In a sense, Sunday will be relatively normal for Lilly Bethune.

Nearly every week her two children stop by so that their kids can visit with their grandmother over a family dinner. It is a tradition that has spanned nearly a decade and continues to be a bright spot for the Manteca senior.

But Bethune knows that this Sunday there’s going to be something extra-special in the works for both her and her daughter.

“The kids normally bring cards and flowers and it’s wonderful,” she said. “Seeing everybody together is really what Mother’s Day is all about for me – it’s about family. And when I see everybody together eating dinner and laughing, I know that I did a good job raising them and can see that they’re doing the same with their kids.

“It’s kind of a day to take all of that in.”

And for those in the floral business, Mother’s Day means one of the busiest weeks of the entire year.

According to Manteca Floral Co. manager Tamra Carrillo, the four-person staff has been hard at work preparing arrangements for the big day and making sure that everything is ready for the delivery drivers to make their rounds when Sunday arrives.

It’s mostly mixed flower arrangements, Carrillo said, that are the most popular. While walk-in customers are a big part of their business they also anticipate filling as many as 250 individual orders before Sunday arrives.

“As we get closer it’s hectic making sure that we have everything that we need and everything is in place,” Carrillo said. “But at the same time I enjoy being able to talk to the customers and know that we’re going to be able to do something for them that is going to make that person they’re buying for smile.”

For Hanna Seus, who was in picking up a floral arrangement, Sunday will be a bittersweet day.

“I always enjoy getting to see my mother,” Seus said – noting that she passed away several years ago. “It’s always good to get together with the children that are still living around here as well.”

Not everybody, however, is turning to the traditional gifts in order to pay tribute to the woman that brought them into the world and raised them.

Hailee Miller decided than instead of getting bath gels or gift certificates like she has done in the past, she’s going to surprise her mom – who now lives in the foothills – with tickets to Cirque de Soleil in Sacramento.

“I’ve done all sorts of things for her, and she’s always said that she wanted to see this,” Miller said. “I think she’s going to be really happy when she opens that envelope.”