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.