I'm dreaming of a Pike Christmas

Pike County, that is...which is where Gran and Pop call home. We loaded up and rolled out of Nashville the afternoon of December 23rd on our way to McComb for Christmas, Minor's birthday, and Miriam's wedding! We spent the Christmas Eve relaxing after our long drive the night before. Then we headed to the Christmas Eve service at Gran and Pop's church. Owen did okay for a good bit of the service but he started feeling antsy and spent the second half hanging out with Richie in the men's dressing room. We got to see so many old friends and got to introduce Owen to a lot of special people. After a lovely Mexican dinner, we wrapped up our night by preparing a plate of goodies for Santa. Owen made sure to give him a lot of options: 3 orange balls, an apple, an orange, and a Kashi bar. We also left a nice cold glass of soy milk--something Santa has never had at Gran and Pop's before!

We ran downstairs Christmas morning to find that Santa had been there the night before!

After celebrating Uncle Minor's birthday, we cruised over to Tylertown to check out the Christmas lights:

The next morning, we packed up and went to New Orleans to kick of Miriam's wedding weekend. The wedding and reception were held at the Hotel Monteleone right in the French Quarter. It is a gorgeous historic hotel and we reallllly hated to leave! The night of the 26th, Owen practiced his very important role of ring bearer:

Then we went to the rehearsal dinner at the fabulous Tujague's. It goes without saying that the food was to die for--shrimp salad with remoulade dressing, gumbo, crawfish risotto, fried drum fish. It was all so good! As the toasts and merriment kicked off, sweet Owen made himself comfortable and just took a little nap:

Sunday the 27th was Miriam and Will's big day! We met Gran, Pop, and Uncle Minor for a big brunch at Le Cafe' in the hotel. After getting nice and full, we all got ready for the main event. The wedding went off without a hitch! Miriam looked so beautiful--she wore our mother's wedding dress and mantilla. Owen did a fantastic job as the ring bearer! He started walking down the wrong aisle and then tried to cut through a row of people before Keith, the wedding coordinator, steered him in the right direction. He made it up to the front and waited patiently for Pop and Aunt Mimi to come down the aisle. During the opening prayer, he squatted down, the started holding the pillow by the strings, and looked up at me to ask, "Is this the wedding?" Luckily, that was the point in the ceremony when he was supposed to go sit down, so I sent him to sit by Gran. Apparently, he laid his head in her lap and then decided to go sit with Richie, who was an honorary groomsman. He provided just the right amount of comic relief to keep us all from getting too emotional, I think. I decided not to post many wedding pictures until the "real" ones come out. I can't wait to see them! But I had to show a couple of cute Owen pictures. Doesn't he look so handsome in his little tux!

Owen had a ball at the reception! At one point, I looked up from eating to see him on the stage playing tambourine with the band! He danced his little heart out and did cartwheels all over the dance floor. He tasted and approved of all the food and both cakes. When we asked him what his favorite part of the wedding was, he said "the dancing."

In the end, all of my mom's hard work and planning paid off--everything went just perfectly, and the new Mr. and Mrs. Bond seemed to have the time of their lives. I think we all did, actually!