Historical Wedding Traditions

On Monday, one of my coworkers announced her engagement and plans to marry in May of this year. So, when I was watching Good Things Utah and they were sharing some historical information on wedding traditions I perked right up. (Thank goodness for a DVR so I could rewind several times as I was laughing a bit.)

"The role of the Best Man derived from the help needed in abducting a future bride back in 200AD. If the potential brides were scarce in his own village a man would look for one in a nearby village, preferably one who was momentarily beyond the protection of the village. To execute the abduction he looked for a "wing man" or the best man for the job. Hence the title, best man."

So basically, the guy wants a wife, the local girls "just aren't that into him". So, he and his best man head to a nearby community looking for a gal that's out picking berries on her own and grab her. I'm sure it took two of them to fight with the struggling girl and get her back to their village. How romantic!

This guy needed several "wing men" and some anonymity as well.

"The best man had other associated duties such as staying by the bride grooms side in case the brides family came looking for her."

If the in-laws come calling the bridegroom and the best man are ready for a fight. Nice! I would have to say this would be the definition of "in-law problems".

"The abduction itself is the source of the custom of carrying the bride over the threshold."

Well, if you've abducted a girl and possibly even bound and gagged her, I would sure hope the least you could do was carry her over the threshold. It would be barbaric to expect her to hop into her new home with her feet tied together and all.

Also, the reason brides carry flowers is because of the mostly non-existant personal hygene habits. The flowers were to cover the stench, so to speak. Um, don't you think he's gonna notice the aroma once you throw the bouquet? Well, I guess by then it's too late, beause you're aleady married. Or, maybe back then they didn't throw the bouguet, but stuffed it into the armpits of their wedding attire to help keep the dream alive.

All this discussion about men abducting unwilling brides has made me want to pull out our well-worn copy of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Really. Should I be worried that this has been one of my daughters favorite movies since she was quite small? I'm definately not going to tell her boyfriend that it's one of her favorites or encourage him to watch it. The last thing I need is for him to learn how romantic it is for men to kidnap women in the night and haul them up to their large family cabin in the mountains. I must leave this boy in the dark about such romance for a few more years. There may come a time in the future when I WANT her to leave, but that time is not yet here.

Do you have any Historical Wedding Traditions that are still present today that you'd like to share?

Land Boat

Okay, I'm driving home from work tonight and this guy in a "Land Boat" swerves over in front of me. In case you don't know, a "Land Boat" is a very large car. This particular car looked a bit like a 1972 Impala.

You see, I was leaving extra space in front of me, just like they taught me in drivers ed almost 30 years ago, and apparently he just couldn't resist. I was a little upset with his agressive behavior, but I let it go because I became amused by him.

He was sitting in the drivers seat, sort of. He was leaning reallllly far to the right, his head was centered under the rear view mirror. Seriously, I could see the entire steering wheel. Every so often he would straighten up a tich, but then he'd go right back to his own personal interpretation of the leaning tower of Pisa.

I'm thinking that there are a few valid reasons why he was sitting in this unusual manner.

1. He was suffering from a painful back problem and this is the only way he can comfortably sit in a car.

2. He isn't tall enough to see over the steering wheel and must lean to the right just to see the road clearly.

3. The car is so stinkin' old that there is a very large and painful spring poking out right where his left cheek should be located and the extreme lean is the only way to avoid aforementioned spring.

4. He's a guy from the hood and this is the normal driving position to avoid gun shots.

Can you come up with any valid reasons why he drove in such an unusual position?

Thankful Thursday

Here's my list this week:

1. My job. Yes, it's still at the top of the list and will be until my next turn with the pager. I'll be glad I'm employed, I'll just be grumpy 'cause I'm on-call.

2. The self check-out at Smith's. This time of year, anything that gets you out of the store in pronto speed is right up my alley. The Smith's by my house has 10 self check-out stations. SWEET!! Now if we can just get Walmart to install some all my wishes will be fulfilled.

3. My work friends. I'm so glad I work with some great folks. I've worked with some real difficult people in the past and it's no fun at all.

