Saturday, December 28, 2013

Celebrating 33 years together...

...and preparing for the wedding of another son!

Yesterday marked 33 years of wedded bliss for my husband and me.  We are spending some post-Christmas/pre-New Year's time in the small town in Upstate NY where we grew up (and met, in high school, over 40 years ago).  We do this almost every December, after spending Christmas at our own home in NH, so that we can see family members from both my side and his.
Wedding day: December 27, 1980.
Last night, we decided to break away from the extended family gathering and have a nice romantic dinner--just the two of us--at a local restaurant known for its rustically lovely ambience, excellent service, and fine cuisine.  My husband had steak au poivre and I had beef Wellington, and oh my goodness, it was all indescribably delicious.  When they heard we were celebrating our anniversary, they gave us each a glass of champagne, on the house, which was very sweet.
33 years, five sons, and three granddaughters later!
We went to this particular restaurant with more than just our anniversary in mind, however; because in less than two months, we are going to host a rehearsal dinner in their event room, the night before the wedding of son #4, and we wanted to talk to the proprietor and get some questions answered.

That's right, dear readers; our #3 son just got married on Pearl Harbor Day and the ink is barely dry on his marriage certificate, and now son #4's wedding is just over the horizon.  All I can say is that life in a big family is always the most glorious roller coaster.  We had sons #1 through #4 in a span of just over four years, so I guess it should surprise no one that their weddings would take place in similar rapid-fire fashion!

I know that my first daughter-in-law Regina was thrilled when son #3's wife Preciosa joined the clan and helped to even out the ratio of men to women in the Pearl family.  Now those two gals will be able to welcome son #4's bride into the fold.  (I haven't come up with a blog name for this young lady yet, but I surely will.)

I'm sorry that I've been such an incredible slacker lately when it comes to keeping current here at "String of Pearls."  I'd love to get back to the habit of posting daily, and hopefully I will very soon.  I've got plenty of things to tell you about (I'm sure you're waiting with baited breath!  And by the way, what the heck does that phrase even mean?), once we finally get back home and the busy-ness of the holidays is past...and you know, all that's going on in my life is stuff like preparing for another wedding in our family!

I'm feeling overjoyed, overwhelmed, over-excited, and all sorts of other adjectives that start with "over."  Mostly, though, I'm just feeling over-blessed.

8 comments:

  1. Congratulations and happy anniversary and merry Christmas and happy new year!! ;D Man, rackin' up the reasons to celebrate this time of year!

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    1. Thanks, Iris. Hey...I still have two single sons. You wouldn't happen to be available, would you? ;)

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  2. Oh my gosh ... I totally forgot to wish you a Happy Anniversary! I am sorry about that. I love you guys and wish you 33 more (plus) years of wedded bliss!

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  3. Happy Anniversary!{{}} and another son getting married! It is all happening fast indeed:) well talking sayings, I want to know what a 'pig in a poke''s origins/meaning is.

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    1. Thanks, Erin! And you made me curious, so I looked up that phrase and here's what I found:
      A pig in a poke

      Meaning

      An offering or deal that is foolishly accepted without being examined first.

      Origin

      'Don't buy a pig in a poke' might seem odd and archaic language. It's true that the phrase is very old, but actually it can be taken quite literally and remains good advice.

      The advice being given is 'don't buy a pig until you have seen it'. This is enshrined in British commercial law as 'caveat emptor' - Latin for 'let the buyer beware'. This remains the guiding principle of commerce in many countries and, in essence, supports the view that if you buy something you take responsibility to make sure it is what you intended to buy.

      A pig in a pokeA poke is a sack or bag. It has a French origin as 'poque' and, like several other French words, its diminutive is formed by adding 'ette' or 'et' - hence 'pocket' began life with the meaning 'small bag'. Poke is still in use in several English-speaking countries, notably Scotland and the USA, and describes just the sort of bag that would be useful for carrying a piglet to market.

      A pig that's in a poke might turn out to be no pig at all. If a merchant tried to cheat by substituting a lower value animal, the trick could be uncovered by letting the cat out of the bag. Many other European languages have a version of this phrase - most of them translating into English as a warning not to 'buy a cat in a bag'. The advice has stood the test of time and people have been repeating it in one form or the other for getting on for five hundred years, maybe longer.

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  4. Happy Anniversary!! Beautiful, what an example for us all :).

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    1. Thanks for this sweet comment. I've made plenty of mistakes, but marrying that guy was the smartest thing I've ever done!

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