Rehearsal Dinner: Pizza, Christmas Crackers, Dinos, and School Spirit

Last night, we got back home from our week-long stay in VA, the highlight of which was our middle son's wedding on December 7.  (A Pearl wedding on Pearl Harbor Day...)  My husband and I spent  a week at a Residence Inn--from the Wednesday before the wedding to the Wednesday after--living in sort of studio apartment appointed with a kitchenette and a living area, with our oldest son and his family one door down from us in a two-bedroom, two-bathroom suite complete with a full kitchen and three flat-screen TV's.  If you ever find yourself having to stay out of town for more than a couple of days, or if you are traveling with babies and young children, I can't think of a better place to stay than at a Residence Inn by Marriott.  The beds are comfy and piled high with the kind of soft, squishy pillows I prefer, and the bedding is layer upon layer of snowy white sheets and comforters.  I love Marriott beds--that is, when I can't sleep in my own.  And just so you know, I am not being paid by Marriott to say all of this (although if they want to send me a check, I will accept it).

While we were Residence Inn residents, every single morning we anxiously awaited the "We're up!" text from my daughter-in-law, and then we'd walk next door, knock, and be greeted by happy cries of "Papa!" and "Grammy!" from the twins (2 and 1/2) and gummy smiles from Little Gal (10 months).  And every single morning, my husband and I each got to take the hand of one of our little buddies, and our whole gang trooped down to the dining room to enjoy a complimentary hot breakfast together.  We got to play with the girls constantly, to lie down with the twins at nap time, and to babysit a couple of times so their parents could have some brief getaways.  It was so much fun being next-door neighbors for a week. 

Of course, as comfortable as our digs were down there, and as much as we miss our three granddaughters now that they're back in CO and we're back here, it's always so wonderful to be home.  When my husband got into our bed last night, he let out a loud sigh of contentment. I was brushing my teeth and thought I heard a groan of pain, so I popped out of the bathroom to check on him.  "Everything okay?" I asked.  "This bed just feels so good," he explained.  Dorothy was right: there's no place like home.

Anyway, enough about our hotel accommodations!  I'm sure that's not what you're interested in hearing about--not when there's been a wedding in our family.  I'm still almost overwhelmed by the thought of trying to blog about it, because there's SO MUCH to say, and SO MANY good photos to share.  So I thought today I'd tell you about the rehearsal dinner, which--as the parents of the groom--was our most important wedding responsibility.

The dinner was held at Blue Mountain Brewery, which has a lovely event room that can be closed off from the main restaurant.  There is a long bar at one end of the room and a huge stone fireplace at the other.  Because our party was larger than the room proper could fit comfortably, they also let us use a small side porch with French doors that opened up to the event room.  This porch is open-air in the warmer months but is closed off and heated for the winter, and it made a perfect place for the 15 or so children 10-and-under to play with the toys we'd brought along to keep them amused.

Along with their specialty beers, Blue Mountain is known for their specialty brick oven pizzas.  Back when we were in the planning stages, we asked our son and his bride-to-be if it would be okay if we did a pizza buffet (which would include salad and dessert), and they were both enthusiastic about the idea.  "It'll be like our Christmas Eve pizza dinner," my son said.  And that got me so excited, because the rehearsal dinner was going to be on December 6 (the Feast of St. Nicholas!), which made it a perfect occasion to give our 70-plus guests a little taste of our family's special holiday tradition.

I've blogged about our Christmas Eve pizza-and-Christmas crackers tradition before, if you want to read about that here.  In our family, it really wouldn't seem like Christmas Eve if we didn't open those crackers, ooh and aah over the cheap trinkets inside them, and read each other the incredibly corny jokes.  It wouldn't seem like Christmas Eve if my guys didn't don those paper crowns.

1999

 

2001 (Ignore '98--I never could figure out how to
program the date on that camera!)



