This is our first Christmas together as Mr. and Mrs. and it is totally not what I expected last year. I thought we'd have trouble deciding what to do, which family to spend it with, but we just did lunch with one side and dinner with the other on Saturday. We had dinner with some friends today (which makes me think that other people didn't make this holiday so family-centric either) and as we were driving around, I noticed quite a few places still open.
Actually, unlike last year, I felt like we didn't really do much celebration this time around. In combination with the warm weather, it hardly felt like Christmas. I barely did any shopping or card-writing. Maybe because we are still in shock/trauma from the wedding, or maybe because we've been so very occupied with our housing situation, I didn't even get Dear a gift. Oh well, when I don't get the inspiration to get the "perfect" gift, I'm really not into it. Also, because Christmas fell on a Monday this year, it was just weird to have Christmas Eve service on a Sunday after regular Sunday service.
Hopefully next year when things are more settled I'd like to at least get a little tree and decorate it together. Anyway, enough of my babbling. Merry Christmas everyone!!
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Monday, December 25, 2006
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Great lengths
It's funny what a wedding will do to you. For me, I've gone DIY-wild. For the mothers, they've both permed their hair (old Chinese women with wavy/curly hair -- phenomenon not often found in nature but oh so prevalent). FMIL dyed her hair... twice. The first time it came out purple (I really don't understand how this happens -- is the chemical composition of your hair more skewed to be the color purple as you age?) then supposedly she dyed it to a more natural shade. I'll know for sure tomorrow when I see her. My mother bought a whole bunch of makeup b/c she thinks she will apply her own makeup, even though she's never done so in her entire life. (I tell her my makeup artist can do her too but she wants to save me money.) And for my uncle, he will travel from Indonesia all the way here!
In other news, I am plagued with mosquito bites both old and new. The old ones have left unsightly bruise-like marks that everyone says looks like Dear beats me (when the opposite is more true). The new ones are itching like mad and I'm hoping won't leave a scar.
I'm also half way done with my veil! It's a bit tedious to do all the sewing but it's really not that difficult and I love watching it come together. Woo hoo! There's no way these things should cost upwards of $100.
In other news, I am plagued with mosquito bites both old and new. The old ones have left unsightly bruise-like marks that everyone says looks like Dear beats me (when the opposite is more true). The new ones are itching like mad and I'm hoping won't leave a scar.
I'm also half way done with my veil! It's a bit tedious to do all the sewing but it's really not that difficult and I love watching it come together. Woo hoo! There's no way these things should cost upwards of $100.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Overseas relatives
Yesterday my uncle called all the way from Indonesia. He is planning on coming to the wedding (if he can get the visa)! I haven't seen him in 20 or so years and I have no recollection of having ever met him when I was last in Indonesia (back in the first grade). I'm excited and I'd love to show him and his family around my favorite city (New York, of course!). I'd be so honored too, that he'd make this long trip just for my wedding.
On the other hand, all my HK relatives won't be able to make it. However, I received a gift in the mail today from my aunt. Supposedly it's what all the "young people" are wearing nowadays. But I wonder on what occasion I can wear it (it's a bit too casual for my wedding). Maybe the rehearsal dinner? Anyway, I took pics b/c I really like the packaging.
front of the bag
back of the bag (the top of the bag folds down and an attached ribbon feeds through a slot to the front, where it is tied into a bow)
Inside the bag, the jewelry box is a very interesting pod-like case that closes with a button (it's not so fuschia-like in real life, I just went a little overboard when adjusting the contrast).
The box opens from the middle to reveal the necklace inside.
On the other hand, all my HK relatives won't be able to make it. However, I received a gift in the mail today from my aunt. Supposedly it's what all the "young people" are wearing nowadays. But I wonder on what occasion I can wear it (it's a bit too casual for my wedding). Maybe the rehearsal dinner? Anyway, I took pics b/c I really like the packaging.
front of the bag
back of the bag (the top of the bag folds down and an attached ribbon feeds through a slot to the front, where it is tied into a bow)
Inside the bag, the jewelry box is a very interesting pod-like case that closes with a button (it's not so fuschia-like in real life, I just went a little overboard when adjusting the contrast).
