Another set of Smith sisters, Mike's sisters and his mother, graciously volunteered to help Leslie with the wedding decorations by stuffing fresh baby's breath in "the forest." The theme for the wedding, "a snowy, winter wedding." When finished, the trees looked liked evergreens in a snowfall, really pretty with white lights twinkling.

Mike's lovely family, Carol (front), who is planning her own wedding in May 2006, his mother Delores (sunny yellow sweater) and sister Laura (elegant in black). The Leslie Smith family has really enjoyed getting to know the Mike Smith family during the wedding prparations. Leslie is marrying into a wonderful family.

Stuffing, stuffing, stuffing!

The Mike Smith guys sit in the gallery watching the women work and offering encouragement. Hmm, maybe they were just keeping niece Caroline company! Bob, Mike's dad is in front with Caroline, Mike is on the back row with his brother Mark (red jacket).

Later in the evening, John and I went to Market Square to check out the New Year's Eve party. While this was not Times Square, we give the city an A for effort. We were, however, very tired and did not stay long.

The "ball" at Market Square. Hung from a crane and big flat bed truck near the stage, we thought the city should have hung the ball between the TVA towers or on top of the towers for a more dramatic effect. Maybe next year.

Me roasting marshmellows around one of the many fires going on Market Square. Happy New Year to all!

Last night was the pre-wedding "practice," practice so you don't mess this up :-). In some circles, this is called the wedding rehearsal! I stayed with Mother for the evening so Carol grabbed the camera and took over photography duties. Since I wasn't there, I am ad libbing the captions!


"It's a champagne bucket! Wow, this is one heavy piece of crystal. That's okay, we won't pick it up when we sip the bubbly!" Leslie and Mike were surprised and very pleased to receive this wonderfol gift from their minister, John Baker, his wife, Veronica, and mother, Ella.

"Yeah, I'm sure, I really do want to marry him!"(giggle, giggle) This is my favorite picture of Leslie! Actually John must have said something funny, she has a serious giggle going on!

"Hmm"...Mike observing the situation!


"Okay Daddy, you walk me down the aisle and let go of my arm." Leslie and Daddy listening to instructions.


"Now, what is this again...I GIVE my baby girl to Mike??" Daddy and Mike receiving more instruction! About this time, Mother and I are at the house looking at the clock. Mother says "they must be really slow learners, they have been gone awhile!"

"Don't let me trip!" Daddy and Leslie are thinking the same thing. Veronica stands by to catch them if they fall ;-)

This is the serious part, "I take thee!"

"Do over! Repeat after me..."

"Are we married yet??"

Hey Leslie and Mike, the big day is almost here! You are a great couple and a strong team. Look forward to sharing in your joy and celebration on your very special wedding day. Beverly

Wow, only 36 hours till the wedding...somebody's got to get busy! Yesterday Leslie and Mike spent much of the day setting up chairs and the tables (the downside of hosting your wedding in your home). Today, I spent this afternoon with Leslie and the caterer, offering my opinions (which I am never short of) and lending some womanpower to move things around. Mike wisely closed himself in his office until we were gone.


Beautiful vase! This is Aunt Itsa's wedding gift to Leslie and Mike and they are thrilled. The clean lines fit right with the angular lines of their modern home. Thanks Aunt Itsa!

Family and friends will soon fill the empty seats. We look forward to sharing the happy occasion with Leslie and Mike.

The backdrop for the bride and groom to exchange vows (and also the corner of their living room). Tomorrow Mike's sisters and mother have offered to help Leslie stuff baby's breath in the trees. Yikes...and they are looking forward to this??

The reception area (and Mike and Leslie's dining room). Hmm...food on the center table, coffee and drinks in the back...no, no, let's move all this stuff around! And move it we did.

Leslie and her caterer, Jane. I really enjoyed meeting and talking to Jane. She has a lot of enthusiasm and good ideas. She is also cooking some good stuff, I heard something about sushi grade tuna and marinated lamb. Yum, yum!

Okay, this is me sorting through stuff on the counter over the three sided fireplace. Who is going to clean all this stuff up before the wedding?

I was suppose to be on vacation today but several projects needed attention before my travels to Portland, so going to work was the obvious choice. Although I kissed most of my vacation day good-bye, I did cut out early enough to catch a matinee with John. We spent 2.5 delightful hours totally absorbed in "The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." If you haven't seen it, go......now!

Christmas is always an exciting time around the Smith house! We are a pretty small group so we try to make up for it with as many packages as we can muster. Now don't get think these packages are filled with big, expensive items; we are quite happy to buy 3/$15.00 socks and wrap each pair in a separate package. For someone who doesn't enjoy wrapping, this can be a challenging task the night before Christmas!!

Presents, presents everywhere and lots of them are for me :-)

Mother opening something in a fancy wrapper, maybe a pair of slippers??

Carol opening a package, could it be socks???

Me and my sweater! Carol is a knitter and has been since high school. She creates some of the most beautiful sweaters I can imagine. This year I got the prize sweater, lucky me!!

Daddy opening his gift, Mother and Leslie, who is gazing at the floor wondering where her next package is....oh we do so love Christmas!

Me opening a package.

Mike watching Leslie open their guest book, a gift from Mother for the wedding.

You know a festive occasion is taking place at the Smith household if the kitchen sink stops up! Of course, it did just that for our Christmas Eve dinner. Now I don't like to take credit for such things and never mind that I stopped up my own sink at my New Year's Day party several years ago, this time it just wasn't my fault. After all, the drain must have been so clogged the potato peels got trapped...yeah, that's it, trapped in the clog that was already there.

Well, the story goes something like this! Based on my questionable Thanksgiving mashed potatoes, I decided to haul the Christmas Eve dinner potatoes to "the parents" house for preparation. Standing at the kitchen sink with my potato peeler flying, I remember thinking, "just reach down, scrape up the peels and throw them in the garbage." But no, that was too much trouble so I shoved them down the garbage disposal, turned on the water and turned on the disposal. My father watched me in dismay! Didn't take too long before we heard the sounds of water gurgling in the pipes and in seconds, the water backed up in the sink.

Daddy's face fell. Off to the basement he went for the tool box and his stash of plungers. We plunged and plunged, no luck. Then he took the trap off of the sink and cleaned it out, no luck. Meanwhile, Carol and Leslie showed up, each peering at the pipes, shaking there heads and commenting, "this happens everything we have a party." We continue to prepare Christmas Eve dinner around Daddy, who is down on his hands and knees, in his nice khaki pants with his head invisible under the sink. And yuck, we are getting our water from the bathroom sink...bathroom water!

An after dinner trip to K-mart (who else is open on Xmas Eve) for an auger and a couple more unsuccessful efforts with the sink and we finally gave up. We threw our grey water out in the front yard (hey, its okay, it was raining pretty hard) and wiped our dishes off in the garbage. Felt just like camping where throwing water in the outdoors is acceptable and wiping ones dishes with a paper towel is standard practice. We got a good chuckle over the effort. Leslie and I packed the dishes home and ran them through our respective dishwashers. Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas Eve!

(PS-the plumber arrived on Monday and unclogged the pipe with one push of the plunger. Lightweights the Smiths are!)


Christmas Eve at the Smith's! Moral of the story....NO STARCH IN THE GARBAGE DISPOSAL! I think I learned it this time :-)

Last Sunday, Mother and Daddy hosted and engagement luncheon-meet and greet for Leslie's future in-laws. My house was the scene of the festivities. We had a great time and learned a lot about Mike's family; they told many tales on each other...now what was the story about the "temple" in the basement, the Shriner's Hats and Tennessee football?

Mother and Daddy sitting around chatting before our guests arrive.

Boy, we look tense here. Actually we weren't, we were ready to go!

Carol looking very nice in her colorful blue blouse.

Carol and Mike relaxing before Mike's family arrives.

Finally around the table for lunch. It was after 1:00pm and we were all hungry. From left: the bride-Leslie (fork in plate), the groom-Mike, Laura and Steve (Mike's sister and brother-in-law) are hidden. Carol (my sister) is sitting in front of the window, Mark-Mike's brother, Carol-Mike's middle sister (getting married in May 2006), Mike's father Bob and his lovely mother, Delores Smith.

Pretty in pink, Laura (Mike's sister) and her husband, Steve.
We had too much food! We enjoyed ham (thanks to Ham n'Goodies), potato salad, green beans, corn casserole, yeast rolls, salad and sweet potato casserole. Yum, yum!

More family photos. Seems like I missed taking pictures of the bride and groom. Oh well, the wedding is only 2 weeks away, we have lots of pictures yet to take!

It is time for my annual Christmas poem...composed while writing my annual Christmas letter. If you get my letter, you will read this poem again :-) If not, enjoy this posting!!

It's that time of year again, time for good wishes and cheer,
At my computer I sit, overcoming great fear,
The words will not come; I do not know what to say,
For in 2005, we didn't go in for much play.

The house and the yard, so distracted we got,
Before we knew it, the year was quite shot,
But hope springs eternal and the New Year is near,
Ever closer to the door, we keep sliding our gear.

Our backpacks and boots, our stove and our fuel,
In 2006, the great outdoors we shall rule,
So hurry up Christmas, be gone New Year's Day,
We can't wait for January so we can go out and play!"

The first of December, I took a long weekend to visit my very dear Aunt Itsa in Richmond, VA. Aunt Itsa is my aunt through marriage to my mother's middle brother, Tom. Itsa came to the United States from Greece, shortly after WW2. She planned to complete nurses training and return to Greece after graduation but met Tom while both were students at Berea College in Berea, KY. She finished the degree but fell in love and stayed :-)

This is Aunt Itsa at Michie Tavern. Michie Tavern, built around 1784, is located just "down the street" from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Charlottesville, VA. Yes, I know I said I was visiting in Richmond, but my dear aunt is not the best at directions. We took a zig at the airport when we should have zagged. Before we realized we weren't going to find the correct turnoff, we were 37 miles outside of Charlottesville. So what the heck, we took a little side trip to one of her favorite places. Michie Tavern serves a southern fare as you can see from her plate...beets, cornbread, chicken, potatoes and gravy, green beans cooked with lots of ham, brussel sprouts, peach cobbler, etc. Hmmm...fifty years in the south can turn even Greece's native daughter into a greens and beans fan.

Michie Tavern was originally built as a homestead on another site but moved in 1927 to serve as a museum to some lady's antique furniture collection. It has become quite the tour bus spot for visitors on the way to Monticello.

I had a great weekend. We shopped and ate and ate and shopped. One of the highlights of the weekend was a windy, wintery evening visit to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. We bundled up and enjoyed a stroll through the gardens lit with millions of tiny, twinkling lights. Another highlight was time spent with my bubbly cousin Lynn and her husband, Jerry. Lynn and Jerry are newly weds, celebrating 1 year of marriage on Valentine's Day 2006. We spent Saturday morning in the "West End" (I think) discovering a lot of interesting shops, eating lunch at a very chic french restaurant and catching up with each others lives. The picture above is Aunt Itsa and Jerry in the french restaurant, ooo la la!

Lynn and me at a West End coffee shop! Latte and pastry anyone?

Thanks Aunt Itsa for your warm hospitality and incredible weekend. I am still walking- jogging it off! Lynn and Jerry, thanks for your time and your tour. Hugs and kisses to you and a very Merry Christmas!