I ordered the rehearsal dinner crackers from a company called Olde English Crackers.  They make completely empty ones you can fill yourself, completely filled ones, or semi-filled ones.  I decided to order them semi-filled, with the jokes and paper crowns inside; then I could add my own components so they'd have a more personal touch.  (The usual trinkets inside are sort of lame; when we open our Christmas Eve crackers, our kids will joke, "Oh great! Another plastic shoe horn!  I only have five already!" or "Another yo-yo that doesn't work!")  My middle son, along with his four brothers, is and always has been a huge dinosaur fanatic, and the bride loves monograms.  So our rehearsal dinner crackers were finished off with plastic dinos for the groom-to-be and Hershey's miniatures with monogrammed wrappers (it's amazing what you can find on-line!) for the bride-to-be.  I have to say, putting together these crackers, and hoping the rehearsal dinner guests would enjoy them, was the most fun part of preparing for this event.

Along with assembling these special rehearsal dinner crackers, I also had fun planning a decorating scheme that I knew would be a hit with both of the guests of honor.  These two kids are a pair of dyed-in-the-wool college football fans.  As crazy as my son (and the entire Pearl family) is about Notre Dame football, my new daughter-in-law is the very same way about her alma mater's team.  I already had plenty of Notre Dame-themed fabric lying around, but I asked my sister-in-law who lives in Florida if she could pick me up four yards or so of Florida State fabric, if she happened to run across any.  The décor came together very easily after I got my hands on that FSU material; I used it to make a bunting to hang on the fireplace mantle and also to make some of the components of the table centerpieces.  I used gold charger plates that I already had on hand, and I cut out a circle of  Notre Dame fabric to put in the centers, then topped them off with battery-operated pillar candles.  I made placemats to put under the chargers out of the FSU fabric.  Along with the gold crackers, this was just enough to make the square tables of eight look fun and festive.  For the two longer tables, I put the chargers on draped fabric instead of small placemats, to give them a more dramatic effect.

When it came time to open the crackers, my husband explained the tradition to our guests, and he said that although we usually wear our crowns throughout our meal on Christmas Eve, he didn't expect them to do that--but if they could just let me go around and snap some photos before they removed them, that would be appreciated.  Well, I'll tell you, that was such a fun crowd!  Most of them kept those crowns on all night!  I love this shot of the handsome prince and his beautiful princess, along with her parents.  (Notice that the bride and groom-to-be are even dressed in their team colors!)

My husband also said that he wouldn't make our guests stand up and share their jokes with everyone, the way we do at home, but perhaps they could share them at their tables--which apparently they did!

The plastic dinosaurs inside were a hit.  (I was going to say especially with the under-10 crowd, but the over-10 crowd might have enjoyed them even more!)

Even though I knew Blue Mountain was providing a gourmet brownie assortment for dessert, I felt I just had to bring a homemade cake.  For every birthday and important occasion in my sons' lives, I have always made a cake.  I made a cake for my oldest son's rehearsal dinner four years ago; I decided I'd make one for this son, too.  And what better theme for this "groom's cake" than a T-Rex?

This cake really didn't come out the way I'd intended it to, and I almost didn't bring it because I was a little embarrassed about how amateurish it was.  It did taste a whole lot better than it looked, though, which is good.  That weird shape on the bottom is supposed to be a tail, but one guest commented that he thought it was a tank tread.  (My son is an Army captain in the Reserves, so that works, too!)  The little separate heart-shaped cake, complete with monogram, was added for the bride's benefit.  I'm so glad now that I brought this silly dinosaur cake, because when someone told my son how delicious it was, he proudly said, "That's the cake I got to have for every birthday growing up, and I've had that cake hundreds of times in my life."  It made me so happy to give my boy something, on the eve of his wedding, that brought back positive memories of growing up in our house. 

It's hard for me to describe the energy and joy that filled that event room during this party.  I think I can safely say that a good time was had by all.  The bride-to-be's family couldn't say enough nice things about it.  But most importantly, I know that we made our son and his best gal very, very happy that night, and that all the little touches--the pizza, the Christmas crackers, the dinosaur toys and dinosaur cake, and the décor celebrating FSU and ND school spirit--were very much appreciated by both of them.

Sometimes, pictures really do speak a thousand words, so I  think I'll just post a few here.  And I'll be back again...because if you think the rehearsal dinner was awesome, you should have seen the wedding.

 

The "Shoe Game"--have you heard of this?  It's sort of like the old "Newlywed Game" TV show.



This rehearsal dinner party was a pretty huge success for my husband and me--so I thought I'd share this post over at CatholicMom.com., where it's Small Success Thursday.