The box opens from the middle to reveal the necklace inside.Monday, August 14, 2006
Guest list woes
We're feverishly addressing and giving out invites in batches (b/c we're delivering some by hand and some ppl we're not sure when and where we'll run into them), while arguing at about every tenth guest who should and should not be invited. We've mostly accounted for all the ppl we really want there (friends and family) but FFIL is going crazy with his list and driving Dear, and consequently me, mad. At the last check, our anticipated guest list was 390 (from what I recall the restaurant holds 350). If all our overseas relatives were to come, the number would be around 450 so we're probably going to end up giving out close to 250 invites.
Actually I'm not so much mad now as amused. You have to be able to find humor in the guests that FFIL wants to invite. Aside from the nameless ppl from the village who also, apparently, do not have addresses, he wanted to invite:
- their contractor
- their optometrist
- his staff (I find less humor about this than a little bit of tackiness b/c I think it really imposes on your staff if the boss invites you to something b/c you almost have to go)
I won't go into how he feels like he has to invite everyone who's ever invited him to a wedding and how he just has to invite every person in church who holds any sort of position (political, imaginary, or otherwise) regardless of the differences they may have (i.e. they dislike each other). And of course, in a church that goes through pastors like they're disposable, they all need to be invited as well. And of course, from that entire list of ppl I would rather he not invite, he is only cutting the first two. So we've whittled down some; somehow 40 ppl will have to disappear (I'm ignoring the 10-15%[?] discount rule that ppl say you should apply for the declines b/c these ppl a] have no lives, b] will probably bring more guests than those allotted, and c] we've accounted for all the declines from the overseas folk). *sigh*
My mother, on the other hand, if she had made her list of guests months ago like I had asked, would not be giving me agita with her pleas of not having enough invites. And I am still peeved about how we have to give her back all the gifts that her guests give us, despite the fact that she doesn't have to chip in one dime. Her justification is that it's 'payback' for raising me (which I can understand and am OK with) but also b/c "that's what everyone else does." Well, if you talk to Americans what "they all do" is not only pay for the wedding but allow the couple to keep the gifts b/c starting a new life together is not easy w/ the huge expense of a wedding and all that other stuff (getting a place to live, furnishing the place, etc.). hrmph!
On the lighter side, I am thrilled that the ppl who've received our invitation find it "too pretty to mess up," unique, and a whole slew of adjectives that I can't recall at the moment. If you haven't gotten yours yet, be patient -- our hands are falling off from all the addressing!! (It only took me 45 minutes to hand-calligraph four invites so Dear is doing most of it.)
Actually I'm not so much mad now as amused. You have to be able to find humor in the guests that FFIL wants to invite. Aside from the nameless ppl from the village who also, apparently, do not have addresses, he wanted to invite:
- their contractor
- their optometrist
- his staff (I find less humor about this than a little bit of tackiness b/c I think it really imposes on your staff if the boss invites you to something b/c you almost have to go)
I won't go into how he feels like he has to invite everyone who's ever invited him to a wedding and how he just has to invite every person in church who holds any sort of position (political, imaginary, or otherwise) regardless of the differences they may have (i.e. they dislike each other). And of course, in a church that goes through pastors like they're disposable, they all need to be invited as well. And of course, from that entire list of ppl I would rather he not invite, he is only cutting the first two. So we've whittled down some; somehow 40 ppl will have to disappear (I'm ignoring the 10-15%[?] discount rule that ppl say you should apply for the declines b/c these ppl a] have no lives, b] will probably bring more guests than those allotted, and c] we've accounted for all the declines from the overseas folk). *sigh*
My mother, on the other hand, if she had made her list of guests months ago like I had asked, would not be giving me agita with her pleas of not having enough invites. And I am still peeved about how we have to give her back all the gifts that her guests give us, despite the fact that she doesn't have to chip in one dime. Her justification is that it's 'payback' for raising me (which I can understand and am OK with) but also b/c "that's what everyone else does." Well, if you talk to Americans what "they all do" is not only pay for the wedding but allow the couple to keep the gifts b/c starting a new life together is not easy w/ the huge expense of a wedding and all that other stuff (getting a place to live, furnishing the place, etc.). hrmph!
On the lighter side, I am thrilled that the ppl who've received our invitation find it "too pretty to mess up," unique, and a whole slew of adjectives that I can't recall at the moment. If you haven't gotten yours yet, be patient -- our hands are falling off from all the addressing!! (It only took me 45 minutes to hand-calligraph four invites so Dear is doing most of it.)
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