December Happenings

Natalie and Kurt Friedrich's Wedding and Reception

The theme for the wedding was simple elegance with lots of bbbling! Natalie wanted to use the mirrors and containers that the church has and so I added risers for some of the mirrors to add some dimension. The roses were velvety and full.

The containers were filled with crystals and lights to frame the floating dark red rose candles.

A photographer I am not.... in person it was a very pretty table. Natalie's photographer took some amazing pictures that you can be sure I will be ordering!!

The wedding cake was designed and created by Yolanda Seese. It was beautiful! A new trend for wedding cakes is to have a "fake cake." And that is what this is. The served sheet cakes they had also ordered. They were high, moist and very good!

This is the Bride's Table. This picture doesn't do this justice... I love this effect. It is one big tulle skirt with lights and bling! It was so pretty!

There were 2 of these arrangements on the Bride's Table... one on each end. We used liquid marbles and lights to make the vase glow like diamonds.

This is the centerpiece for the Bride's Table. The church owns this candleabra, and I think I feel the need to find one of my own!

I put the toss bouquet here and you can see the red votive candles that were at each place setting at this table.

Here's a brighter picture of the one centerpiece. You can better see the bling in the flowers and the if you look closely you can see the bling in the table skirt.

Chef Harry Greene was the caterer. The food was delicious! He caters a lot of things for our district and I have heard many great things about him and we weren't disappointed. They set a beautiful display as well.

For the gift table I placed a single black band of ribbon and fastened it with 2 "diamond" pins.

It was a beautiful wedding with a beautiful bride and handsome groom! And one of their ushers was mighty handsome, too! It was a privilege to be asked to do the flowers and reception for Natalie's wedding. She is one of Robby's best friends and that made it extra special for me to be able to do it.

Now on to our family.....

This is our little Angel.... she's such a stinker!!! We enjoyed having her here sooo much! But she is still so hard to get a picture of! We did take lots of video! She is her Daddy's girl! She likes to tell stories and add sound effects actions. And she loves to do things to make you laugh! And you have to watch out for when she wants to do something to provide that shock factor!!

Oh, she is a doll!

Every year the last ornament I place on the tree is this little gerkin pickle. If you read my pervious post you know that this year it is the first and last ornament I put on the tree! The one that finds the pickle gets a small gift....

The boys usually get into it and have been known to lay on the floor and look up, or climb in behind the tree and search high and low! Makenzi got into the search this year. She kept saying, "Here pickle!" This year was a challenge because there were 9 trees in the living room so I gave them a hint and told them that it was on one of the 3 big trees! I don't think they thought that was much help...

Kristi found the pickle nestled in the area that all the trees come together! The problem was that with the wedding and all the changes to this year's plans I forgot to buy the pickle gift! :o(

Kristi was a good sport and said it was just fun to look for it!

When the kids attended public school, on the last day of school when they got off of the bus I would have hot chocolate and cookies waiting for them. When we started homeschooling and then when Rob and Rachel went to college the day hasn't been as "set." But it happens every year. Now, not so much for the last day of school before break, but just for the fun of doing it.

We use this egg nog set that my sister made for my Daddy. It is so much fun to drink from these little boots! We have to have several refills, but maybe that is part of the fun!

This year we had sugar cookies (always on the menu!) cinnamon crunch cheesecake bars, and peanut butter cookies.

Rob and Kristi got me this sleigh serving dish for Christmas! It is so me! And it fit right in with my other kitchen Christmas dishes!

Several years ago I bought this Debbie Mum set. I do enjoy it. Most of my decorating is not cutesy and these provide a bit of whimsy that I probably need!

Here's the set with the cocoa in it! It sure was yummy!

The guys are so good to join in in all the fun, too!

Doesn't he look like the little boot is just his style!!

Kenzi wanted to have her picture taken like Papaw in front of the oven! She's so much fun!

I would have included pictures of the others but they are on the memory card that Rob accidentally took home! Since we have already had our Christmas so early, I get confused in the store and then think I am missing out on all the clearance sales!

"Christmas is together time."

~Charles Shultz

We enjoyed our together time with our family. This year's whole holiday season has been very different. I won't go into details but even with it being different I still had the joy of having all the kids under one roof. I loved hearing my boys play video games and laugh together and me not being sure which son it was laughing so hard at the other's mishaps! Until they would talk they'd sound so much alike. And watching Rachel with Makenzi is a joy... she is not really a baby person, you know. ;o) But she is a Makenzi person! Yes, it was wonderful together time. They will be back in Febraury and yes, I am already on the countdown!