Christmastime in the City

My brother got married on Christmas Eve in the beautiful old Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.

View of Union Square from our digs with the Powell Cable Car decked out in holiday finery passing by:

The Chairman Suite was a beautiful venue, but needed some prep work the day before the wedding.

Patrick (good friend of the bride and groom, also serving as their fabulous wedding officiant) and Steve marvel at the wonders of the secret room behind the paneling.

Everybody bustles about preparing decorations and lighting while I make sure the doughnut holes stay contained:

Jim, Patrick and I (standing in for Brooke) hold our places for the lighting check:

Finding two of the halogen pot lights too distractingly bright, my brother and father attempt to remove the bulbs using forks while balancing on top of chairs (to the horror of my husband, the safety professional):

Thankfully Brooke stepped in called maintenance to get them removed before anyone got injured or irreversibly damaged hotel property.

Stage now set for the wedding, Steve and I head out for the rehearsal dinner:

Christmas Eve arrived, the stage was set, and we were all dressed in our wedding finery. Once official photos arrive, I'll post more, but following are a few that we had on assorted cell phones.

Me and Steve beside the "fireplace" in front of one of Brooke's elaborate flower arrangements:

Me and the groom, also known as my little brother:

 

The wedding was lovely, but we were busy and didn't have our phones out, so you all will have to wait for the official pictures from the wedding photographer to see anything more.

After the wedding, my family stayed overnight in the hotel and opened presents in the room that had just the previous night hosted the grand event.

Brooke and Jim had been working on a gift for me for months and were anxious to see me open it. The anticipation was starting to get to me:

The surprise was delightful:

Star Wars terrariums!

They are beautifully detailed and the picture does not do them justice. Simply fabulous. 

Everybody looks as excited as I am about the awesomeness: 

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Prep

The first Christmas cookies of the season ("ugly sweater" cookies which we decorated with my brother and Brooke on Thanksgiving):

Mine was supposed to be a flamingo with a hat. I couldn't quite get the proportions right (I'm not especially gifted with icing) so I'm gonna say it's a fat, red, Christmas duck. Sure, why not?

Christmas must be close at hand, as my family's traditional spritz cookies have also appeared.

Sprinkles go on the trees:

Finished cookie plate for the in-laws (with camels!):

On my request, Steve wandered all over a local tree farm with me to find our perfect tannenbaum.

Definitely a farm with a view:

Steve's phone says that we walked three miles before settling on...

... the first tree that I liked, which we spotted about five minutes after arrival. I promised Steve that next year we could limit our tree search to a smaller geographic area. Fortunately, he's a good sport.

Tree decorated and lit (accompanying penguin carolers my brother gave me on top of the secretary desk):

More decorations:

A sample of my micro-decorating, the golden armadillo dons a fur hat and stole (as one does), wire tree is decorated with tiny antique ornaments from my grandparents:

Traditional festive cardboard safari:

Not even R2 is safe from decorations: