New Year's Eve at LL Bean

I love coming to LL Bean on New Year's Eve. The decorations are so pretty. We must be getting old though; we were back at our motel by 8:30!!



The only thing we bought tonight was a new jacket for Paul. Tomorrow is another day though!!

Dinner with Chris and Joel Oberfield

Tonight we were all invited to have dinner at Chris and Joel's house in Pittsfield.

Chris moved to Springfield in the summer of 1970. She came to help out in the Music Department of Bethany. She knew Pastor Berkey from Pennsylvania; she was from Coraopolis, and he was from Johnston. We became close friends during the late '80’s when Kristen and Mark were teenagers. Her house was always open to the kids from our youth group, and she and I spent many hours around her kitchen table.

Chris has since remarried and moved to Pittsfield. Kristen e-mailed her to get her address so she could send her a Christmas card, and Chris said she would only give it to her if we would all promise to come to her house for dinner.

So tonight Paul, me, Kris, Toby, Marley, Mark and Mason (Janelle had to work) went to her house and we met Joel for the first time. They have been married for five years. I have seen Chris a few times when she has come down to Bethany for one reason or another, but it has been a long time since we have all gotten together.

We had a great time. Chris is a wonderful Italian cook and she made manicotti with meatballs and sausage which was delicious. We all really liked Joel; they are just perfect for each other. It was nice to sit around her table and talk like old times.



Look at these cookies she made over the holidays!



One of my New Year's resolutions is to not let so much time go by again. Life gets so busy, but I want to try to remember that friends are important and we have no guarantees that they will always be around.

Holiday Party at the Atrium

Tonight we went to the Annual Holiday Party at the Atrium. There was a holiday buffet, and then entertainment with a piano player and a saxophone player. We were also served from the dessert cart as we were enjoying the music. A lot of the residents were wearing various types of Happy New Year hats. It was very festive. It seemed so nice to see them interacting with their families. It was also nice to be able to meet family members of the some of the residents that we are getting to know. I just can't say enough about the Atrium.

Small group in Prims

This is the smallest group that Pat and I have ever had in Prims; four girls (and Mason). Mason didn't want to sit in the story circle this week. Maybe it was too small a group.

It was actually kind of nice; a little rest before the "new year."

Cheeeeeese!

Tonight I took these pictures of Mason and I realized, Wow, he looks older to me. He is starting to lose that real baby look. I can't imagine how much older he will look when he gets his hair cut. Maybe I'm not really ready for that (I won't tell his parents though. We have been giving them the business about his hair, ha ha!!).



Such a cutie pie!

Trip to the American Girl store

Marley's Christmas present this year from me and Paul was a trip to the American Girl store in Natick, MA. We went today......along with three million other little girls, ha ha!

Actually we had the best time today. We really got into it, even Paul.

Marley brought her doll "Amanda" and they wore their matching outfits.



After a rather frustrating traffic jam getting off the turnpike and then negotiating the parking garage at the Natick Mall, we arrived with time to browse before our lunch reservations.





They had little chairs that hooked onto the table for your doll, and they brought a little plate and cup! How cute is that?



Marley said Baba looked a little out of place in all this pink! He didn't mind a bit, in fact, he enjoyed it. The food was actually really good.







We watched them doing the dolls' hair at the salon, and Marley decided that she wanted to have Amanda's hair done.



Marley chose the hair style that she wanted. The "hairdresser" was so nice. She talked about how to care for the doll's hair, trimmed the ends, and styled her hair. It looked adorable. I wish I had taken a more close-up picture.



After lots of shopping and trying to make choices, I think we are all set.



What a great day. I'm so glad we did this now; she won't be at this stage much longer. We are already planning our next trip for her birthday!

Merry Christmas

What a great day today was. After about a month of planning, Christmas came and went so fast. Even though I still wasn't as organized as I would have liked, I really enjoyed today. You would think that since I have been out of work since November 1st that I would have been super organized. Not so. I'm using the excuse that it has been a crazy two months and hoping that next year will be calmer and not so hectic. We'll see.

Anyhow, this year we had Mark, Janelle, and Mason; Janelle's parents Stacia and Joe, and sister Amy; Big Baba and Dot. My Dad and Marge were not feeling well and weren't able to be with us. Kris, Toby and Marley were with Toby's family for dinner but came for dessert.



Here are some pictures of the day.

Amy and her dad Joe.



Mark, Dot, and Big Baba.



Could this be Santa coming down from the chimney?



I guess it was just one of the grandpas.



Stacia, Mason and Janelle. Mason started off the day with cute little tan corduroy pants but didn't seem to want to keep them on!





Opening presents was chaotic as usual.







One of the gifts that Mark really wanted Mason to have was this football helmet and jersey. He said Mason "needed" it because he kept trying to get his Build-A-Bear's helmet on. Someone said he looked like ET running around with this on! The helmet was big so half the time he couldn't see where he was going.



