Gaterings (Columbia)

This week started with a big gathering in Columbia for Britney and Juan Carlos' (3rd) wedding celebration. I was going to include our end of the week gathering in Kentucky with my (Sidenstick) side of the family, but the Columbian Wedding was too lengthy.

Saturday 12/20 - I cleared the trail in our woods along the back pasture, raking and picking up sticks that had been thrown about from the wind storm a few nights ago.  There were also three downed trees, two including this one I could move.  But the third one was too big and heavy.  I hadn't finished, but had to quit because it was time to go for a ride with Karen.  





Zorro can be a stinker when putting on the bridle.  Here he had grabbed a leather strap and was holding it in his mouth.  Silly boy.  

It was sunny and in the low 50s, but I got cold by the time we finished our ride because I didn't have my jacket on.  I had gotten sweaty and taken it off while clearing trail but while we were out, the wind had picked up and the temperature dropped.  





There was a small gathering when Karen and I rode back into the barnyard.  Bonnie and Dave had arrived for chores and were grooming Cowboy, and Jan was there working with Cash.  Amiga was in the corral whinnying because she was left out of the gathering.  


 

I went to Food City on the way home and got an update from Joe.  It was another fun day in Columbia for the five of them.  


A fair amount of the day was spent at the beach.  






While I ate dinner, brought home from Food City, Daniel chimed in on our family Facebook chat.  



Ava was riding in a one horse open sleigh, at the mall, while there to see Santa.  

It wasn't even 7pm, but I was struggling to stay awake.  Meanwhile, the party gathering was going strong in Columbia.

Sunday 12/21 -  It was the winter solstice and shortest day of the year, which I managed to 'waste' most of.  Back in the second week of  December I had read that the sun was setting later, but the days were still getting shorter, which didn't make sense to me.  So I started tracking the time of sunrise and sunset everyday and saw it was true.  And just now, I found this information from the Sunrise Sunset site.











I have included two sections of the chart.  In this first one, you can see sunset was occurring later each day starting December 9th but the days were still getting shorter.  

In this second chart you can see that because of the Earth's axial tilt  the rate of sunrise delay is faster than sunset delay initially, meaning total daylight is still shrinking, but the clock time for sunset moves later before sunrise starts getting earlier.
 

At 6:45am (7:45 Columbia time) I received some photos from Juan Carlos.  Britney was actually in the process of getting 'all made up' for their big day.  I  was so surprised, first that she had consented to this (Juanca's sisters wanted to have their friend do this for Britney) and second that it was so early.  Come to find out, the ceremony started at 10am their time, actually 15 minutes before church for me.

 

Juan Carlos' sister, I believe this is Ivethe, helped the bride (Britney) get dressed.




It is very unusual to see Britney with makeup on, and never has she worn false eyelashes that I know of.  







Britney definitely looks more her usual self with her glasses back on.

I got to Church right at 9am, really wanting to watch the happenings in Columbia, but I resisted temptation and turned my phone off.
 

After Church, Shirley gave me this gift from her and Patty.  They had gotten these pillow covers at a craft fair a while ago.  I just love them.

Karen and I were going to ride but I bailed out.  I had even changed into riding clothes, but when I walked Maggie I got really cold.  Even though it was warm enough to ride (almost 50°), with the wind it said it felt like 42°.  I thought it was too cold for me to enjoy riding and I also really needed a day of rest.


So I went back to looking at Facebook posts of the gathering for Britney and Juan Carlos' wedding.




I am guessing they did professional photographs before the ceremony because these types of photos were posted next.  

 

Monday I did get access to the professional photos so have added some of them to the mix from Joe.

 

What a beautiful bride.  















Even these cool, sparkly, glittery photos I though were AI generated, were taken in the decorated entry to the main room. 

Juan Carlos looked so happy and proud to be Britney's husband.  

They are such a sweet, loving, and lovely couple.  

The couple, seen here with Juanca's oldest sister Ivethe.

And here they are with Joe again.  










What a beautiful venue (Juanca's sisters didn't seem to spare expense) for this third wedding.

Everything so elegant and pretty.  

Then it was time for the wedding to begin.
Here comes the bride and groom, already a happily married couple, but going through the ceremony again.  



This time it was a Colombian style Judeo-Christian wedding ceremony with a renewal of their vows.

I'm not positive of the order of rituals during the ceremony.  They renewed their vows and exchanged the rings.  








Joe and Ivethe both said a prayer for their marriage.













They took communion.



And the Leader blessed the couple before presenting them to the crowd.  

Juan Carlo's Uncle Raymundo proposed a toast. 






Joe was next to speak and delivered a toast.  Laura (an English teacher friend of family) did the translating.

Then guests got group photos taken with the bride and groom.  Here are some of my favorite ones. 

With 65 people there, many photos were taken.

Just look how cute these girls are.

Like all families all over the world, we like to be silly, have fun, share laughter, and just be together.

At some point they partook in this lovely meal.  

Special wedding treats were brought in by this festive lady, who went around delivering the goodies and had fun with the guests.

I think Uncle Raymundo was having a good time and he looks like a fun, wild, and crazy guest.






Joe appeared to be enjoying himself also.  





And of course some photos with the bride and groom were taken. 

Recorded music had been playing, with special songs for different parts of the ceremony.   

Bride and Groom slow dance.



This second photo may have been posed for earlier.

The pace did pick up with faster music.

It seems to be the norm, that first a few crazies start dancing but soon (or eventually) everybody joins in.  





At some point there was the tossing of the bouquet.  






Milagro was the 25 year young niece of Juanca's who caught the bouquet.

These next two photos were probably taken earlier.  They give you and idea of what the banquet hall/dance floor looked like.

The wedding gathering lasted a long time, going from 10am to 4pm. Toward the end, this band, called Grupo de Millo Wisi Son came marching in.  
  
 






They did a little performance and then...   

...got Britney and Juan Carlos involved. 

I did some research and read that one of many Colombian Wedding Traditions is La Hora Loca  "the crazy hour."  Depending on the theme, you can expect entertainment such as carnival dancers, live music, and live drum beats; and it often occurs late at night.  




Soon the man and lady dancers split up Britney and Juan Carlos.  And then they danced with others at the gathering.  

Holy moly, do these folks know how to party.  

I sort of regret not 'sucking-it-up' and going.  But I just hate all the hassles and stress of packing, travel, and being gone from the ranch and our house.  The language barrier also makes me uncomfortable.  I am so glad and thankful that Joe was there to represent Britney's family, support her, and be a part of the gathering.