Santa Claus And Marriage Vows
Picture Friday, December 20, 1974.  A young couple was busy preparing for a winter trip to from Sacramento, California to Casper, Wyoming.  With a few clothing items and toiletries hastily packed in suitcases and a 1959 Volkswagon Bug with heater not working,
they intended to make a life defining decision to get married that very night in Reno, Nevada of all places!

That young couple was us!  But, wait a second, we couldn't begin the journey until Norm had played Santa Claus at the old James Marshall School in downtown Sacramento!
Once that was completed and the Santa Claus suit was put away, we were ready to begin our trip to Reno.  Preparations had been made for Don and Cherie Keele, Norm's friends who had introduced him to the LDS church, to contact their bishop and make arrangements for a marriage ceremony.

Who would think that a simple ceremony in an LDS Meetinghouse in a Relief Soceity Room, not even the chapel, would be so precious, sacred, and memorable.  Well, strange things DO happen and that is exactly what happned that night.  It happened in the most humble and unpretentious of circumstances, but, for us, no royal wedding ceremony of pomp and circumstance could equal our happiness on that most special of nights!

Afterwards, the Keeles treated us to an Italian dinner. With that completed, we drove to Winnemucca, Nevada where we spent our first night as newlyweds.  The next day it was off to Casper where I met my new mother-in-law and my new brother and sister-in-law.

Fast forward to last night, December 20, 2013, when we celebrated our 39th Wedding Anniversary with our love for each other way stronger than on that wedding night 39 years earlier.

I always say when something good occurs, we should celebrate it to the hilt because who knows what could be lurking around the corner.  So celebrate we did with our traditional cards to each other, a snowy night, and a fine dinner at the Outback.

Now it's off and running for our 40th year!