Izzy kept getting into the bag of wrapping paper. Minnie kept her distance all day.



***About the first picture, the Nativity...

A few years ago, my friend Liz from work drew my name for the gift exchange for our Christmas party. She gave me a Willow Tree figure, the angel holding a ball. I loved it, and believe it or not she drew my name the next year and gave me the figure holding a lamb (the tall one with the green robe on the left). At that point I decided that I loved these Willow tree figures and I wanted to collect them. Over the years the kids have given me several of them, some of which I recently found out are actually part of the whole Nativity set.

Last year I thought it would be nice to collect the Nativity, maybe one figure a year. Kristen checked into this and found that you could only buy the starter Nativity as a whole. She asked Toby, Mark and Janelle if they wanted to go in with her and get it for me for Christmas. I absolutely love it. I think that I am going to keep it up all year! Thanks, everyone (including Liz).

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Photo Ornaments

Paul framed the Christmas photo ornaments today. It's quite a job deciding what size to print the picture and getting it to look right.

He does a good job. This is what one of them looked like.



Today was another busy day, wrapping, grocery shopping and cooking. I know I say this every year, but next year I am really going to try to be more organized and not leave so much until the last minute. Really!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas tomorrow!

The start of Marley's Christmas vacation

What a busy day today was. Marley had a half-day of school and I picked her up at 11o'clock. We did some last minute Christmas shopping, and had lunch at the mall.

When Marley came out of school, she had a paper bowl of bread dough that her teacher had given her with instructions on how to bake it. When we came out of the mall, the dough had risen and was leaking out of the bowl. She wanted to bake it when we got home. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but we gave it a try. Now, I have never baked bread before, but I really didn't think it looked quite right. It was supposed to make 4 1 lb loaves. We put it in two loaf pans and still it didn't look like enough. It didn't rise too much when it was baked; not sure why. Marley seemed happy with it and we had it for supper. She said it wasn't quite as good as what they had at school. I'm sure!



After supper we made Reindeer cookies for Santa. Marley did this basically by herself. They were cookies that you just slice and bake. The cookies were supposed to be 1/2 inch thick and I got a ruler out to show her what that looked like. She was so funny. She used the ruler to cut each slice!



We got silly making the cookies and decided this one looked more like a hampster than a reindeer!



In the end the cookies turned out okay, albeit rather big.



In between all this baking she wrapped presents for me. So thankful for that!



We ended the evening watching Elf with the Baba's. Like I said, quite a busy day!

Brunch at On the Hill

On Christmas day our friends Ralph and Linda (the couple to the right of Paul) will be "going South" for the winter. They have a condo and many family members in South Carolina. Paul was the only one of our friends working today, so we met at On the Hill so that he could join us during his break.

This is Ralph and Linda's second winter doing this. I'm going to miss them.

See you guys in the Spring!

Mason's Christmas tree

Tonight when we brought Mason home after Prims, he was so excited to show us his Christmas tree. "It's decorated", he said.

It is probably the smallest real tree I have ever seen, but it is just perfect for their small living room ~ and Mason loves it!

Christmas Photo Shoot

Tonight I really wanted to get a picture of Marley and Mason with Santa hats. For the past few years I have been making tree ornaments for Kris and Toby, and Mark and Janelle. It hasn't been easy with Mason. The first year wasn't too bad because he couldn't go anywhere. Last year was difficult, but I thought maybe this year would be a little better. Not so...well, maybe just a tiny bit.

At first he really didn't want to put the hat on. Then after he saw Mark put Paul's Santa hat on (I have three different sizes, LOL), he wanted that hat which was really too big for him, but you take what you can get, right?

This was the first picture I got. Not bad, but I didn't really want those little things he was holding in front of Marley's face.



The second picture was better (top picture).

I decided to try one more. Things started to deteriorate, so I was content with what I got.



Maybe next year I'll get the perfect picture. I'll keep trying anyhow!

Career Point

On November 26, 2011 I received a letter from the Department of Unemployment Assistance stating that I needed to attend a Career Center Seminar, and that it was mandatory.

So, today Paul and I went to Career Point in Holyoke. You and Paul??? I can hear you asking. Yep, I'm a big chicken. I didn't want to go alone, so I made the appointment for a Monday, his day off.

It was about 2 hours long. I had to sign up for one workshop, so I signed up for a refresher course in Microsoft Word. I figure it can't hurt. They actually have a wealth of resources to help you to return to work.....

Then, it was off to Nick's Nest for lunch!

Toby's birthday

Today we celebrated Toby's birthday. I felt bad that Mark and Janelle couldn't be here, but today was the only time we had. Janelle went home to Woburn for a Christmas party, and Mark was studying for his final.

Marley gave him a cute little felt star that she had made herself. How cute is that?





Marley and her mom certainly don't get their love of crafts from me, as I am certain most of you know.

Marley and I made Toby's favorite cake, and Toby had tea in the birthday mug.
Good time. Making memories.

Happy birthday Toby!