Hannah Banana from Indiana: 12/2011

"... Saying, 'Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.'" (Matthew 2:2)

I know, I know, with Christmas quickly approaching, I'm trying very hard not to skip Advent; and then here it looks like I jumped ahead to Epiphany. Actually, I'm not missing Advent. I'm just working to prepare the topper for our tree.
Tomorrow we shall put up the Jackson Family's first Christmas tree together, and decorate the house. While very excited, I'm also frantically trying to finish making some more ornaments for our tree. With many of my childhood ornaments in Indiana, I decided to continue with adding origami and other homemade treats to our tree.
Stepping up the origami, there are more paper decorations and of course, almost everything is better with glitter! These are one of my new favorite ornaments to make. The are called "polish stars" and are a traditional ornament. Here is the first one I made.

I think perhaps I should have used thicker paper. Then I could have pulled it tighter to make a full-circle "ball" shape. However, this is still pretty nifty, as well.

After a bit of a didn't-wor-out-so-well attempt at a different star, I think this one polish star will be our tree topper this year. Later, as time permits, I may make some more. Eventually, I'd love to have like 25 polish stars, scattered throughout the Jackson tree. However, other priorities demand my time now, so I don't know how many more I will get made for this year. One may just have to be enough.

Do YOU want to try making a Polish star, as well? I dare you to try! Here are the instructions...
Okay, so I can't get the link to post here. You can see it on my Facebook page, OR go to YouTube and type in "polish star Christmas ornament tutorial" - you are looking for the one by yoyomax12. The lady there is rather helpful, walking you through each step. Yes, I realize that by sharing this knowledge, I run the risk that, once you see how "easy" it is, you might not be as impressed with mine. That's okay. They are really neat.
Enjoy these stars ~ and enjoy this preparation time of Advent.
"WISE MEN STILL SEEK HIM."

After the ceremony, we got to the "back" and we sort-of looked at each other like, "Now what?" So of course, we did what any newly weds do... there may have been some more kissing... and then we posed for a few pictures. We chatted a bit.

We shared a tender moment.

We took a picture with Pastor and Evelyn.

It was clearly time for me to kiss Eric's kissable face again.

We played around a bit. Ooo, Hannah is SO strong!

Notice how scared Eric looks... or is that just confused?

There may have been some more kissing... our poor photographer! Ha.

He even said I had to move my face farther away from Eric's to get a better picture...

but I wanted to be close to my sweet Eric. Tee he he.

Smile nicely. We look like we are on a postcard because it's beautiful here in paradise.

Of course, I'm always happier and it's always wonderful next to my amazing husband!

A little more kissing... I'm not posting all those pictures...

Have I spent too much recent time in Korea?

This is for all my friends in the Ju ~ you know who you are.

Oh, I like this one, too. Next to Eric, I am much more relaxed and comfortable.

Happy. Happy. Happy.

Time for another dip...

Here we are, looking out at the ocean.

Can you see what's different between this picture and the next one?

Figure it out yet?

(The answer is - the second one doesn't have the sash ribbon attached.)

When in for my fitting, I decided I wanted to CUT the sash off of the dress and redo it, then make it detachable. What else would a Bride be doing a few weeks before her wedding?

This picture is similar, but I like us looking back at the camera.

It took a little coaxing to get everyone's cooperation,

but we finally got everyone down to the beach

for a less official looking, not-so-posed FUN picture...

Yes, the Bride may have busted out silly gold sunglasses... to go with her fancy gold sandals ($2.50 flip flops)... of course, when we went down to the beach we had on other shoes - they were supposed to stamp "just married" in the sand, but didn't really work, not even in the wet sand. Hmmm.

If it looks like everyone is having a great time,

it's just because we were.

Happy wedding day!

Sunset on the beach.

Clearly time for more kissing...

Peek-a-boo! It's true.

Eric is loved by Hannah,

his favorite girl from Indiana.

More kissing...

Um, yeah, so we didn't need people to tap their forks on their

glasses or anything... Hannah really enjoys kissing Eric!

Looks like Eric likes giving sweet, gentle kissies to Hannah, as well.

We are at the ocean. In Hawaii. On our wedding day!

Okay, so you might not want to see another kissing picture

(sorry, Mums) - but this one is fantastic!

You can see the wind blowing my hair. I can see the tender passion.

This picture is important because, if you look closely,

you can see what Hannah chose as her "something blue".

(Don't fret, I only had it on for two days!)

Newlyweds by the ocean!

Um, I don't know. I think we were making scary claw faces,

but somehow Eric forgot to make his. He just looks so handsome!

Time for a little kissie.

Then it was time for a whole new kind of dip...

I do so love the ocean,

and I do so love Eric!!!!!!

Wedding in Hawaii picture!

Oh, look, another one for my friends in Korea...

This one has Emily, me, Evelyn, and Annita.

It was incredible that people came from Alaska, South

Carolina, and Indiana to celebrate with us. Amazing friends!

Really? Again? Tee he he.

HANNAH & ERIC next to the tree...

K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

Okay, a little more kissing.

Perhaps KISS should have been the title of this post?

Oh, silly Hannah. Choosing a single flower

and a leaf for the Bride isn't quite going to cover this kissing.

Okay, so this part is a bit fun. On Oahu, you can no longer legally use sparklers.

Instead, we tied little bells to wooden dowels with ribbon.

(Well, "we" as in my friend, Emily. THANK YOU, Em!!!!)

At the reception, we had our guests line up on either side

of us and "limboed" under the arch:

Notice the "stinker" at the end - lowering his.

Truth be told, it does seem odd that two tall-ish people would choose the Limbo.

It was a bit of fun though.

We got to the end of the line,

then time to KISS again.

Then our guests said it was time to return back through the line.

We discussed it a minute...

Then we were off...

Here we go!

Somehow, it was more fun the second time.

I LOVE ERIC!

We (with tons of help from friends, THANKS) did most of the food ourselves. There was a veggie tray with a wild hot dip (edgy veggies), a shrimp platter, Hawaiian fruit, croissant sandwiches, and a salad of mixed lettuce under cucumber salad with red and yellow peppers (salad: reds, greens, and everything in-between).

While the Bride and Groom took pictures, our guests were invited to start with some chips and peach mango salsa and edamame hummus. They could also play games like Wedding Mad Libs. Fun!

Later, it was time for cake. We had cream puffs ~ the cocoa puffs are one of Eric's favs. and Hannah likes the original ones. We also had green tea puffs. Here we are, getting ready to share puffs. Are you ready for this, dear?