Young Adults, and Adults Who Are Young at Heart

An article--written by Cheryl Dickow and titled "Young Adult Books Aren't Just for Young Adults"--appeared yesterday on the Bezalel Books blog, and in it Finding Grace was mentioned.   I thought I'd share it today...because I'm trying to organize all my pictures (and my thoughts!) to write up some posts about the absolutely amazing weekend we just had, celebrating the marriage of our third (and middle) son--and I'm not up to doing the task justice just yet.  On Wednesday, bright and early, my husband and I are leaving VA and heading back up to New England, and when I get settled back into my usual routine at home, more posts about the rehearsal dinner, the wedding, and the reception will be forthcoming.  Promise.

Meanwhile, Christmas is fast approaching, and my publisher is encouraging me to redouble my efforts to "sell" my book.  She has even dropped the Kindle price from $7.99 to $4.99, and with that attractive new price tag, she believes it would make an excellent Christmas gift for the young (or not so young) special reader on your shopping list.

If you have the time, click on the article here.

Speaking of young adults, here's a photo of son #3, the groom, carrying his younger brother (son #4), the best man.  They are 27 and just shy of 26 now, but still very young at heart, as you can see.

In some ways, they will always be the silly, rambunctious, sweet little boys I remember from days long gone.

 

And while we're on the subject: has there ever been a dad who gazed at the face of his beloved daughter on her wedding day, as he prepared to walk her down the aisle and give her away to another man, who didn't look at her and see the little girl who used to climb into his lap and wrap her arms around his neck?  I suspect that's what my new daughter-in-law's "Papi" was thinking when he looked at his baby girl here, just moments before he gave her away and she became my son's wife.

If you have a teenaged daughter who dreams of finding her Prince Charming one day, too, and walking down the aisle toward him on her father's arm, wearing a beautiful white gown and veil, perhaps you should gift her a copy of Finding Grace.  Perhaps it would inspire her to wait patiently and chastely for the man of her dreams to come along and sweep her off her feet.  Perhaps if more young women received the messages that are hidden in the pages of my story, they would be as happy on their wedding day as was this beautiful new Pearl who's been added to our family string.

An Article and a Picture...or Two

An article titled "A Penny Pincher's Christmas" was posted this morning on the Association of Catholic Women Bloggers website. I was so happy to see Finding Grace mentioned.  The Kindle price has been reduced from $7.99 to $4.99, just in time for Christmas.  If you'd like to read that article, click here.

And because I know that anyone who visits here often is interested in seeing pictures from my son's December 7 wedding, here's a shot of me with the four brothers who were in the wedding party: on the far left is the best man, and the rest were groomsmen.  (I had my husband sneak it when the bride and groom and all the bridesmaids were being photographed by the professionals.)

And before I sign off, here's a shot of the entire epic-sized wedding party.  (You'll really need to click on the image to enlarge this one, so that you can see all those wonderful smiling faces.)

More to come soon, I promise!

The First of Many Wedding Photos

I'm back after a pretty long hiatus...but as you know, we had a BIG EVENT in our family this weekend.  Our middle son got married!  It's late, and I really need to get to sleep--but before I do, I thought I'd share one of the photos I took at the reception, which was held in the most bucolic and magnificent setting imaginable (King Family Vineyard in Northern VA).  As my oldest son's wife noted, the surroundings were reminiscent of the English countryside--gently rolling hills, stables, horses and cows grazing on the hillside.  What a lovely backdrop it made for the photos of the wedding party!

I was going to leave my camera in my car and fight the urge to snap away as usual.  As the mother of the groom, I thought I ought to be off the clock for once and just relax; after all, there were professionals on site to take care of that sort of thing.   But I just couldn't help myself, and my husband encouraged me to do it.  So I joined the pros, who were incredibly nice people.  They were very  patient with me and assured me that I wasn't bothering them.  (Thanks!  You guys are the best.)

The photo I'm going to share here is quite special, because my new daughter-in-law is holding a picture of her parents on their wedding day, and my son is holding a picture of my husband and me on ours.  The idea is that when their own children get married, they can be photographed holding THIS picture, and that way it will include their parents and both sets of grandparents.  As my son, a proud new husband, commented about his lovely bride, "She has lots of good ideas."  Indeed she does!

