Anniversary Celebrations

An anniversary is commonly associated with weddings. Married persons who regard the date of their marriage as important may mark the yearly date of their wedding in some special way.

Broader groups in society, especially the families, and even more especially the children of such a couple, may help to celebrate such occasions; this is particularly common on the 40th, 50th, and 60th annivs.

Retailers (especially jewellers), sensing a profit opportunity, have encouraged gift-giving on such special days, and may often suggest a hierarchy of types of gifts to reflect the importance of longer years of marriage (and perhaps of greater ability to purchase more expensive gifts).

Great First Anniversary Gift Ideas
From Sheri & Bob Stritof, About.com

The first anniversary of a marriage is often considered the year of adjustment. As you celebrate this special first wedding anniversary, reflect on the both the delicate and hardy aspects of your marriage and of your love for one another.

Here are some first anniversary gift ideas and symbols to help you choose paper or clock gifts associated with your first wedding anniversary.

First Anniversary Gift (Traditional): Paper. It symbolizes the strength in paper that comes from the interlaced connection of the paper's individual threads.

First Anniversary Gift (Contemporary/Modern): Clocks. Henry Van Dyke wrote, "For those who love, time is eternity."

First Anniversary Gift (Gemstone): Gold Jewelry, Pearl, or Peridot

First Anniversary Gift (Color): Gold or Yellow

First Anniversary Gift (Flower): Orange Blossom or Pansy.

The meaning of a pansy is that the recipient is being thought about. The pansy's name comes from the French word pensée which means thought or remembrance.

The meaning of an orange blossom is purity, innocence, eternal love, marriage and fruitfulness, and fertility.

Celebrating a First Anniversary Gift of Love

• Eat the top layer of your wedding cake.
• Purchase tickets for a movie, sports event, concert, theatre, etc. to attend together.
• Plan a picnic with paper plates and cups. If you saved any of these items from you wedding reception, use them!
• Have a paper treasure hunt for your spouse. Leave clues throughout the house that eventually lead to a romantic location.
• Use paper flowers for a centerpiece for your anniversary dinner. Or use the dried bouquet from your wedding.

First Anniversary Gift Suggestions

• An anniversary journal to record your memories of your anniversaries throughout your marriage. You may think that you will never forget how you celebrated your anniversaries, but chances are you will! Write down how you spent your anniversary dates together, and what wedding anniversary gifts you gave to one another.
• Purchase a framed share of stock in a major company that has meaning to the both of you.
• Stationery.
• Postcards.
• Calendar.
• Magazine subscription.
• Jigsaw puzzle.
• Paper weight.
• Book.
• Art print.
• Sheet music.
• Road map describing a trip to take together.
• Egg timer.
• Kitchen timer.
• Wrist watch.
• Outdoor sundial.

Homemade First Anniversary Gift Suggestions

• Stuff a piñata or pretty box with new paper money, confetti, love note, book on romance, magazine, love coupons, paper flower, picture of the two of you, etc.
• Love note.
• Love coupons.
• Print tickets for a movie night and watch your wedding video.

Marriage - About.com
http://marriage.about.com/od/1stweddinganniversary/p/1anniv.htm

