Dec 29, 2009 | Friends & Fun, Holidays, It's all relative |
happy
full of laughter
a little bit of sadness
joyful
wonderful
Those words just about sum up our Christmas. To describe everything would take many, many posts, so instead I’ll try to give a quick summary.{“Quick summary”? Since when have you ever given a quick summary? You haven’t even finished blogging about Daniel’s wedding yet.}
Anyway.
Christmas Eve- Daniel, Erika, and Wesley arrived around 3 o’clock Christmas Eve laden with gifts, food, and the excitement and expectation of, for Erika and Wesley, experiencing for the first time our large, loud, Italian Christmas. We didn’t have to make the long and arduous trek all the way across the yard to my aunt and uncles until 5 o’clock, so we used the time to do what we always do on Christmas Eve: finishing projects and wrapping gifts. Well, some of us did finishing and wrapping. The other some played the piano, drank tea, ate cheese and crackers, and basically just watched us work. But really, it was nice to have the CCE(Cutest Couple Ever)and Wesley to visit with while we were finishing.
Christmas has always had a little bit of sadness since Grandpa died but I’m so thankful its getting a little easier. Of course, I DO wish he was still here, and I DO wish that Erika and Wesley could have known him but I know that he would be happy that we continue to celebrate Christmas the same way we always have. The way we did with him. I also know that he would have LOVED Erika!
We always have tons of delicious food on Christmas Eve but this year just may have topped all the others. If I described it all any last possibility of this being a summary post would go out the window{if it hasn’t already}. I always make fudge and this year I made the winner of The 2009 Search for the Latest and Greatest Christmas Recipe, Oreo Balls. Pure yumminess.
After we ate, we all went into Grandmas part of the house for our Christmas carol sing. Since we had Wesley with us this year, he played and our singing never sounded better. It was so beautiful. Have I mentioned that he’s a very well-known organist in the organist world and I could listen to him playing the piano for the rest of my life and never tire of it? It was the general consensus that he should become our permanent pianist. Our family specialty song is We Three Kings; we always stretch out “oh,Star of Wonder” to “oooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….” in honor of Auntie Evelyn{Grandpas sister}who started it.My favorite Christmas carols are
Away in a Manger and Oh Holy Night but I love so many more!
Aaron and Wesley discussing the songs. When Wesley is a very well-know organist to people outside the organist world{the world that I live in}, remember that you first heard about him here.
Grandma and Andrew singing away. I’m pretty sure this was when we were singing The Little Drummer Boy. Or “the rump-a-tum-tum song”, as my uncle calls it.
Skip ahead about half an hour and you’ll find us opening gifts. Almost all the good pictures are on Andrew’s camera which is with him in NJ, but we did get a couple on my camera.
Zachary was so excited about the hat and scarf Mom made him. He kept saying “look Mommy! A scarf! I really wanted a scarf! Look at it, Mommy!” It was really cute.
Alyssa wearing her new hat and scarf. My favorite part? The little button on the visor.
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When we got home, we did our gifts to/from Daniel and Erika since they spent Christmas day with her family. They gave me a really pretty beaded white and yellow necklace that I wore to church on Sunday. Its nice because its not like any necklace I already had in either style or color. They also gave us an 81/2 by 11 print of the picture we used for our Christmas cards. I love it! And yes, she did really like the earrings I made her!
Examining the sweatshirt that must have been terribly exciting, judging by the way they’re all looking at it! 🙂
This picture was actually taken Christmas morning, but its the only good one from my camera of Elizabeth wearing the earrings the CCE gave her. They also gave her a matching necklace she wasn’t wearing at the time. Aaron gave her the letter Rubiks cube game.
Christmas day will be up tomorrow when I’m done making oreo balls at 12:52AM. And when I’ve had about 62 more hours sleep. And when I finish the post{but thats sort of a given}.
Oct 29, 2009 | It's all relative |
You may have started wondering why I haven’t said anything about Daniel and Erika’s wedding on Saturday , and only put up ONE picture, since I’ve been talking about it basically non-stop since May 1st. The simple answer is that I am still completely in shock over the beauty and perfectness that was October 24th, 2009. I realize this may be a rather biased and controversial statement so if you’re married feel free to skip to the next sentence, but I have never in my life-time and long, extensive wedding history seen a more beautiful, touching, sweet, and completely perfect wedding. In other words, it was a Mary Poppins “practically perfect in every way” wedding.
As I mentioned once or fifty times before, Erkia’s brother Wesley was her maid man of honor. As such, she decided that Saturday he would get dressed at the same house as us girls. She wanted him right there with her as she prepared for the wedding just the way that any “regular” maid of honor would be. Some of the sweetest moments of the day were when he was helping her put on her necklace and later, in the pouring rain, holding an umbrella over her head as he helped her out and into to the car. I easily could have cried about it if it wasn’t for the fact that I was too busy trying to protect my hair from the pouring rain by holding one hand over my head in a sort-of makeshift umbrella and using the other hand to protect my dress from the flood of water running down the driveway.
