Christmas wedding "surprises"

Posted Monday, December 10, 2007 1:23 AM

Will and I just got back from Mom's and Dad's houses tonight; we had that early Christmas with both of them since we'll be gone to Auburn soon. I never thought the wedding could connect so much with Christmas, but I guess for my family it has.

At Mom's house, we received a German 10-cup coffeemaker, and my aunt sent my mom one of those "Everything Series" books for the mother of the bride. (I peeked: there's some good advice in there! I'd get a "Mother of the Groom" book for Anne, but that series doesn't have one ) I guess I should have backtracked, though, because the best part came when I took my stocking down from the mantel: Mom stuffed candy and silly stuff in there, but there was a bridal magazine at the bottom! It's a different issue than the one I picked up, so I'm happy...and even Will laughed. (He doesn't tease me that I'm not "allowed" to buy mags anymore. Haha!)

On our way back to the apartment, we stopped by Dad's house to have dinner and shoot the breeze. He and his girlfriend gave us a pretty substantial gift card to Sam's. Not exactly wedding-connected, but perfect for grocery trips. We did settle the guest-list issue, though. (He was always a big tease when I was growing up, and it hasn't stopped. Lately all his "jokes" centered around inviting his fishing buddies to the wedding..men and their wives I've met before, but haven't spent much time with. To make a long story short, I've never been comfortable around them, and neither was Will once they met. Dad told me repeatedly that it "wouldn't be a wedding!" without them. So...Will and I started rehearsing the perfect response: the guest list is small, since most of the burden falls on us to pay for it. He seemed okay with that, but his girlfriend really sealed the deal when she gently reminded him "it's your daughter's day. She and Will have the final say in who's there, and who isn't." (My family is very understanding, usually, and he seemed to take it well. He never meant any harm with his jokes, but now we really have peace of mind.)

Most of the talk after that involved tuxes, and appropriate father-wear..but his girlfriend took charge of that, too, since her daughter got married about 10 years ago, and she can guide Dad through some of this, with our ideas in mind. Hooray!

 All in all, this weekend = fun at both houses, so I'm glad of that. Now it's on to our second holiday in Alabama..and more surprises there. I've had questions about my shoe size and my shirt size, so I'm already wondering...