Christmas 2013: Part Two: Bloomington

Christmas in Bloomington was wonderful.

Joe, Jackie, Sarah, and Jacob were visiting too, which really made Christmas special.

We all got together with Nola and Mimi and had a Christmas book swap. I got this awesome book!

And we had a lavish farewell breakfast the day that the cousins left -- with Dad's eggs, potatoes, bacon, homemade biscuits, Christmas crackers, and a few small presents.

 

Merriment ensued.

We took the family portrait.

While I was in town, Mom and I got to hike at Lake Griffy.

On this lovely icy day.

We climbed all the way down these stairs at Leonard Springs.

And we had a fantastic brunch at the Punce with Nola.

And then it snowed. It snowed a lot. Right before David and I had to leave for our conference in Chicago. I was so happy to have this beautiful walk with Mom in the snow-covered, otherworldly woods. But I was less happy to drive through the snow-covered, otherworldly highways. They closed the roads in Indianapolis just after we got through them.

In Chicago, the snow stopped, but the temperature started to plummet. We stayed in our hotel almost the entire time we were there. This is the view from our room.

And the view looking down.

And this is all the sightseeing we did: the Magnificent Mile, glimpsed from the car window. Because it was on its way to -20. The day we left Chicago the weather forecast was calling for "Brutally Cold," "Dangerously Cold," and then "Just Cold." But luckily we were headed south.

A Labor Day of Love

For Labor Day weekend, we drove up to Indiana to celebrate Brenda and Will's wedding. The wedding party stayed in this hotel in Indianapolis.

We got in Thursday night. Friday morning was the wedding rehearsal, at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Indianapolis.

The cathedral is decorated with intricate and detailed ornamentation everywhere -- stained glass windows, ironwork in the shape of butterflies and flowers, carved ceiling vaults, and angels bearing the tablets of the Ten Commandments.

The rehearsal lunch was at an Italian restaurant.

 We got a chance to meet Brenda's family. I loved meeting these cousins!

A dinner theater troupe came to the rehearsal lunch and put on a show -- a murder mystery set in a production of The Wizard of Oz. Some of us played parts in the show, which was hilarious.

At the end some awards were given to Nola for her portrayal of the Wicked Witch, Margaret for her portrayal of a Munchkin, and Brenda's cousin's son for his portrayal of the Cowardly Lion.

And then everyone (except me and David) spent the evening at a baseball game.)

The next day, we gathered back at the Scottish Rite to take family pictures.

 Dad, Will, Uncle Ralph, Granddad.

Mom and Uncle Joe.

 Matt and Nola.

 Katy tried to get Eric to stand still for this picture with William, Jacob, Sarah, and Margaret. But Eric doesn't stand still very much.

 The lovely bride.

 I was an attendant in the wedding, along with Brenda's brother Marty. Her brother Cecil did a reading at the ceremony.

The ceremony combined American and Indian traditions. One of the traditions of the Syrian Christians of Kerala is this one: the groom ties a gold pendant called the minnu around the bride's neck.

 And he gives the bride a wedding sari (a manthrakodi), symbolizing her acceptance into the groom's family.

Some traditions were unique to Will and Brenda -- like the beginning of the ceremony, when a screen rolled down and we saw the Muppets singing "Somebody's Getting Married" from The Muppets Take Manhattan.

Brenda and Will exchanged vows and were married, and I tried not to cry!

Then Margaret and Junior came up and gave flower necklaces to Brenda and Will.

And then the party began, in this incredible room. We went up to the upper level, where we could see the tables set out for the reception.

We had cocktails, chatted, found our place cards -- Brenda and Will had made scratch-off place cards, like lottery tickets -- and wrote our wishes for the couple on Jenga pieces instead of a guestbook. The whole wedding was full of little fun and thoughtful details like that.

 Then the guests were seated, and Will and Brenda entered the reception.

There they had another Indian tradition, the mandap, which is a structure built and furnished for the bride and groom to sit in at the wedding.

We had dinner and filled out crossword puzzles that Brenda and Will had written with questions about themselves: What was the first country the couple visited together? What is the name of the couple's dog? I was proud that I made it into the puzzle (What is the name of the groom's sister?)!

Then there were toasts. My toast was a song that David and I wrote about Will and Brenda, called "Run Together". I'll post a video of the song later.

And then something really cool happened: the two families got together to play some music, along with some of the members of the wedding band. The band was amazing, and I loved getting to play with them. But the best thing was jamming with everyone: Brenda, Will, Dad, and Brenda's cousins Leena and George. We played "The Weight" and "Wagon Wheel."

 The couple's first dance.

 Brenda's parents on the dance floor.

Joe and Jackie dancing. I'm so glad I got to see them at the wedding!

 It was an incredible night. Everyone was having so much fun. David and I danced and danced, and finally we were all very tired -- especially Eric, who fell asleep in the mandap.

But we got up early the next morning for breakfast with some of the family, and then we all got together for an Indian feast. And when all that was over, David and I drove back to Tallahassee.

A Walk in the Blizzard