4. The snow. I know, I know, you think I'm nuts. I do enjoy a white Christmas and guess what? I'm gonna get one this year. Wahooo!!!

5. My cute daughter. Notice that she dropped to 5th place. I still love her, but she's on my naughty list because she had friends over the other night and they left at ... are you ready? 4:26am. Yes, you read that correct. Crazy kids. But, it woke me up and I could not get back to sleep. Grrrr!!

What are you thankful for?

Christmas Quizicle

I saw this on Martie and Melis' blogs, thought I'd play along.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. I don't know what it is, but I really enjoy wrapping presents and putting ribbons and bows on them. Yes, I'm weird.

2. Real tree or artificial? I have an artifical tree and a stongly scented candle. I don't like the hassle and clean up involved with a real tree.

3. When do you put up the tree? When I get around to it. It's the 12th and um, my tree isn't up yet. I hope to get it up tomorrow. Several years ago it went up about 3 days before Christmas. I was feeling kinda Scroogey that year.

4. When do you take the tree down? Within the first few days of January. See, when you put your tree up a little later you're not in a big hurry to tear the sucker down. There's a method to my madness ya know.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yummo! You know what's REALLY good? Eggnog flavored shakes from Arctic Circle. Woot!!

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Barbies. Don't be a hater, Barbie rocked my world for a while.

7. Do you have a Nativity scene? Only one? I haven't counted recently but it's probably around 30 in various shapes, styles and sizes.

8. Hardest person to buy for? Hunter, my daughters boyfriend.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Mom and Bob. The annual Hale Center Theatre tickets work out quite nicely.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can't think of anything off the top of my head.

11. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? Mail, hand-made. Yes, I'm crazy!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Um, you're supposed to start shopping early? Wow, I bet that would be less hectic? Hmm, something to think about for next year.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Only as a White Elephant gift. That's acceptable isn't it?

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Pecan Bars. My brother, Gary, calls them Devil bars because they're sinfully good.

16 Clear lights or colored on the tree? Neither. My tree is all gold lights. I heart my gold lights. I had to go to three Shopkos just to get enough strands.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth by Bing Crosby and David Bowie.

18 Travel at Christmas or stay home? The furthest I travel is Grantsville on Christmas eve. Other than that it's HOME for the holidays.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen {and Rudolph?}

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We exchange gifts with the Toones on Christmas Eve and of course we do the traditional Christmas PJ's also. Everything else is Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? That my favorite radio stations starts playing Christmas music on November 1st. Hello! Doesn't anyone enjoy Thanksgiving anymore?

23. Favorite Christmas tradition? Having Mom and Bob over for brunch on Christmas morning.

24. Up early or sleeping in? Sleep in, sort of. I have a brunch to prepare.

25. Who hands out the gifts? Sprout.

26. Does Santa wrap your gifts? Nope. He's way to busy for wrapping paper.

27. Do you tell the Christmas story? Yes.

28. Do you leave cookies for Santa? We used to, but Sprout's too old for that now.

Thankful Thursday

Yes, I know I've already posted today, but I thought I'd jump on the band wagon with Mart and Melis. Move over girls!

1. I'm thankful for my job. With all this craziness going on in the world I'm extremely grateful that I work for a stable company. I've been with Intermountain for 23 years. Wow, is that called stable or lazy? Hmmm.

2. My daughter, aka Sprout. Love ya babe! (Am I a bad mom? When I got home from the infamous Spokane trip I asked her if she was still a virgin.)

3. The comfy bed at the Hampton Inn. If you have to be away from home, you may as well have a decent bed. (The bed in Idaho Falls SUCKED!!)

4. Cold Eeze cough drops. The suckers work quite well! Thanks for sharing your cold Martie!

5. My new Glyde cell phone. Especially since I've figured out how to lock it while I'm talking. Because it's a touch screen my face tries to dial. (hee hee)

6. That tomorrow is Friday. That means I'll be heading back home and asking my daughter once again, if she's still a virgin.

7. That Melis was only kidding when she said she'd give me a make out session as a thank you. **SNORT**

What are you thankful for?

