I am thankful for... So. Many. Things.

For months, you all have read about me not making a printed catalog this year because of preparations for the upcoming wedding here on our farm. Mercifully, I left out all of the details that were being worried about. Details connected to hosting 200 guests on the (previously-ungroomed and out of reach of electricity/water) hill beside our pond.

Jumping to the finale, as illustrated by the photo above, the day went perfectly

The weather was perfect - forecast had indicated cooler temperature and a fair amount of wind. We got neither. It was sunny and still and beautiful. Exactly none of the thousands of things that I'd worried about came to fruition - so thankfully, no viral youtube videos (examples here)

Months before Thanksgiving proper, the events leading up to, and including the wedding day, brought into focus for me, how much I have to be thankful for. I was still limited in what I was allowed to do following my shoulder surgery, so all the property cleanup projects fell onto Rob.

He mowed, and mowed, and MOWED - 12 acres that we'd let grow wild for decades - it took all summer to get the grass under control so it was fit to walk on by people not wearing hiking boots.

He rented a lift and washed the accumulated algae off the entire house. While he was at it, he trimmed all the trees away from the power lines and the gutters. I stood by, taking pictures, but mostly wringing my hands. I was very thankful when those tasks were completed.

Jordan and Kaiti had hired a Wedding Planner to take care of the complicated logistics, so they didn't have to be stressed out handling things like procuring flowers, reserving rooms for out of town guests, setting up and serving the food, etc. Turned out, the Wedding Planner was costing a pile of money and adding to the stress instead of making things easier. So they got canned and Bride and Groom took it over themselves. I was more than a little worried about how that was going to go. They both work full time and both had a nasty bout of COVID that sidelined them for almost 2 weeks.

Kaiti had mentioned in passing that she was making decorations. She'd texted some pictures of her progress on them, but I had no idea of the scope of her vision. When Jordan showed up with A BOX TRUCK FULL OF DECORATIONS that she'd made, I still had no idea of what she had planned. I was mostly freaking out over where it was all going to go. She was working when he brought it; I pestered him for details as he carried box after box in and stuffed them amongst the HoofPrints inventory - he had none. This was the first of several loads.

A few days before The Big Day, the crew from a local tent rental company came and erected a 90' tent. The entire family had stomped around that 12 acres, trying to pick the perfect spot, and on this day I was thankful, for indeed we had picked the perfect spot. By sunset, the tent stood tall and proud framed against the trees, glowing in the fading light; looking positively magical.

I was under the assumption that the tent company was handling the lighting also. Nope. There's an extra charge for that, and "How hard can it be to hang lights?" <-- Jordan. Stringing 300 feet of lights from the tip-top of a 90' tent looked pretty hard to me, but he and Rob made short order of the task. Once again, I stood by wringing my hands, thankful when everybody was back safely on the ground, and our quirky, prone-to-break-down scissor lift was out of the tent and parked out of sight.

After the tent was up, it was time to decorate the 35! big tables.

Our tractor shuttled load after load of decorations on Jordan's flatbed trailer from the warehouse to the tent. Kaiti's hoard of friends who came to help knew what to do; as they milled around like a bunch of worker bees, and under her direction the contents of dozens of Amazon boxes morphed into arrangements on each table.

I was thankful they had a vision, but I had questions. So many questions.

But I didn't ask them. As much as I was dying to know, I didn't ask what the stabby elk antler was for. Or the dozens of wood crates. Or the giant fancy easel... I did, however, ask about the 400 empty liquor bottles. Even after I was informed that they'd line a path through the trees, illuminating the way for guests in the dark via glow sticks, my worried brain was trying to calculate the relative lumens of a glow stick and imagining guests wandering around lost in the poison ivy that we'd failed to get under control... (I won't even bring up the ground bees that we discovered in the process of trying to get the poison ivy under control.)

Inside of a day, all of my questions were answered. There were things I didn't even know to ask that got answered. To say I was impressed is an understatement. The creativity and resourcefulness that went into all of this was truly astounding.

See the stabby elk antler? It's decorated here on the table. Jordan and Kaiti found it on a trip to South Dakota. You can see the pond in the background beyond the chairs. The same pond that Jordan and his dad dug together when he was just a boy. It was as if it were all planned to fit into this special day.

I am thrilled to welcome Kaiti to the family, and I'm thankful that Jordan has found such a creative and capable mate. These two make quite an impressive team; they certainly showed it in the flawless orchestration of this event.

If you made it this far, I'd also like to say that I am thankful for YOU!

You HoofPrints' newsletter subscribers keep me going with your encouragement and kind words. It means so much that you allow me to invade your in-box with whatever words I decide to write. It's not a privilege I take lightly.

FREE Horsey Lights with every Horseshoe Christmas Tree!

These string lights from are ideal for adding some horsey flair to your decorating. The 10' cord features 10 lights shaped like horses alternating with different colors. They're equipped with standard sized UL approved bulbs. Replacement bulbs are included so you can have confidence they will last. Designed with weather resistant materials - for indoor and outdoor use. These are discontinued at the manufacturer; I bought the remaining inventory - so once they're sold out I can't get any more. Lights are sold separately here

With 11 widely varied choices, I thought I had the Wild Rag selection covered - until these came along...

The Silk Wild Rags (or Bandannas, or Scarves) were new this fall.

I let my vendor's rep talk me into these. "They are so much prettier in person!" she said. I agreed to let her send me some samples, and as soon as I saw/felt them I was sold. The colors are indescribably rich and vibrant; the fabric feels so luxurious, it's easy to envision that it's warm on cold days and cool on hot days. They're sturdier than expected; manufacturer recommends hand wash/hang dry, but I washed mine in the machine and dried on cool and it survived nicely.

I was glad these are lightweight and compact, as demand so far exceeded my capacity to predict sales, that I was ordering frequently and having my supplier overnight the shipment so I could fill Christmas orders in time.

In January, they let me know that there were multiple new patterns in the works. "I'm good." I said, not wanting to complicate my inventory with more than 11 different options. But then, I asked to see pictures. One thing lead to another, and now HoofPrints has EIGHTEEN choices for silk wild rags, and 8 coordinating scarf slides.