The Geriatric New Year's Eve Party

Tonight there will be 20 people at our house for New Year's Eve and this will continue a tradition that we have carried on for the past 12 years. We will be entertaining friends who would otherwise not go out for New Year's. We called it the Geriatric New Year's Eve Party in the past when the youngest person there was 55 and the ages went up to 90!

12 years ago we started out by asking one couple to come and spend a quiet New Years Eve with us in our new home. We then realized that their mother and father would be home that night and we asked them to join us. Then we heard of an elderly couple who had some health problems and knowing that they would also be home alone on New Year's Eve, we asked them to come to spend the evening with us. The idea spread and in our first celebration we had 12 guests who would have spent New Year's Eve at home by themselves. There was good food, good conversation, a nice generational interchange, a toast at midnight and then, pretty quickly, the party broke up and everyone headed for home.

But the following year when we were asked by a couple who had been at the first soiree what we were going to do for New Year's Eve, it became clear to us that this was really a much more important event than we had ever imagined. Our little "party" gave people who spend a great deal of time at home, a chance to get dressed up and get out. And, thus the annual New Year's Eve Party was born. Over the years, some members of the original gathering have passed on, but the widows and widowers who are left remain an important part of our guest list and they relish a chance to do something social again.

This year the age range will spread from 6 months to 87 years. We have a new widower among the guests. We have a young couple with a little baby who now have a different perspective on "partying". The guest list varies from year to year, but the constant thread that runs through the evening is the desire to bring people, who would otherwise have just another lonely night, together for fun and friendship.

So I am busily preparing food for our buffet table, but I wanted to take the time to wish all of you a Happy New Year!!

We All Need a Silent Night

With only a few days left until Christmas, I am sure that more than a few of you are frazzled, flustered and jacked up on too little sleep and too much sugar and caffeine. The cold and snow may have made you stay inside when you REALLY had things to do and get done and the time is running out and I AM NOT READY FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!! Whoa, there, pull back and take a look around you. It is cold and crisp outside and the snow is beautiful.

Perhaps what we should do is use the cold and snow as an excuse for taking back the real meaning of Christmas with some family time (yes, your family can actually spend time together and probably won't kill each other). Radio stations, satellite TV and cable TV stations have 24 hour Christmas music, Hallmark and ABC Family channels have lots of fun Christmas movies that the whole family can watch together (so what if the plots are all remarkably similar and the endings are all the same, if you never saw the movie you will never know how it ends!!)..some are even poignant and require some personal introspection. If you don't know where to find some quality Christmas music, stream it online here or here or even here. Find a family project that everyone can participate in--working a jigsaw puzzle together, playing a board game, baking and decorating cookies, making something handmade to give as a gift in the event that you never get back out of your house to finish your shopping.

Here is a nice simple Cappucino drink mix that can be made and given with a mug and some marshmallows (or just by itself) as a gift made with love. Perfect for a teacher, pastor, neighbor gift...(P.S. You can also drink this as a family when you are watching your movies or playing games.).

CAPPUCINO MIX

1 cup instant coffee creamer
1 cup hot cocoa mix (any flavor you would like)
2/3 cup instant coffee
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Mix all ingredients well and store in an airtight container.
To serve: Mix 3 Tablespoons to 6 oz hot water or 4 Tablespoons to 8 oz of hot water.

Now that you have a better perspective, enjoy this lovely song by Amy Grant nicely choreographed by cmtrump.




PEACE AND JOY AT CHRISTMAS!

A Perfect Example of Why You Should Home School Your Children

This is so wrong on so many levels.
If this was my child I would NOT post it for all the world to see.
If this was at my child's school, I would be homeschooling her at the start of the next semester.
This is a perfect example of the indoctrination by the public school system (Thank you NEA) of our young children who innocently believe that adults are honorable and that what they say is right. You know that they are serving the PC Koolaid in the school lunch program!
So bring on the SCHOOL HOLIDAY PAGEANT so that we can all enjoy this WINTER FESTIVAL!!

Thank you Sarah Palin!

There is no doubt that Sarah Palin has left her mark on the 2008 Presidential election. Now that she is back in Alaska, she is still the target of the MSM in an attempt to neutralize her. The measure of her mark, however can be found at Team Sarah where members are still joining and the membership is just shy of 60,000 members today!

The grassroots effort to unify the conservative voice to be fully prepared for the 2010 election is gaining momentum through a variety of alternative media sites such as Smart Girl Politics, Team Sarah, #dontgo movement, Grizzly Groundswell and the conservative voices on Blogtalk Radio to name just a few.

As we have just finished celebrating a national day of Thanksgiving, it is worthy to reflect on the things that we have to be thankful and for the things that have made this nation great. Sarah Palin is representative of these ideas and ideals and for this we should ask why she represents such a threat to the left in this country? This should explain it:

Remembering Others at the Holidays

I know, it is mid-October and the thought of the holidays is probably not first and foremost in the midst of the political and economic climate in our country. In spite of this, Thanksgiving will be here in just 45 days AND just 28 days later it will be Christmas.

Just as retailers have already been thinking about Christmas for a couple of months in order to be ready for the selling season, it is also necessary to think about sharing holiday wishes with out troops who will not be home for the holidays. It takes a long time for military mail to reach our military heroes and if it is to arrive in time for Christmas, some forethought must start NOW! By the time that the non-stop holiday music is playing it will almost be too late to include our brave fighting men and women in our plans. In the past, I had participated in the "Any service person" mail program, but this has been discontinued. eMail Our Military has taken up where this effort stopped to provide a way for holiday greetings from all over the country can be sent to miliary personnel stationed all over the world.

Today eMail Our Military announced their 7th Annual Holiday Love Project for our Troops and I want to make sure that the word is spread. Check out their blog, http://tinyurl.com/4uj6jn for a list of things that you, your family, friends, co-workers, scout troops, community group, church.....could do to be sure that warmest holiday wishes reach as many of our troops in foreign lands as possible.

Get in the holiday mood by hosting a Hanukkah or Christmas card party. Either buy cards and have a signing party or, better yet, have a card MAKING party and get out your best papers, stamping supplies, markers, colored inks and even some of the scrapbooking supplies that you have sitting in the closet. It is so much better to give than to receive and this takes just a little effort to bring so much joy.

While you are visiting eMail our Military's site, don't forget to look at all of the other ways that you can contribute year round to keep young men and women far away from family and home connected. Do it for those who are fighting to protect YOUR freedom and have a Blessed Holiday.