I feel I should mention here for all of his posterity that Wesley was a fantastic man of honor for his sister. He was such a good sport about spending almost all day long with us girls and even seemed to have some fun with us. Not that there is anything wrong with us girls of course(quite the contrary…), I’m just saying some guys would not have loved their sister enough to not think twice before doing what he did for his “best friend”! And his speech at the reception? I hope somebody got that on camera.
Kim did a wonderful job decorating the church with mums, pumpkins, squash and candles. On the end of every pew on the side closest to the aisle were long black candle holders with a lit candle. It was so pretty looking down the aisle at the candles and flowers as we walked in. By far my favorite thing to see as I walked down was Daniel waiting so handsome at the front of the church. He was practically bursting with happiness. I am so proud of that boy for finding such a wonderful wife!!
To those who say all brides are nervous wrecks, I say you have never seen a bride like Erika. She was so cool, calm and collected the whole time. Not to say there weren’t moments when she wasn’t nervous or anxious, but to see her sitting there so beautifully with her train on a chair behind her eating celery(I know that’s not romantic but its part of their wedding story),and talking and laughing with us you never would have know. I think a lot of that comes from them being so very comfortable with each other. In fact, I think the most stressed she was all day was about her dad arriving on time!
We have only seen a few pictures so far so I don’t have many to share yet. I was dying a sad, slow death at the beginning of the week because I hadn’t seen any pictures at all when an email from Dani’s sister arrived containing 8 pictures and saved the day. I’m counting down the days until we see the rest of the professional pictures because I know they’ll be beyond beautiful. I am so hoping there’s a picture of another sweetest moment: Daniel wiping away Erika’s tears with his handkerchief. The collective sigh from the guest almost blew out the candles. I’m sure I’ll be talking about the wedding for awhile and showing lots of pictures; how can I not when it was such a special event?!
Oct 7, 2009 | It's all relative, Uncategorized |
Do you ever get the feeling that the Egyptian/ancient history sections of the museum needs a little livening up? Oh. Maybe its just my family(mostly me and Dad!). We thought this poor headless, armless, rest-of-his-bodiless man(?) needed a little help so Dad jumped right in and helped him out. He even did the whole Egyptian dance. 🙂
Sep 24, 2009 | It's all relative |
One month until the wedding of Daniel and Erika!!
Sep 11, 2009 | Friends & Fun, It's all relative |
I couldn’t in good conscience not show these pictures from (you guessed it)Erika’s shower. Such a special event demands nothing less then 3 or 35 posts*. So with further ado…
My aunts Diane and Janet with Mom
Auntie Carol and Elizabeth. Carol holds the important position of Mother of the Flower Girl and Ring Bearer. Never underestimate that position; its a high calling.
Grandma with her adopted granddaughter, Katie
I love this picture of when Erika arrived. She honestly had NO idea at all what we had planned. Daniel did an exceptional job of getting her there, and keeping it a surprise, even though so many unexpected things came up and they didn’t arrive ’til 1.5 hours late. I think he just might be a good husband! 😉
I know you’re wondering why we’re all sitting on the stairs having our picture taken with a phone. Being the obliging person that I am, I will explain it to you. Erika choose to have her brother Wesley stand in the place of Maid of Honor. They have always been extremely close and Erika wanted him standing by her side on her wedding day. Although unusual, I understand why she wants to do it. So, since Wesley called just when we were taking our bridal party picture he had to be included in it. He was there in phone in spirit if not in person.
*Heaven help us when the wedding day actually arrives. I just may have to start a whole new blog to cover everything!
Sep 4, 2009 | It's all relative |
One of the games we played at Erika’s bridal shower showed off the latest(and greatest?)in wedding dresses…toilet paper style. Don’t be surprised if you see these very dresses in the latest editions of Vogue or Modern Bride.
My team created this beautiful dress for Marissa. It featured twisted spaghetti straps and a lovely sash in the back. As you can see in the picture, we also formed a white flower to go over the left strap. To finish off the look, we made a veil and small bouquet of white flowers. Although it is hard to tell, the bodice of the dress was “embroidered” with sweet little flowers and designs. I have such talent at picking out good toilet paper.
Elizabeth’s dress had a Medieval/Egyptian flair to it. I really liked her full veil and the gold ribbon that went over it. They added a little color by attaching one of the crazy barrettes we handed out for a different game to the top of the veil.
Now showing–Molly.
Her dress was very…..creative. Especially up near the neckline. Her bouquet was very nice; her designers did a nice job adding the pink ribbon. You can tell that Elizabeth and Molly’s designers are related because both girls have gold ribbon, long veils and flowers in their hair. Thankfully no one started complaining about having their ideas stolen. 😉
Here are all the brides waiting patiently for Erika to come up the stairs. They were all such good sports about being wrapped within an inch of their lives dressed up for so long. Due to some miscomunication Erika didn’t arrive until around 12:30, an hour and a half after she was expected. We had planned it so that everyone would be “in” their dress for when Erika got to the shower. Its not easy to eat,walk, and make a scrapbook when you’re dressed like this! Thank you so much girls!
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A final thought brought to us by Molly(who,lest you forget, is only 4):
“I never thought I would see the day when a bunch of ladies were dressed up in toilet paper.”
