Bridal Shower and More
Yesterday was my bridal shower. I was rather nervous when it started- I've only been to a few showers, and to be the bride is a different thing altogether. From there, things segued to some brief awkwardness, as I tried to interact with a variety of people who know me, or don't know me, from utterly different aspects of life, and had a Very awkward interaction with one of H's cousins, who seemed to be accusing me of losing, breaking or stealing some tea cups she said were in our house.
Then we did introductions, and got down to the business of opening presents- something I hadn't really been thinking about at all, beforehand. (Similarly, H was told to show up around 5, when the party was scheduled to end, which I think was to help take home the stuff, but he hadn't realized, and came by bike. So he had to go home and borrow his parents' car, and come back for me, the stuff, and his mom.) Opening gifts in front of everyone was a little strange, but everyone seemed to enjoy it, and their pleasure was infectious. (On the other hand, trying to balance between my usual habits of unwrapping things carefully enough to re-use the wrapping paper, etc, and trying to not make everyone wait too long while I fussed with wrappings felt very strange.)
It also helped that one woman came with her son, age 3-ish, who had a Wonderful time with all the discarded tissue paper. He took the occasional moment of attention off of me, which was sometimes useful. In that regard (constant attention, that is), it was good practice, I expect, for the wedding itself. And while it was lots of people, everyone was so amiable that it didn't get too overwhelming.
Then we did introductions, and got down to the business of opening presents- something I hadn't really been thinking about at all, beforehand. (Similarly, H was told to show up around 5, when the party was scheduled to end, which I think was to help take home the stuff, but he hadn't realized, and came by bike. So he had to go home and borrow his parents' car, and come back for me, the stuff, and his mom.) Opening gifts in front of everyone was a little strange, but everyone seemed to enjoy it, and their pleasure was infectious. (On the other hand, trying to balance between my usual habits of unwrapping things carefully enough to re-use the wrapping paper, etc, and trying to not make everyone wait too long while I fussed with wrappings felt very strange.)
It also helped that one woman came with her son, age 3-ish, who had a Wonderful time with all the discarded tissue paper. He took the occasional moment of attention off of me, which was sometimes useful. In that regard (constant attention, that is), it was good practice, I expect, for the wedding itself. And while it was lots of people, everyone was so amiable that it didn't get too overwhelming.