My Favorite and My Best

After a lot of hemming and hawing and vague waves at plans, the two sets of parents came together over a table. Specifically, the table in our small apartment. We had never put the leaf in the table since it was moved into the dining nook (can't properly call it a room). Also, the night before one of our chairs broke right underneath a visitor while we were playing a board game. Luckily, the Wolves brought over a few chairs my Mr. had left in their basement when he moved out, so now we have a full six chairs for the first time ever. I think my Wolfman was far more nervous than I was. My parents can be nutty at times, but they're pretty predictable people. I guess his aren't as much. The night was like this, only with fewer white people and less awkwardness. ( x ) A couple of interesting stories came out that night. Dadatee does family tree stuff (extensively) and was asking Papa Wolf about his family. Apparently, his grandmother played tuba in a band that frequently...

My father's family is very German. Like, mostly German going back quite a ways into their family tree. My brother in front of Neuschwanstein Castle around age 10. Because of this, I thought it would be interesting to research some old German wedding traditions. Who knows? If I like one, I might think about incorporating it. Here's some of the ones I discovered. Apparently my parents were supposed to plant trees when I was born so that they could later be cut down and sold for my dowry. That's a pretty old one though. Why didn't I get trees? DAAAAAAD! The Hochzeitslader: A guy in fancy clothes sent around to invite each guest personally. He's covered in ribbons and if the guests accept, they take one of the ribbons and pin it to his hat. Then they invite him in for a drink. I'm trying to picture sending one individual to multiple states and countries to make this work. I mean, really. Picture this guy showing up at your door. The tradition...

Papa and Mama Manatee and Me! My parents. We've shared a birth month and a birth week. I'm sure they were overjoyed about that (/sarcasm). They knew Mr. Wolf for a long time while we were just friends and once or twice teased me about us hanging out. When I told them we were going to start dating, I don't think it was a surprise to them at all. Brother Manatee joins us at Christkindlmarket. Mama Manatee is the adventurous one. I think she's happiest when she's up and moving. She believes that going to a movie theater during nice weather is a waste of a good day in the sun. She's more naturally extroverted than anyone else in the family except for Brother Manatee. I think it might be a tie there. My excited chatter about the relationship and planning for the next step has been something she's simultaneously enjoyed and been taken aback by. She keeps asking if the engagement is official yet. You'd be the first to know, Mama! I absolutely ...

Mama Wolf learned I had never gone Christmas tree cutting before, so I was invited along to help them pick out the one for their home. The Manatees have always been strictly a tree-in-a-box kind of family, so I didn't know what to expect. We were at their house at 8AM on Sunday and I found out we were driving roughly an hour to the farm, actually much closer to where the Manatee parents live. There were a couple of competing Christmas tree farms next to each other in the area and I found it very amusing to speculate on their rivalry. It ended up taking quite a while to pick out the right tree. Having no experience, several of them looked fine to me, but I let them deliberate. Mr. Wolf has a record for picking out the best trees in previous years and that's what ended up happening this year too. Poor Wolfie though. The trunk was full of sharp needles and his hands ended up getting cut up a bit. They asked me if I wanted to take a turn sawing at the trunk. I think Mama Wolf...