The Never Ending Story

So, we make it back to the freeway and just as I get merged into traffic Madge starts yelling that we're going the wrong way. What??? Coeur d'Alene is East of Spokane and the compss in the car says we're headed East. What's the problem? Both Sherry and I proceed to tell her that everything's fine. Madge just keeps yelling and is almost hysterical about how we're going the wrong way. I finally had to yell at her and tell her to shut up. I'm driving in the dark and snow on an unfamiliar road and the last thing I need is a crazy person yelling at me from the back seat.

Madge proceeded to wimper and pout from the back seat as I continued driving East, as I should have. Sherry then started telling me all about her ex-husband and his great house in Southern California. More wimpering from Madge. Now she's jealous that Sherry and I are having a conversation without her. (She even admitted this to me the next day.)

When we get back to Athol, Madge and Sherry pulled out the photo albums and old school yearbooks. They had a great time remeniscing. Roman and I hung out and had a great time playing tug-of-war.

When we wake up Saturday morning (we left the bedroom door open so that we weren't human popsicles in the morning) the fog was really heavy. The weather reports said that there was some moisture in the pass and that the fog would burn off in the afternoon. Our original plan was to get up and leave at 4am on Sunday morning. Madge was nervous about the weather and not wanting me to be last for work on Sunday afternonn. You see, I had to close books for the month and needed to be back home by 4pm. Madges anxiety just kept growing as the morning wore on. By the time Sherry got up at 9:30am Madge decided we were leaving.

We went to breakfast at the diner. The girls were much more subdued and better behaved this time.


(Sherry and Madge)

We were filling up gas and hitting the road by 11:30am. It was still quite foggy and overcast but at least there was daylight. When we drove through the passes on our way to Coeur d'Alen it was very dark and I couldn't really see what we were driving through. The weather was quite cooperative. There was some rain in the passes and it did rain almost entirely from Missoula to Butte.

The scenery driving through the passes was gorgeous. Great old buildings and little towns nestled into the trees and the mountains. The clouds were really low and just added to view.

We stopped at a truck stop just outside Butte to get some Linner (it was 4:30 so it was a little late for lunch and early for dinner, hence, linner). Madge wasn't feeling very well. I think some of her ailment was the stress and anxiety of the traveling and spending time with Sherry. So, Madge proceeds to tell the lady at Arbys about what we've been doing and why we're traveling today instead of tomorrow. Anyone seen the trenchcoat and dark glasses? How about a closet I can climb into?

I couldn't keep my mouth shut and had to explain to Madge as we walked back to the car that she didn't need to share our entire life story with a complete stranger. She was upset, but she understood.

Just outside Idaho Falls Madge really started complaining about not feeling well so we stopped and got a room for the night. I had kinda hoped that since we started so early that we could just push through and do the return trip in one day. No such luck.

The best part about stopping for the night? Wifi!!!! Delightful! I was having major withdrawls! I spent the evening surfing and ignoring Madges complaints. At 10:00pm Madge says she wishes she had bought a candy bar. What? You haven't felt good all day and you want to eat a candy bar? You see, we stopped in St Regis and she said she had wanted to pick up a snack but wasn't feeling very good. She wanted a candy bar and I told her she should really get some diet sprite and crackers. I didn't want her to puke in my car. Can you blame me?

So Madge heads to the vending machine to get some sprite to settle her stomach. When we get up in the morning I discover that she had also bought a candy bar. She should have hidden the wrapper and not left it on the night stand. She was pretty sneaky eating it the night before. I just don't understand her, ever. If you want a candy bar then get one and eat it, don't hide it.

The trip from Idaho Falls into Salt Lake was really uneventful. Thank goodness.

So, do you want to know my secret for keeping my sanity through this 1,573 mile, four day adventure? Books on CD. You see, if we're listening to a book, Madge pays attention to the story and tends to talk WAY less than normal. I learned this trick a few years ago and it is very handy for long car trips.

