Monday, December 14, 2009

Annual Christmas Luncheon and Card Exchange

A crisp day with a few flurries but not enough to keep us from gathering at Val's for our annual Christmas get together! Val had made some very nifty ice stars to hold candles. They are made in a mould and of course, it was cold enough on Saturday that they didn't melt, not even with the candle inside! Here she is lighting the candles before very many of us had arrived.



Our day got off to a bit of a scary start! Joyce and I had just arrived and hung our coats. Joyce had traded her sensible outdoor shoes for her nice heels and was going to put her gift under the tree when down she went! She must not have noticed that there is a step down into the living room. She hit the floor with quite a thud. Nurse Jean swung into action and took charge of the situation until the fire truck arrived. Here is Joyce with the Surrey Fire Dept. waiting for the paramedics and the ambulance to arrive. They all thought it best to err on the side of caution and transport Joyce to the Peace Arch Hospital for x-rays and an examination. She is still in hospital with a crack to her pelvis. Get well cards are welcome!!! just send them to her home address and they will be taken up to her in the hospital. She should be in for at least a week. Poor Joyce!!


After the ambulance left, we tried to get on with the party! but certainly still concerned about how Joyce was faring at the hospital. We kept in touch with her son, Bob, during the afternoon for up-dates on her condition.
Rita and Wilma enjoying the Christmas party.........

Dorothy and Bev doing their best to ignore Eileen the photographer!! Thank you Eileen for sending the photos for the blog!



Eileen, Louise and Bev



Dorothy and Win




Fay, Louise and Bev




Lots of fun and conversation was on the agenda for the day!
Margot, Frank, Win, Nan, Wilma and Muriel in the kitchen.





Jean, Diana and Muriel




Diana and Terry


We all agreed that the hand made cards this year were some of the best we've had! Well done group!! and the gift exchange went well, with some mystery Santa gifts as yet still a mystery as to who gave what....

Trying for a good group photo. I'm sure you know just how difficult this can be! especially if one is setting their camera on the mantel to delay and hoping to make it into the picture when it goes off...............one attempt, missing Eileen, I think she was trying to set it up correctly.






Another attempt...........




And finally, all together, all seated, everyone accounted for, except Joyce. We all hoped she was going to be ok.





Do you have more pictures to add? Love to receive them, you know how much we like looking at photos! Thanks again to Eileen for always remembering her camera, and taking some great shots of our day!
Thank you so much Val for opening your home to all of us and hosting our Christmas party!!
See you in January! when we will be celebrating Chinese New Year by making a paper fortune cookie, complete with a fortune to exchange, looking at an Asian lettering style / font and a Chinese brush demo by Violet.
Wishing everyone reading our blog
a wonderful Holiday Season from all of us at Alphabeas!!