Blocks 23 & 24

Blocks 23 & 24

I am blessed

to have found

someone I loved

so late in life

AND

he loved me too.

It was a beautiful day.

Our reception was held

at the Memorial home.

A historical home

that  had been bought years earlier

and an auditorium had been added.

The downstairs is just beautiful

and it was the right size for the number of people we invited.

Our wedding was at 10:30 in the morning.
I wanted people to be able to come

and then still have enough time

to Christmas shop

or do whatever else they had to do

on this Saturday

before Christmas.

Gene and his brothers,

Rick and Jerry,

were in charge of getting the

Snowflake Bear

in position to great people.

When I drove through town,

after getting my hair done,

this is what I saw on the hill

of the home.

You can see some snow on the ground.

That was SO PERFECT for the day.

I wanted a "winter/snowman" look inside

And the outside just set it up.

I was SO PLEASED

that the bows and ribbons

we had placed on the stairs

the day before

were still there.

No "little buggers,"

from the neighborhood,

had destroyed them.

When you entered the doors

this is what you saw.

My nephew,

Chris,

had taken the snow people we had bought,

and arranged this greeting scene for us.

He wanted greenery

so he "stole" it

from the pine trees in the yard of the home.

One of our guests

 wished her niece and nephew had been in town.

She thought this would have been

a great backdrop

for their winter pictures.

Chris was just a little

"shoemakers elf"

all the time he was helping decorate.

I had crocheted snowflakes

to use,

somehow,

as decorations.

Chris decided where they should go.

If you look back at the 1st picture

of the "Snow People Greeters,"

you will see snowflakes hanging from the top of the doorway.

Here's Chris, standing behind his "masterpiece"

The door behind him is the door behind the

"Snow People Greeters."

This is the stairway

to the unused 2nd floor.

Dianne (Ruhl) Schlegemilch

did the tulle decorations

to block the stairway.

This is my

FAVORITE Picture of the day.

Someone,

and I don't know who,

snapped this of us towards the end of the reception.

It is .

THE BEST PICTURE EVER TAKEN OF THE BOTH OF US

and it was taken

with one of those disposable cameras we put on all the tables.

If you are looking at the stairway,

the way you are now,

The woman's "powder room"

was to the left, down a small hall.

These are the decorations used in there.

Between the stairs and the auditorium

is the original kitchen and

 the room you are looking at now.

I have no idea what it would have been used for,

but now,

it is usually used as the
"food area"

for the parties given there.

Again,

notice the decorations . . .

ice blue table cloths

with a "snow person" centerpiece.

Across from the food,

in front of the windows,

We had more tables set up.

There is a Pepsi machine in the back corner,

a beer keg beside that,

on the table was coffee and hot chocolate,

the recipe I make every Christmas,

with candy canes for stirring.

We also had flavors to add to the

coffee and hot chocolate.

On the right of the table

you will see the apples

that were joined with pears and cheeses.

They were SO TASTY! ! !

This is the doorway into the auditorium.
(You can see the stairs in the background

so you have a frame of reference.)

The GORGEOUS tulle draping

was also done by Dianne.

When we left the auditorium,

after our rehearsal dinner

(we figured why rent someplace else.. . .

we bought chicken, mashed potatoes and rolls

from Mr. Happy Burger

and Matt,

I believe,

picked them up on his way from the rehearsal),

this had not been done.

I was SO AMAZED the next day

when I finally got a chance to look at it.

It reminded me of something

a fairy princess would have walked through.

Once in the auditorium,

this is what each table looked like.

In the middle of the tables

was a Boy Scout Popcorn Tin

(thanks to Debbie & Tim Senesac)

filled with my homemade Chex Mix.

The strings going up from the tables

help blue, sliver and white balloons.

Candles were scattered around the table.

(Thanks to Amanda and her family

for leaving the church before everyone else

and lighting all the candles for us.)

Each place setting included

a snowman,

holding a mini-snowflake I crocheted,

that we made out of the Crayola Modeling "clay."

You will also notice a booklet

at each place setting.

The front looks like our invitation

and our program at the church.

All three were held together by

ice blue ribbons

with another mini-snowflake crocheted by me.

In these booklets,

I explained:

1. that the food was made as a reminder of Western New York

(Buffalo Wings and Beef on Weck)

2. The servers were my best friends from my 1sr teaching job

(Jane, Kathy and Ann)

3. A paragraph remembering those who couldn't be with us.

(Mom, Dad,

Gene's Dad,

 Uncle Norman,

Bill & Bobby Bender

and

Jackie Smith)

4. And FINALLY, the best part of the booklet

I told people to help themselves

to ANY of the decorations they liked . . .

we had stored them for 1 year

and didn't want to take any home :0}

We ended up:

1. 1 table of decorations

2. two snow people

3. several of the smaller decorations from the bathrooms.

In the front of the auditorium

there is a stage.

We placed a gold "yard reindeer" with moving head

and a white "yard" Christmas tree on it.

To the left was Steve, who DJ'd for us.

To the right,

was the cake and "ice cream" table

I have never figured out

why people don't serve ice cream

with wedding cake?

We had Teresa,

who catered for us,

make "snow balls"

out of vanilla ice cream.

She piled them in a bowl

and served them with

hot fudge,

nuts

and cherries.

On the far left

of this table,

you can see a plate full of "turtles"

made by my cousin Debbie

and a plate of mints

made by my friend Vinnie.

