Xiaoniu 小妞

With Jason and Lily’s wedding on the horizon things have been getting busy around here. A couple weeks ago was the bridal shower. Last weekend was our time to get ready for the wedding.

First task was to get James a tuxedo. He is a ring-bearer so he needs to be dressed up. Unfortunately, most places don’t rent anything smaller than a 3T or 4T. He’s a 2T. We got lucky, though, since After Hours sold a 2T tuxedo. The price was pretty good. It was actually cheaper to buy than rent. Go figure.

Next up was a suit for me. I received a couple gift certs for Christophers for Christmas and my birthday so I knew where I was going to shop. It was my first new suit that I’ve bought in about 12 years. The last one is a bit snug seeing as I’ve put on a few pounds since it was bought. Sue helped pick out a sharp two-button, charcoal gray suit. All the other suite I tried on just didn’t look right. It should be ready this Saturday. Size? 50 tall.

The next item on the agenda for Saturday shopping was making some purchases and returns at Macy’s and JC Penney. Doesn’t sound too bad, but having to shop for kids (requires them trying stuff on) is a time consuming challenge.

The last stop of the day was BJ’s. We stocked up on the necessities for the week. Later on that night it was work time. Sunday we were off to the Woodbury Commons to finish up our shopping.

First stop Sunday was Stride-rite. James needed shoes for his tuxedo and Emelia needed shoes for her wedding day outfit. It’s her first pair of shoes too. A nice pair of pre-walkers, all white. Next up was baby clothes shopping. Little girl is continuing to grow like a week so we got her a couple 12-month size outfits.

Saturday night after work we set down to order dresses for Sue and Amy. We’re hoping they can be ready and shipping from China in time for the wedding. Since time is short and they decided late to order them we ended up staying up late measuring and ordering. I had to take and verify various measurements of Sue and Amy to place the order. I think that there are at least 10 measurements to take.

We ordered a dress for Sue from this comapny once in the past and were very happy with the handmade dress. For those of you at our wedding the red qipao is the one we ordered from China. We’re crossing our fingers in hope that these come in on time and that they fit properly.

Sunday shopping was a challenge. James was okay, but little girl was a handful. It was hot and I used an unbrella to shade her, but it was a bit noisy for sleeping. With all the people shopping, live bands and various bits of music pumping out of the PA speakers and stores she had a tough time taking a nap.

It was also a challenge to find a place to change and feed her. There are only two “family restrooms”. We made our way to one and had to wait for some old broad to take a crap before we could go in. The family rest rooms are designed for people with kids. I was very annoyed to see some old woman make her way out, especially after waiting outside with a very hungry and crabby baby.

By 4:30pm we were packed up and heading home for the day. Mike showed up unexpectedly while we were shopping. He felt the need to take a break so he drove the two hours it took to get there and met us. Shortly afterwards he took James home.

Overall it made for a long, but productive weekend. We are close to being ready for the wedding. It’s only a few weeks away. The coutdown begins. I think it’ll be interesting. The reception is supposed to be more traditional that ours. They’re holding a tea ceremony in which I get to pariticipate since I’m married to Jason’s sister. He gets to call me Yige or something like that.

According to Wikipedia:

To connect large families on wedding days: The tea ceremony during weddings also serves as a means for both parties in the wedding to meet with members of the other family. As Chinese families can be rather extended, it is entirely possible during a courtship to not have been introduced to someone. This was particularly true in older generations where the patriarch may have had more than one wife and not all family members were always on good terms. As such, during the tea ceremony, the couple would serve tea to all family members and call them by their official title. Drinking the tea symbolized acceptance into the family. Refusal to drink would symbolize opposition to the wedding and is quite unheard of since it would result in a loss of “face”. Older relations so introduced would give a red envelope to the matrimonial couple while the couple would be expected to give a red envelope to younger, unmarried relations.

It should be an interesting experience.