There is nothing better than seeing the look of love and joy on the faces of these newlyweds.  Life is good.  So very good.

Dapper Suits and Church Aisles

My husband and I are getting on the road today, driving from our New Hampshire home down to Virginia...because on Saturday, our middle son is getting married!

He's going to don a dapper gray tux with a navy blue bow tie, and after a Mass celebrating the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, he'll be walking down the aisle of the church with his beautiful young bride on his arm.

It seems like only yesterday that he donned a tiny navy-blue-and-white-striped seersucker suit that I'd originally made for his older brother and walked down the aisle of the church where his cousin was being baptized, holding onto the hand of his beloved Papa.

He was a charming cutie pie back then in 1987...

....and he still is today.  As much as ever, or even more so--in my unbiased opinion.

Please keep our boy and his soon-to-be Mrs. in your prayers as they prepare to embark on their married life together!

We Have a Winner!

On this first Sunday of Advent, I am happy to announce the winner of the giveaway.  It is my Aussie friend ERIN, who is a homeschooling mother of nine (going on ten!) and blogs at Seven Little Australians and Counting.  Erin and I have been "talking" via our blogs for some time now, and it is my pleasure to gift her with a signed copy of Finding Grace--particularly because I believe she has some kids who might be just the right age to enjoy it.  (But I hope you'll enjoy it, too, Erin!  Although it is categorized as "teen/young adult" fiction'" it is also considered "women's inspirational Christian fiction.")

I wrote the names of everyone who left me comments--whether on this original post announcing the giveaway, or on this reminder post, or on any post that's appeared on this blog from the time the contest started until last night at midnight--on little slips of paper.  Then I put those papers in my husband's leather cowboy hat (which makes him look like an Australian rancher, in my opinion--so perhaps it was in the cards for Erin to win!).  I made my rancher wanna-be shut his eyes and pick the winner for me.  And there you have it.

Erin, please contact me using the "Email me" button on the lower right side of the page, so that I'll know where to send the book--and I'll have it out to you as soon as I possibly can.  (My husband and I are getting on the road Monday morning to head down to VA for our son's wedding, so if I haven't heard from you before we leave, I'll bring the book with me and ship it from down there after we arrive and get settled in.)

This is my third book giveaway here at "String of Pearls," and I had more names in the hat for this drawing than I did either of the other times!  Thanks to everyone who played along.

Have a beautiful Sunday, and God bless you and yours throughout this beautiful season of Advent.

The Family Christmas Book, by Traditions Press

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, can we officially talk about Christmas?  Good!  Because as I've told you already, I like to start early.  There's nothing like pre-Christmas anticipation.

On a recent re-post of "Cwismas Memowies" (which originally appeared on this blog two years ago), I got a comment from a reader I'd never "met" before, who wanted to know if I had any recommendations for Christmas memory-keeping books.  Ours, a gift from my mother-in-law, had room to record the events of 11 Christmases.

That sweet little hardcover journal called Deck the Hall actually came in a special boxed set of books titled collectively "Christmas at Our House."  These books are filled with the most lovely artwork and I treasure them.  I have no idea where my mother-in-law found this unique gift (although I'd hazard a guess that it was at T.J. Maxx).  So far, I haven't been able to locate this set of books on-line, so it may be out of print.

There are other great Christmas memory books out there, however.  After their marriage, I gave my son and his wife a book I'd heard about through a friend.  It's called "The Family Christmas Book" and it has space to record the special memories of 25 Christmases.

This hardcover gem, destined to become a family heirloom, has a vintage look about it and has been around for quite a while.  (I know this because my friend had recorded almost 20 Christmases in it already by the time she told me about it a few years back.)   It was written by Nancy Simms Taylor and is published by Traditions Press.  If you'd like to check it out, just head on over to
http://www.traditionspress.com/shoppingcart/

I may just have to get myself a copy of this one, too...to record memories made with my grandchildren!

(P.S.: This is the last day to enter the giveaway contest. If you want a chance to win a signed copy of Finding Grace, leave me a comment before midnight.  I'll announce the winner tomorrow.)