Happy New Year

Best wishes for a happy healthy and prosperous New Year

From the Stone family

Have a great day!!!!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we went to Amura's Japanese Restaurant for Teppanyaki. Pictures are below.

Monica and Curtis having a good time and celebrating their engagement.

Sara and Jared enjoying Teppanyaki.

Beth and Jerry love Japanese food.

Meet Hans and Jane. They shared a table with us at Amura's. Hans and Jane are from Switzerland and were vacationing in Orlando. Unfortunately, they were sitting at the other end of the table so I didn't get a chance to spend much time talking with them. Sara and Jared, on the other hand, sat next to them and had a great time talking with them and getting to know them. We were all happy they sat at our table!! We hope they had a great time vacationing in Orlando. Come back to Florida again soon!!

Christmakah

This year, Christmas and Chanukah fell at the same time. This hasn't happened since 1959!! Monica and Curtis, who recently became engaged, had both sides of the family over for a Chrismakah celebration. Kim, Curtis's sister, very graciously offered her beautiful home for the event. Thanks Kim!!! Integrating Christmas and Chanukah in a meaningful and sensitive way is quite a challenge; but Curtis and Monica did a beautiful job and everyone had a great time. We look forward to many more healthy happy family celebrations. Below are some pictures that tell the story of our family Christmaka.

Grandma Mollie, Sara, and Monica

Cara is very preoccupied with her new gift---------a combination cell phone-walkie talkie. It seems to be on the blink. Jared, our family technological genius, comes to the rescue and it is once again fully operational.

It was so nice meeting Dan's parent's Ken and Nancy from upstate New York. Grandma Mollie, Jerry, Ken and Nancy relax in the living room and become aquainted.

Pretty Christmas tree. Lots of presents.

Grandma Mollie and Sara converse. Cara is still very preoccupied with her new cell phone-walkie talkie.

Monica and Curtis were our gracious hosts at the Chanukah/Christmas Celebration. Above, you can see them working away in the kitchen. They hosted 22 people and did a great job. The food was delicious and the company was phenomenol. Thank you Monica and Curtis!!

All of the adults at the Christmakah party were exhausted by this time, but Ethan looks like he's wide awake and ready to open more presents!! Isn't he a cutie!!

A Final Thought

I'm Jewish and don't celebrate Christmas, but really do get into the seasonal aspects of the holiday every year. I look forward to the Chistmas lights that emerge throughout our neighborhoods in Sarasota and enjoy the holiday spirit and hustle bustle at the shopping malls. I enjoy buying both Christmas gifts and Chanukah gifts, picking out my new calendars for the year, and waving at Santa Clause who happens to reside on Gulf Gate Blvd. to my surprise. For some reason, however, I breath a sigh of relief when December 25th comes and goes, and I can get back to my normal, regular life. It's like going on an exciting vacation and when it's over, being so happy to be back home in your own environment and your own bed. I guess I'm just a person who likes routine. It's nice to leave that routine for awhile, but then a relief to return to it once again. Right now I'm looking forward to moving from the "Season's Greetings" salutation to "Happy New Year". And once the New Year's celebration is over, I'll look forward to setting some goals for the new year and hopefully accomplishing them by next Christmas, at which time I will be looking forward to the next upcoming holiday season.

Congratulations Monica and Curtis!!!!!

Best Wishes for a happy and exciting future.

On Monday, I was at Rowlett Elementary School, which is my usual day to be there. It was a special day because we took Diane out to Olive Garden for a retirement lunch. Diane, who is sitting in the middle, has been our Speech and Language Therapist and our Child Study Team Chairperson. She will be moving to an area just outside of Athens, Georgia, where she and her husband will begin their new lives as retirees. Diane has been a real inspiration and did such a great job as our CST Chairperson. She was always so organized and helpful. She will really be missed by all. Sitting to the left of Diane is Shirely and to the right is Sandy. Good luck and best wishes for a great retirement, Diane!!! There are more picture below.

Beth, Barbra, and Pat

Shirely and Betty

Pace and Karina

This Rowlett student is not only pretty, but also very smart!! Doesn't she take a great picture?

Happy Holidays from Beth and Shelby

KInnan is one of my favorite schools. My office is located here and I spend 3 days a week at this school. The staff is really nice and the kids are great!!

Here I am in my office at Kinnan.

And here, in person, is one of Kinnan's hard working students. He looks like he's having a good day.

Jerry is cleaning the kitchen after a long hard day. He is very good about helping out with the housework. In fact, he's much better at it than I am.

The Weekend

On Saturday we went to the University of Wisconsin Alumni Association Bratfest at Siesta Beach. We had a great time. It's so nice to go to an event where most of the people refer to us as "young people"!!

Beth and Jerry. Notice the beautiful blue water in the background.

We spent time with our friends Pat and Mark at the bratfest. We met them at a Founders Day dinner about 5 years ago. I'm really glad we did because we have become very good friends.

The food was great and the company was fantastic. To top it off, we had beautiful weather. It's time to go home and do some shopping.

I bought this bright and festive pointsettia today.

Karma and Shelby

Karma and Shelby relaxing on a Sunday afternoon.

Recess

When was the last time you did this?!!!!

More Recess

Lets do some swinging!!!

Playground

These kids look like they are having a great time.

Another Day at Work

Here I am at Rowlett Elementary School after having just tested a very smart 5th grader. Now it's time for some lunch!!