Why Do Weekends Go By So Fast?

Ahh…there is nothing like a 4 day weekend to recharge the batteries. It was quite an action packed weekend. A few of the highlights:
We started out the weekend with a mini-date night (grown-ups + one child) on Friday. We celebrated in our traditional way…a couple of ribeyes and a nice bottle of wine. Although I must admit, I’ve been struggling to reach my lofty standards of grilled steak perfection. My last two efforts have been good, but not the awe inspiring feats of steaky goodness, that I’m accustomed to. It’s the lack of daylight and the colder outdoor temperatures that have thrown off my routine. Yes, it’s true; the winter time is unkind to us hardcore grillers. But, with a little more practice, I’m sure I’ll return to my place as the “grill master”.
Saturday was official date night. We dropped the little one off at his Nana’s, and we were off to enjoy our freedom. My feelings of liberation were short-lived when my lovely wife suggested that we go to the mall to find her the perfect shirt to match the rest of the crew for our impending family picture. The parking lot was packed. I drove around for 10 minutes trying to find a parking spot before my bride suggested getting dropped off to get a jump on shopping. I told her I would call her once I found a spot and had entered the said mall. She called twenty minutes later and was wondering if I was having phone problems, since I hadn’t called to give her an update. Nope…the phone was working fine, just hadn’t found a parking spot yet. It is amazing what goes through ones mind when they seem to be wandering aimlessly through this blacktop hell. But, I’ll spare you the details, because it is the holiday season after all. I finally found a parking spot and rejoined my wife inside and we resumed the search for the matching outfit, that was color coordinated but not to the point that we were all the same. See matching but not too-matching like some creepy clones. She found the perfect blouse, after thoroughly searching no less than 7 stores. I was a trooper through it all and didn’t complain once. We went out for dinner and to celebrate our one month anniversary. I was wondering what the symbol is for the one month milestone….is it paper or maybe…umm…a kitchen appliance…I don’t know. I personally think it should be the tissue, because thinking about the wedding day still waters the eyes (more on this later). We finished up the night at home watching grown-up TV.
Sunday’s highlight was wrapping all of the kiddo’s Christmas presents while watching Christmas shows. I introduced my wife to one of my favorites, A Christmas Story. I was amazed that she had been deprived from seeing this classic movie for so long. It is truly a great movie and it makes me giggle like an idiot every time I watch it. The kids all returned home in the afternoon and we spent the rest of the day playing and watching the tube.
Yesterday we attempted the most feared feat for all families…the family picture. It is quite a challenge, especially when there are so many strong willed personalities in our family. But, I’m happy to report that we made it through relatively unscathed and I think there are actually a few good pictures that came out of it. I’m sure there will be some good ones, since we had our photographer from our wedding do the pictures. She is so talented and comes up with many unconventional poses and situations to capture stunning images of special moments. After the shoot, we were talking with our photographer and she was telling us how she was striving to get our wedding pics finished this week (I forgot to mention that we chose to have our family photos taken at the same place we held the wedding). (Okay…get your barf bags ready) She said that there are so many awesome photos of our amazing day. And continued by saying, our wedding was the smallest one that she ever shot but was the most intimate, romantic and heartfelt ceremony that she ever attended and looking at the pictures brought tears to her eyes. That meant a lot to me because I felt like it was an amazing day, but wondered if it had an impact on our guests and if they could feel the love that was expressed that day. In fact, my dear bride and I both felt that the honeymoon couldn’t even live up to the joy and happiness that we experienced that day. We heard many compliments from the attendees, but since they were either family or friends, I wondered just how genuine their praise was. The photographer confirmed our feelings about the wedding and it makes me wish you could bottle the feelings and emotion of that day. Of course…bottled or not…our mushy, sappy, and disgustingly romantic feelings keep getting stronger each day.
Okay…I’ll spare you any further punishment. Hope you have a great week and remember…only 12 more shopping days until Christmas.