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, bordering the Pacific Ocean, California, Washington, Idaho, and Nevada. Its northern border lies along the Columbia River and the eastern border lies along the Snake River. Two north-south mountain ranges—the Pacific Coast Range and the Cascade Mountain Range—form the two boundaries of the Willamette Valley, one of the most fertile and agriculturally productive regions in the world. Oregon has one of the most diverse landscapes in the nation. It is well known for its tall, dense forests and its accessible, scenic Pacific coastline. Other areas include the semiarid scrublands, prairies, and deserts that cover approximately half the state in eastern and north-central Oregon. It is one of the few places in the Northern Hemisphere where lift-serviced alpine skiing is available year round. Oregon's population in 2000 was 3,421,399, a 20.4% increase over 1990. The Census Bureau estimated Oregon's population to have reached 3,594,586 by 2004. Economy The Willamette Valley is very fertile and, coupled with Oregon's famous rain, gives the state a wealth of agricultural products, including cattle, dairy products, potatoes, peppermint, and apples and other fruits. Oregon is also one of four major world hazelnut growing regions, and produces 95% of the domestic hazelnuts in the United States. While the history of the wine production in Oregon can be traced to before Prohibition, it became a significant industry beginning in the 1970s and Oregon is home to at least four wine appellations. Due to regional similarities of climate and soil, the grapes planted in Oregon are often the same varieties found in the French region of Alsace. Vast forests have historically made Oregon one of the nation's major timber production and logging states, but forest fires (such as the Tillamook Burn), over-harvesting, and lawsuits over the proper management of the extensive federal forest holdings have reduced the amount of timber produced. According to the Oregon Forest Resources Institute, timber harvested from federal lands dropped some 96% from 1989 from 4,333 million to 173 million board feet (10,000,000 to 408,000 m³) in 2001. Even the shift in recent years towards finished goods such as paper and building materials has not slowed the decline of the timber industry. Examples include Weyerhaeuser's acquisition of Willamette Industries in January, 2002, the announcement by Louisiana Pacific in September, 2003 that they will relocate their corporate headquarters from Portland to Nashville, and the experiences of small lumber towns like Gilchrist. Despite these changes, Oregon still leads the United States in softwood lumber production; in 2001, according to the Oregon Forest Resources Institute, 6,056 million board feet (14,000,000 m³) was produced in Oregon, against 4,5257 mbf. in Washington, 2,731 in California, 2,413 in Georgia, and 2,327 in Mississippi. The effect of the forest industry crunch is still massive unemployment in rural Oregon and is a bone of contention between rural and urban Oregon. Oregon has also contributed to the entertainment industry. Movies wholly or partially filmed in Oregon include The Goonies, National Lampoon's Animal House, Stand By Me, Kindergarten Cop, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Paint Your Wagon, The Hunted, Sometimes a Great Notion, Elephant, Bandits, The Ring 2, Short Circuit, Come See The Paradise, The Shining, Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho and The Postman. Oregon native Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, has incorporated many references from his hometown of Portland into the series. High technology industries and services have been a major employer since the 1970s. Tektronix was the largest private employer in Oregon until the late 1980s. Intel's creation and expansion of several plants in eastern Washington County continued the growth that Tektronix had started. The spinoffs and startups that were produced by these two companies led to the establishment of the Portland metropolitan area as the Silicon Forest. The recession and dot-com bust of 2001 in the Silicon Valley has led to similar results in the Silicon Forest; many high technology employers have either reduced the number of their employees or gone out of business. OSDL made news in 2004 when they hired Linus Torvalds, developer of the Linux kernel. Oregon also is the home of non-technology-based companies such as shoemaker Nike, whose world headquarters is located in Beaverton. Medford is home to two of the largest mail order companies in the country: Bear Creek Corporation which sells gift items under several brands, and Musician's Friend an international catalog and Internet retailer of music gear. Oregon had one of the largest salmon-fishing industries in the world, although ocean fisheries have reduced the river fisheries in recent years. Tourism is also strong in the state; Oregon's evergreen mountain forests, waterfalls, pristine lakes (including Crater Lake National Park), and scenic beaches draw visitors year round. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, held in Ashland, is a tourist draw near its Californian border which complements the area's scenic beauty and opportunity for outdoor activities. Oregon is home to a number of smaller breweries. Oregon's gross state product is $145.35 billion as of 2005. State symbols Oregon has a total of 19 official state symbols. They are: * State flower: Oregon-grape (since 1899) * State song: "Oregon, My Oregon" (written in 1920 and adopted in 1927) * State bird: Western Meadowlark (chosen by the state's children in 1927) * State tree: Douglas-fir (since 1939) * State fish: Chinook salmon (since 1961) * State rock: Thunderegg (like a geode but formed in a rhyolitic lava flow; since 1965) * State animal: American Beaver (since 1969) * State dance: Square dance (Adopted in 1977) * State insect: Oregon Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio oregonius; since 1979) * State fossil: Metasequoia (since 2005) * State gemstone: Oregon sunstone, a type of feldspar (since 1987) * State nut: Hazelnut (since 1989) * State seashell: Oregon hairy triton (Fusitriton oregonensis, a gastropod in the cymatiidae family; since 1991) * State mushroom: Pacific Golden Chanterelle (since 1999) * State beverage: Milk (since 1997) * State fruit: Pear (since 2005) * State motto: Alis Volat Propriis, Latin for “She Flies With Her Own Wings” (since 1987; This was the original motto of Oregon, but had been changed to “The Union” in 1957.) * State hostess: Miss Oregon (since 1969) * State team: Portland Trail Blazers of 1990–1991 (since 1991) Source: Wikipedia.org - English