Our cake table was so elegant.

I had shown Rhonda,

who made our cakes,

a picture of cakes at different heights.

I liked that SO MUCH BETTER

than a tall cake.

Then I asked if she could decorate them with snowflakes.

As you can see . . she could

and the different heights were perfect.

As a surprise

she made this cake

for Gene as his

"grooms" cake.

The quote

was what we used on our invitations.

These  two pictures didn't turn out great,

but they will give you

an idea of what the auditorium looked like

after we decorated it

This is one of the

"official" photographer pictures.

So much better than ours

from the night before.

And finally,

the bride and groom

before we went into the reception.

Until I saw this picture,

I hadn't realized what a beautiful day we had.

It was,

truly,

the  beginning of a "blessed" life together.

Dear Lord,

What can I say in a prayer that you don't already know? You so blessed me with a fantastic husband and a beautiful December day for our wedding. You allowed us to be surrounded by the people we love the most with food and drink to celebrate of the beginning of our lives as together as one. We were both content in our previous lives as middle aged singles, but I am so happy that You, in Your infinite wisdom, brought us together.

Amen

Blocks 15 & 16

Here we are,

Marilyn

Debbie,

Lee

and Paula.

Well, no Debbie yet.

But I can't remember a time

when we weren't all thought of in that way . . .

Marilyn,

Debbie,

Lee

and Paula.

Not in order of birth,

Lee,

Marilyn,

Paula

and Debbie.

That even was hard to think,

let alone type.

I wonder how we got the order we did?

Hum . . . .

interesting question.

I am going to "hypothesize,"

(for you non-scientists . . .

that means I am making an educated guess)

on our ages.

I am thinking this was taken

on my 2nd birthday,

January 11, 1951.

So I was 2,

Marilyn would be 3 the following October

and Lee had just turned 8.

Marilyn had to have her square done first.

Why?

She doesn't even know I'm making them.

It's just the process . . .

Marilyn 1st

and then Debbie.

I knew the color to use for Debbie's square 1st . . .

PURPLE ! ! ! ! !

Not a nice lavender

but a deep purple.

I finally ended up

with a variegated purple instead.
The square looks like it is a blue

that is just how the colors came out.

It is the same thread I used

for Mom's Lilacs

and Cindy's grapes.

Doesn't it look like purple in them?

Marilyn's was hard

when it came to color.

I always think of Marilyn

when I see orange bathroom accessories.

And when I say orange,

I mean

O-R-A-N-G-E ! ! ! ! !

She once had a bathroom

where she had orange towels.

When that color went out of style,

she had us all looking,

every time we went in to a store that sold towels

for O-R-A-N-G-E ones.

But,

I didn't like any of the orange colors.

(I wish she was like Debbie . .

had a Favorite Color,

but N-o-o-o-o-o-o-o.

I couldn't be that lucky.)

So I decided on a "calico" look.

Marilyn adopted "Chloe"

from the litter that

Matthew, Marcus and Nosey were in.

Chloe, who is now Callie,

was the long haired calico of the group.

Marilyn had,

in the recent past,

lost her Sabrina,

who was a calico,

and wanted another.

So, a calico theme it was.

Not 100% calico . .

but I do like the blend.

There should have been a touch of orange.

OH NO ! ! ! ! !

There is that orange word again!

LOLOL

Did we grow up?.

We sure did.

This is the four of us,

Debbie,

Lee,

Marilyn

and me.

(Hum. . I still am at the last of the list.)

My "hypothesis" for this picture is:

Debbie 6,

Lee 14,

Marilyn 11

and I'm 10.

And here we are

the Family Tree I am so proud of,

December 20, 2003 . . .

the day Gene and I were married.

Sitting:

Aunt Ruth and Allison

Standing:

Debbie,

Brian, (Debbie's son) in the front hiding Cindy who is hiding his dad Keith,

Matt, who is in front of Chris,

Myself and Gene,

Lauren,

Marilyn

and Lee.

Now that I am thinking . . .

"I wish I had a picture of just the cousins."

Never thought of that

and I don't want to think

about the next time it will be possible.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for "Marilyn, Debbie, Lee and Paula" which is what we were always known as. never Lee & Paula in the front, or a mixture of the names . . always in that order . . Marilyn, Debbie, Lee & Paula. Now that I'm looking at it, I wonder if that made me the caboose of the train and Marilyn the engineer? I must ask one day . . LOLOL

Sorry, Lord . . but it made me laugh. I know that the three of us would drive Aunt Ruth crazy when I stayed in Gary in the summer . . but thank you for making that possible. And, I became mature enough, thanks to your guidance, for Mom to let me ride the bus, by myself, to Gary. Aunt Ruth said even the thought of that would make her cringe today. LOLOL

I know, I know . . no laughing in prayers . . . but it is funny. While I was in Gary, Aunt Ruth would let Marilyn and I take the bus downtown to shop or see a movie. She would also let us walk to the little strip mall that they went to. My, my, how Gary has changed over time. .. but then, it was the perfect world for two adolescents to explore in safety.

You blessed me with wonderful cousins . . ones who I only saw several times a year, but when we got together, You made it as if we had never been apart. And now, as adults, we see each other SO SELDOM, but it is still pick up where we left off. Three peas out of the same pods of peas . . that's us. Always has been . . always will be.

Amen.

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