Earlier this week, Leandra and I celebrated our own Christmas. We went out to dinner at an old mansion in town, ate our pasta by the roaring fire, listened to the accordionist play “That’s Amore,” and had a wonderful chocolatey dessert. We relaxed and stayed late. We went back to our place, put on sweats, and sat in the glow of our Christmas tree and watched It’s a Wonderful Life (which was my first time seeing it!). And yes, it was wonderful.

Christmas is family and bustle and big meals and parties and ugly sweaters and blinking lights, but it’s also quiet, peaceful evenings, and to me, each is more enjoyable when you have both!

Here’s a few pictures of the tree we left behind in Grand Rapids (that hopefully hasn’t shed all it’s needles yet!) while we’re bustling around Indiana and Pennsylvania:

I think Leandra would have her coffee in a holiday cup all year long, which is why we thought it deserved to be immortalized in porcelain on our tree.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but I (Leandra) spent my years between age 10 and 16 living in Europe with my family. We lived in a beautiful house in a village outside of Bratislava, Slovakia. I loved so much of it: the language, the bread, the bike paths that meandered from town to town, and my wonderful circle of expatriate friends. One of my favorite times of year there was Christmastime. It’s when I miss Europe the most. Shopping at the local mall just doesn’t compare with the open-air Christmas market in the Old Town sector of Bratislava. And while I do love my holiday Starbucks drink (tall peppermint mocha all the way!), it’s not quite the same as ducking into a cafe to warm up with some thick hot chocolate.

This year Grant and I determined to take more time for the holidays, to close the laptops once in a while and enjoy the Christmas season. We may not have made a trip back to Europe, but we did buy our first live tree this year! I also dug out an old Slovak recipe for medovníky (honey cookies). These cookies are the epitome of Christmas, so full of cloves and honey and cinnamon. I thought I’d share the recipe!

Medovníky

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• a pinch of anise

Directions: beat the eggs lightly in a large bowl. Add the honey, sugar, and butter and mix together. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and spices together. Add the dry to the wet ingredients. Set the dough in the refrigerator for at least two hours to cool. Roll the dough out to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Place onto a grased baking sheet. Bake for 5-7 minutes at 400°F. Once they come out of the oven, brush them quickly, while they are still very hot, with an egg wash (egg yolk thinned with water). Decorate them with icing when they are cool.

Icing

• 1 egg white
• approx. 1/2 cup powdered sugar

No special baking tools necessary for the icing… Just spoon your it into a sandwich bag, twist the bag tightly to force the icing into one corner, and then cut a very small hole at the corner.

We discovered that Grant has far more patience and skill with icing design than I do. Hey, at least I provided the recipe, right?

We hope you are all having a wonderful holiday so far. Christmas is only a week away!

Mandi and Paulo were married last Saturday at the Spohn Ballroom in Goshen, Indiana. We wanted to share a few for them while they’re enjoying Grand Cayman; or, if they happen to be internet-less (which isn’t a bad thing for a honeymoon!), for them to enjoy along with this wintry wonderland they’ll return to. Soak up some sun for us, you two!

Cassie explained to us during their engagement session that Pat proposed inside the first house they’d share together, on the day they bought it. Months later, on their wedding day, Pat was at his thoughtful and romantic best again. Along with (but certainly more important than!) the dress and veil, the flowers, and the beautiful reception, he made Cassie’s and his wedding day as near as possible to the one of her dreams. From his teary smile as he watched her walk down the aisle to the way he danced with her through the reception, it made Leandra and I sure that both of them left the wedding feeling that they danced as long as they wanted, smiled as much and as wide as they had it in themselves to do so, and kissed exactly as many times as they wanted. It was a full day–full of every thing a wedding day should be.

We had so much fun with Cassie’s long veil in spite of the wind–it added another beautiful dimension to the photographs.

I kneeled in the center aisle for the first five minutes of the ceremony and watched Pat’s expressions shift between teary-and-in-love, awestruck-and-in-love, and excited-and-in-love.

Cassie wore a beautiful fur jacket for pictures outdoors. Even if you don’t take pictures outdoors for your winter wedding, a jacket, bolero, or shawl–something to cover your shoulders–is always so welcome for the space between the limo and church or for any chills through the day. And it’s a perfect place to add color, personality, or “something old” to your wedding day attire.

They had their reception at the Northbank Center in downtown Flint, and Rob from Encore Events dialed up the ambiance with his beautiful lighting design.

After dinner, we stepped outside for some moody night-time pictures…

The groomsmen cheering Pat along:

Cassie’s brothers were dance-aholics, and good at it, too!

Thank you, Cassie and Pat, for giving us the honor of photographing your wedding day! We wouldn’t have wanted to end our fall weddings any other way.