Christmas Weddings

At the wedding rehearsal. MCM tired but trying to hang in there.

Sweet family. MCM hoping pictures will end soon.

Happy couple!

At Caitlin's beautiful wedding. Pictured here: a groomsman, a bridesmaid, and two precious flower girls!

Even though it's mid-January, I'll regale you with a few tales of Christmas past. This one is about a whirlwind of a wedding - My dear sister-in-law Caitlin's to be exact. It was the week before Christmas - beautiful, festive and fun.

I'll start with pre-wedding sickies:

It started with both girls getting a cold. You know the drill - runny nose like a faucet, low-grade fever, general unhappiness. This lasted for five solid days. Then, MCM showed signs of serious sickness - high fever, lethargy, sore throat, etc. When MCM gets seriously ill she gets this wild look in her eye - hard to describe - but I can recognize it, usually before the sickness sets in. I just see it stirring deep within her! Anywho, turned out it was the flu. The next day Leland came home from work. He had it too. Then it struck me. I kid you not, it came in the night in the form of aches, sudden heat and then chills. I could've sworn death was upon me. I was picturing myself being rolled away on a gurney with my children crying at my side...but it was just the flu. Then Lucy showed all the symptoms. She tested negative twice. Still, she didn't get better, and honestly, neither did MCM. We missed the last week or two of pre-school, and somewhere in there visited the pediatrician about 5 times. The last time (the day we were to leave for Cait's wedding) we found that Lucy had severe ear infections in both ears. Dern those stinkin' ear infections. As if your child having evil fever viruses isn't enough, they usually get capped off by a lingering ear infection. When are they going to start selling self-diagnosis sets over the counter for Moms?

Back to the subject at hand: we went to the weekend of wedding festivities, which was a lot of fun. The girls loved being at Ellie's house and seeing Caitlin's gorgeous wedding dress (Gorgeous ivory lace, cap sleeves, sweetheart neck, fitted with a soft bell at the bottom, keyhole back and a short train. Perfect for Caitlin!) and flowers (which she arranged herself - I wish I had pictures! White, full hydrangeas with white roses, euycalyptus and some sort of berries that which added the perfect bit of color.). Lucy was still pretty crummy, so she missed the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. MCM felt quite grown up being a part of things all by herself. On the wedding day, both girls handled pictures and waiting around like champs. Well, Lucy was a bit on the fussy side. We practically had to wrestle her to the ground to dress her. By the time we were lining up to walk down the aisle, she was in the hallway crying - so ready for a nap. I was sent down the aisle, and the girls weren't too far behind. At the final moment, Lucy rallied! She held MCM's hand and smiled so proudly. A sweet memory! Caitlin was an absolutely stunning bride, and everything was beautiful.

**Random side note:

While we were getting ready at the church, Leland crushed his hand in a folding chair. It was cut deeply and began bleeding profusely. Not only did it hurt like the dickens, but Leland hates the sight of blood and turned white as a sheet! Thankfully, he had the help of his sweet Aunt Emily, who wrapped his finger up tightly in hopes that he could make it through the wedding before having to figure out how badly his finger was cut. At the reception, a friend who is a doctor told him he needed to visit the emergency room right away. So, that's where we went after the wedding! Many thanks to the Vanderbuilt University ER doctors who honestly were the fastest we've ever seen. No stitches, just a bad crush and a good story!