Madge is currently obsessed with the Twilight series. Since we had just seen the movie we started with Full Moon. We made it through all 12 discs and were on the 4th disk of Eclipse by the time we pulled into my driveway. So, if you ever have to travel and long distance with a crazy person, I highly recommend a book on CD.

Thanks for sticking with my through this Never Ending Story that at times felt like the Never Ending Trip. Gee, now what am I going to blog about????

The saga continues, some more...

Okay, so I've survived breakfast at the diner. Even despite the fact that they tried to tell anyone who would listen, all about their anticts growing up.

Well, it was time to start meandering to Spokane to see Rex and Peggy. I forgot to pack a coat so we decided to go to Walmart so I could pick up a sweatshirt to layer. Sherry took us via the back roads which was fun to see several rural communities and lots of land, forest and horses. Beautiful country. I of course had to keep asking Sherry if I was supposed to go left, right, straight because she was busy praddling about all kinds of stuff. I did a lot of internal laughing and thanking the good Lord that I had only one crazy sister.

We make it into Post Falls, which is where the Walmart is. Sherry points out the traffic cameras on the intersection and then goes on to tell us that the entire town is covered in cameras and they watch your every move. Luckily I saw the Walmart sign and needed no further driving direction, I could tell this tirade was going to last a while.

Madge actually got a TV for Andy, it was the last one of that model. Kinda crazy that there would still be one left at 12:30pm. It's a flat panel so it was easy to carry and we just covered it with a blanket in the back of the SUV and no one was the wiser.

Post Falls is about 30 minutes from Spokane so we were off like a herd of turtles. It started snowing as we were driving. It snowed clear until we were headed back to Athol around 9pm. It was great! Not!!!

Thanks to the fact that it's quite simple to get to Spokane from Post Falls I didn't need much assistance from Sherry. She and Madge were busy talking about nothing. I thought by now that these two would have run out of things to say. I was wrong.

So, we finally make our way through the city and to the VA hospital. The weather is crappy, but the view crossing the gorge was cool. Peggy was sitting with Rex when we arrived. He was looking very frail and had lost quite a bit of weight. Sherry is convinced that Rex won't make it to Christmas, but sometimes these things linger on for far to long. After a nice chat and visit with Peggy and Rex (before he fell asleep) we went to Phyllis' house.



(Phyllis, Peggy & Sherry)

The Park family are Seventh-day Adventists. Many of the church members are vegetarians or vegans even. We were now headed to have dinner at Phyllis'. I was wondering if we'd be eating tofurkey or something else kinda funky. I was pleasantly suprised to learn that Peggy is the only member that is a staunch vegetarian. Thank you!!!!! Phyllis actually made us a full Thanksiving dinner. It was very nice.

JR, Phyllis' husband was very nice and we all had some enjoyable conversations as we ate dinner. JR grew up eating squash pie and has been wanting Phyllis to make him one for quite some time. Well, they got som squash from a friend and found a recipe and decided to give it a try. Problem was, Phyllis read the recipe wrong and only added 1/2 cup of sugar when the recipe called for 1 1/2 cups of sugar. She didn't make us eat it.


(JR and Phyllis)

After a lot of chatting and visiting it was time to head back to Athol. The road that Phyllis lives on is quite rural and wooded and lovely scenery and not plowed. It had been snowing for 9 hours but luckily it wasn't really accumulating. We just had to take it slow, problem was, Sherry had no idea how to get to the freeway from Phyllis' house. Luckily I paid attention and was able to back track and get us back to the hospital.

Apparently Spokane has a lot of one way roads and a very large gorge and only so many bridges. Getting back to the freeway was very crazy and confusing. Sherry was yet again busy praddling on about something or other so I just watched for signs to give me direction. It all worked out.

Despite the fact that I was driving in the dark and snow through an unfamiliar city, I did get to see a really cool building. It appeared to be an apartment or condo tower and the lower levels were open for parking so the whole thing looked like it was on stilts and it hovered over the gorge. It was really cool to see in my 3 quick glances as I was crossing the gorge and didn't really want to end up IN the gorge.

The saga will continue tomorrow...