Happy 80th Birthday, Papa!

John's grandfather had his eightieth birthday this past November, and we had a wonderful surprise party to celebrate his life. I have only known Papa for a little over four years, and all I can say is that he is truly an amazing man! He came over from Italy at nineteen years old with nothing. He worked long hours doing hard manual labor to support himself, and later to support his wife and his four children. To know a man with this determination in life, and further to know the love that he has for his family is incredible. I felt so special when I heard him refer to me as his granddaughter, and I feel blessed to have both Nana and Papa in my life. I only pray that my children will come to appreciate Nana and Papa, as well as the love that is in this wonderful family!With family being the center of Papa's life, I felt it fitting to create a "family tree" of sorts for his birthday cake. Since he is Italian, and has made wine, I decided to make a family grapevine. On the top of the cake was a wine bottle that said "Claudio" By Corrado & Maria. From that bottle of wine were four vines, representing his four children. From each vine was a bunch of grapes, one for each family member. On each of the tiny, one inch grapes, I piped the name of every family member. Twenty three little grapes in total!! The leaves on the vine were made with a fondant press and the bottle was hand sculpted, as were the grapes.