll have good health and happy and peaceful life. She’s such a great blessing to our family. In fact, she’s a wonder woman to me because she handled the 4 of us; from cooking, house cleaning, doing the dishes and laundry, to even bringing our lunch to school, feeding us and bathing us, name it, she did all of it! She’s very industrious, generous and helpful not just to our family but to her relatives and friends as well.Everything she did cannot be repaid by money alone. On the day she will turn 60, we believed that she’s very deserving of a memorable party.A month before her birthday, we planned to go with something fun like a barrio fiesta theme because it’s the month of May plus knowing that lots of fiestas are celebrated here in the Philippines.Everyone in my family contributed money and effort to make the party possible. Nang Marlyn’s friends and relatives also helped us with running a lot of errands.Since the theme of the party is barrio fiesta which is a cheerful celebration in our country, we made sure that the decorations resemble the traditional fiesta and so, we used bilao, banana leaves, native fans, native baskets, bamboo coin banks, DIY colorful paper roses and clay pots which were traditionally used during the old times.The foods consisted of delicious native Filipino dishes and delicacies like Lechon or roast pig in English, chicken tinola, karne frita, fresh lumpia, relyenong bangus, pancit, embutido, kutsinta, banana cake, polvoron, barqueron, pastillas, yema, sweet tamarind and more.Our games included the traditional fun Filipino games such as Pabitin and Pokpok Palayok or Hitting the Pot in English, Kape (coffee) Drinking, Cola Drinking, Bring Me What I Want and many more.The party was held in our humble home and everything was just fun and went smoothly even if it rained in the evening.The guests enjoyed the party. The celebrator was very happy and thankful that she was given such love, attention and appreciation. It was indeed a fun-filled and unforgettable party!We are very happy that our Nanny Marlyn is very happy. The party was a family effort and we would be happy to be able to do this again when she turns 70.