Our Christmas party this year was at Cheryl's house. For dinner we started with a delicious appetizer that Marci made of a tomato-based shrimp cocktail. The main course was chicken crepes (cooked by Cheryl and Sheri). Side dishes were funeral potatoes (Barbara), corn (Teresa), vegetable tray with dip(Emma Lou), jello salad (Laura), and pineapple slush (Marci).

Desserts were a Baskin-Robbin ice cream cake (Carlyn), brownies with ice cream and fudge topping(Pat), and Sharon's homemade dipped chocolates. The annual silver ball ornament was won this year by Laura- - she received a bracelet inside from Sheri. We had a great time laughing and talking - we really need a video camera to record all the antics for posterity because as we each get older and more forgetful we seem to get funnier all the time- but maybe it's really only in our own minds. Every year we try to plan a new idea for gift exchanges so this year we decided to shop at the dollar store and find a gift suitable for the person below us on the official quilt group list. The gifts were extremely creative and luckily cheap -that's the great thing about the dollar stores. The most important thing is the thought and caring we put into the gifts we choose because after all the whole purpose is to nourish our friendships. The most magical gift was the mysterious gifts all wrapped up and left on Sheri's porch the week before the party. She called everyone in the group before the party to find out who dropped them off and everyone denied any knowledge of the gifts. The night of the party as we speculated who they could be from ( because there were 12 of them)- Laura jokingly said maybe they were from Bev. All of a sudden we all got quiet and realized that they were from Bev and she had found a way to share some of her Cherished Teddy collection with us by having her daughters wrap and deliver them to Sheri's door. We have fond memories of Bev and the special place she will always hold in our hearts - this Christmas gift will surely help sustain and strenthen those memories. As we ended our party we made tentative plans for 2009 as we passed around the list of dates to choose. The plan is to meet on the evening of the 4th Tuesday of each month and everyone will take a turn at planning the activities. Betty was elected the new president and will try to keep this group in line- certainly not an easy task. Anyway Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!!!!!!!!

November Activity

In November our group went out to eat at El Matador's in Bountiful. We talked about plans for our annual Christmas party. It was decided to have dinner at Cheryl's on December 16 at 6 PM. Many ideas were discussed about gift exchanges and the majority decided to bring a gift from the dollar store for the person below us on the blue magnet list. Sheri said that some people already have their 12 presents to give to everyone and that is fine too. Of course Cheryl is working on the annual chapter of the Quilt Group book and needs your input. Please e-mail your info about what has happened to you and what you've learned in the last year. We also want to do a service project for Christmas - Sheri e-mailed everyone for ideas. Several ideas so far are:
bring canned food donations for the Bountiful Food Pantry or bring new stuffed animals ( the dollar stores have cute ones) to donate to Lakeview ER to give to sick children who come in at Christmas time. Cheryl will call each person with food assignments.

OCTOBER ACTIVITY

The end of October we met at Teresa's home for a fun night of catching up on the news in everyone's lives. It felt so good to just sit and relax while we visited - after all the most important reason for our group is the opportunity to develop our friendships.

After talking for a while, Cheryl showed everyone how to get into our quilt group blog and how to set up a family blog for each person. Then Teresa served delicious homemade carmel and apples for dipping. Thanks Teresa for a fun time.