The Monday before our anniversary last month, I realized that it would be a great opportunity to celebrate our family's birthday for Family Home Evening. Throughout the day I started telling the kids, "You know, our family's birthday is this week -- it's the day that mom and dad were married!"
At first they looked at me kind of strange. But then they got it and thought it was a cool idea.
I pulled out our wedding video (originally on VHS and converted to DVD by my mom - thanks!) and we watched that. Holy cow, we were so young! And our parents and brothers were so young! The kids thought it was so funny to see their uncles as teenagers and little kids.
I baked a "wedding cake" - nothing fancy, just a Betty Crocker mix from my cupboard - and added a raspberry layer just like our wedding cake. I also gave Anna the job of crafting a bride and groom for the top of the cake.
Popsicle sticks, cotton balls, and washi tape. They are a little interesting, but it occupied her for an hour.
Then we cut the cake - wedding style - and fed it to each other while the kids looked on.
(Ya, I'm wearing a fleece blanket as a skirt. I was cooold.)
During the lesson portion of Family Home Evening we taught them that the person you marry is the most important decision you will make in your life. This decision is a long time away for the kids but it is important to make choices, goals, and set standards now that will prepare you to find the right person and to be smart (and in tune with the Spirit) enough to know who is right or wrong for you. It was a great discussion. This is a great quote by Bruce R. McConkie:
"The most important single thing that any Latter-Day Saint ever does in this world is to marry the right person, in the right place, by the right authority."
I also pulled up an article from The New Era that was full of questions and answers regarding temple weddings. We were married in the Oakland California Temple. Because temple weddings are quite a bit different from weddings they see on tv and because they will not be able to attend a temple wedding themselves until they are young adults and are worthy of a temple recommend . . . I thought it would be good to talk about some of the things that are different so they can know what to expect, and they can understand why we do things different. We are married and sealed in temples by priesthood authority for time & eternity -- it is an ordinance and sacred covenants are made.
A few questions like . . .
How much does it cost to get married in the temple?
What do we wear to our temple wedding?
Who can we invite?
Can we exchange rings in the temple?
How long is the temple ceremony?
And simple reminders that traditions like throwing rice or decorating cars is not appropriate on temple grounds.
You can read the full article HERE.
I think it was a great lesson and they were attentive and had lots of questions and it opened a new level of awareness and understanding. Overall it was a great family home evening and I think we will continue this tradition every year!
