Wow...What happened to November?

There has been such a flurry of activity that it is hard to figure out where to start….No…I take that back, it’s actually pretty easy to figure out…The Wedding…What a day!!! It was a small and somewhat informal ceremony, but it was amazing. When you have two people that have such a deep love for each other, professing that love in front of friends and family; it was very moving, to say the least. I mean, I’m hand in hand, looking at this beautiful woman whom is the love of my life; she tells me how inspiring I am to her and continues with “the day I gave her my heart, it became her most treasured possession.” It took my breath away. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the place (including myself). My (our) girls were superb and we were happy to include them in the ceremony by presenting them each with a family medallion. All the details came together seamlessly from the beautiful cake, awesome catering, the highly talented concert pianist and our phenomenal photographer. I can’t wait to see the finished pictures, because the samples that I have seen so far are amazing. I will finish off the talk of the wedding by saying I hope all couples experience the feeling that we felt that day. I really can’t put it into words, but I know I didn’t want the day to end. I think society sort of paints the picture that the wedding day is more for the bride and it is the old “ball and chain” for the groom. It couldn’t have been further from that for me, I felt like it was a celebration and I’m very excited for the future. Now to the honeymoon!

We decided to go to Disneyworld. I know you might be thinking that it isn’t the most romantic of places, but we are both kids at heart and with “the town that Mickey built” only one short non-stop flight away, it was really a no-brainer. We had a blast. The weather was perfect, crowds were remarkably light and lines were basically non-existent. Nobody does theme parks better than Disney. A few highlights were Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom, what a ride (other than being scared my lovely bride was going to abruptly barf when we started rocketing backwards through hills and turns). Mission Space and, the perennial favorite, Space Mountain didn’t disappoint either. By far, my favorite ride was Soarin at Epcot. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the attraction, you basically sit suspended in front of a giant movie screen that shows the awe inspiring scenery of California. The ride features scents from the scenery that you are viewing (ex. you smell oranges when flying over an orchard of orange trees, evergreen scents in an evergreen forest). You feel like you are really flying. I used to have dreams like that; where it was just my body, without any outside forces, soaring through the sky. Soarin literally gave me goose bumps and my wife and I rode it no less than six times. We returned to the reality of the real world slightly exhausted from taking full advantage of five days of “park hopping” and the Disney dining plan and all of its perks. Next up was Thanksgiving.

We chose (or were we elected?) to host our first Thanksgiving in our new home this year. My mother-in-law decided to help ease the pressure and ordered us a pre-cooked turkey with all of the trimmings, from the local grocery store. Thanksgiving morning we calculated the weight of the turkey and the length of the guest list (which grew) and figured that we would be left with zero leftovers (which is unpatriotic in my book). Luckily with the help of the internet and our grocery store’s supply of unfrozen turkeys, my bride saved the day. The “domesticated goddess” (see note) flawlessly pulled it all together for an extremely successful Thanksgiving dinner that totally belied our lack of experience for said event. NOTE: I started referring to my wife as domesticated goddess because when we first started dating she stated that she didn’t cook, but since we have lived together, she has been fabulous in the kitchen…well that it aside for only one incident that I can think of…tater-gate is what it is known as in these parts…but I won’t get into all of that. Truthfully I think she just told me she couldn’t cook so I’d love her for her personality instead of her culinary prowess…lol. Okay…back to the story: We capped the day’s events by setting up and decorating our Christmas tree. It is my first artificial tree and I was vehemently against “fake trees” in the past, but last year my beloved Frazier fir was a fire hazard by the time I removed it from the house and if someone so much as breathed on it, it would immediately deposit a bazillion (yes, I actually consider that a legitimate mathematical figure) pine needles on the floor. So it goes. Yes, I’ll miss the smell of a true pine tree, but that is what they make candles for and this way we get to enjoy the majesty of our tree for as long as we want. Plus, I think I like this new family tradition of decorating the tree on Thanksgiving Day.

Well…it looks as if I’m about at my self imposed word count limit, I think I’ll sign off…I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and were able to find many things to be thankful for. I hope the holiday season finds you in good health and good spirits. Take care.