How will you greet the New Year?

Times Square, Jan. 1, 1964

Will you be crowding into Times Square? Or just watching it on TV?

Having a party? Or taking a snooze?

Let us know how you celebrate. Tell us your plans for 2012. Or just catch us up on what's happening in your part of our extended family. Just send us a few lines, or a photo, or any kind of missive. Make it a New Year's resolution to Keep in Touch!

Rebecca headed to national curling tournament

Team Ely, headed to Nationals

Rebecca's team won a thrilling "playdown" game today to clinch a berth in USA Curling's national tournament.

It will be Rebecca's third consecutive trip to nationals, and her second with Team Ely, based a the Rochester Curling Club.

Team Ely is one of two squads to advance from the Grand National Curling Club's playdown, held this week in Wayland, Mass. They will represent the Eastern U.S. at the Women's Junior Nationals in Madison, Wis., beginning Jan. 28.

See more photos on Team Ely's Facebook page.
You can also keep up with the team on Twitter.

Holiday visits along I-95

Dan, Julie, Christine and Andy spent Tuesday and Wednesday visiting family in Maryland and Virginia - which meant more hours than expected in the car (traffic was terrible) but a chance to catch up with four generations of relatives.

The plan was to drive straight from New Jersey to Virginia on Tuesday to spend time with Marie, Brian and Xander -- then stop in Maryland on the return trip Wednesday to visit with Lisa, Liz, Hugh and Dolores.

But after hours of slow slogging through heavy traffic and heavy rain, the travelers were given shelter and sustenance Tuesday evening by Lisa at the house in Riderwood. They were joined by Dolores and Hugh (Dolores took the photo above). Liz was at work, while Doug and Rebecca were in Massachusetts for the GNCC curling playdowns (see story below).

Refreshed and cheered by the impromptu stopover, the travelers went on to complete the journey to Fredericksburg, Va., arriving in time to see Marie, Brian and Xander just before the five-year-old went to bed.

Seasons greetings from the dark side

Dan, Julie, Christine and Andy visited further with Marie and Xander on Wednesday (Brian was then at work). Xander showed off his new toys and games, including this impressive Darth Vader costume. The group then took a little stroll through Fredericksburg's downtown district of antique and other shops.

After lunch with Marie and Xander, the travelers headed back north, stopping again in Maryland for another chance to share a meal and conversation with Lisa, Hugh and Dolores, this time joined by Liz. The two-part visits made all the traveling time worthwhile.

Where have you been? Whom did you see? Please share your holiday stories and photos. Keep in Touch!

Rebecca's team in regional curling tournament

Update: Team Ely won its first three games - 13-1 Tuesday afternoon, 15-1 on Tuesday evening and 11-5 Wednesday afternoon. It lost Wednesday night's game 6-1, putting it in a tie for second place going into the third day of competition.

Rebecca's curling team is competing this week in the Grand National Curling Club's "playdown" tournament in Wayland, Mass. The GNCC is the Eastern U.S. regional curling association.

Two of the six teams in the playdown will advance to the USA Curling Women's Junior Nationals competition, which begin Jan. 28 in Madison, Wisconsin. Rebecca is on Team Ely, based at the Rochester Curling Club.

Team Ely has a Facebook page, and you can keep up with its play this week via its Twitter feed.

Christmas festivities continue

Kathy and Ted graciously hosted a Christmas gathering at their home again this year. Highlights were the fine food, a rousing game of Cranium and of course the gift-giving.



The cousins-and-friends crowd included Genevieve and her husband John, in from California; Vivien, whose job has her conveniently posted in New York for now; collegians Patrick (Johns Hopkins), his girlfriend Christina (Delaware), Christine (RIT) and her boyfriend Matt (Rowan), all on winter break; Shanna, Kevin, Andy and his girlfriend Shannon. And in the aunts-and-uncles crowd: Brien, Kevin, Kathy, Dan and Julie.

Christmas merriment and memories

We hope everyone is having as merry a Christmas as Jasper here, enjoying the new ball that Santa brought him. This was Jasper's first Christmas with his family -- Kevin, Kathy, Shanna and Kevin.

Who knew there was a tabletop version of Angry Birds? Apparently Santa did, and it was a big hit with Xander.


Below, Christine and Andy enjoyed feeling like little kids again as they opened their presents under the tree.

Please share some of your new Christmas memories!

Cape Cod Times

Speaking of memories, the Cape Cod Times asked readers to "tell us about a favorite Christmas present that still evokes feelings of joy decades later." The story on the front page of the Christmas Day issue included Tish talking about Mitzie, the stuffed cat she received for her first Christmas. Click here to read the full article on the newspaper's website, or click here for an excerpt.

Merry Christmas from Birch Street

A Christmas card

Here's hoping that all members of our extended family have a peaceful, wonderful and joyous Christmas time.

Let us gather in small groups and big parties; welcome the newly arrived (Cash, Brooklyn Rae) and the newly joined (Shauna Rae, Angela); remember the departed and treasure our memories; watch our children grow and look forward to a happy New Year.

The kids' table, Yonkers, 2000

Merry Christmas to all. And please, remember to Keep in Touch.

Celebrating the holidays with dance

Tish writes: "Lizzie has had a busy holiday rehearsal and performing season!

"The past weekend she danced in the Academy of Performing Arts' Holiday Celebration of Music and Dance. The production was a wonderful way to get into the Christmas spirit."

Photos of the show will be available in a few weeks. For now, this is a photo of Lizzie backstage, getting ready to dance to Duke Ellington's "Sugar Rum Cherry."

Tish, Liz and Owen will be celebrating Christmas on the Cape with Gerrit and Angela. Then they plan a winter getaway to Charleston.

Counting down to Christmas

Webmaster Dan writes: Well it took us until Dec. 21, but the Christmas tree at Birch Street HQ is finally up and decorated. We waited waited until Christine was home from college, and she and Andy did most of the trimming.

Are we the last to deck the halls? Hope everyone's Christmas preparations are going well. Let us know how you're spending the holidays. Remember to keep in touch!

Sharing more Christmas decorations

Here's a look at Hugh and Dolores' Christmas tree at their Oak Crest home. And at right, the decorations on the hallway shelf outside their apartment door.

Hugh explains: "At Oak Crest, there is a formica shelf in the hallway beside each entrance door. These shelves are called "package shelves." I guess the intent was that they would provide a place to rest your package while you unlocked the door to your apartment. By the time we arrived here, it had become a tradition for each resident to decorate his or her package shelf. Most decorations are seasonal with flowers in the spring, sea shells in the summer, pumpkins in the fall, and of course, Christmas decorations for this season."

Let's see your tree!

Looking more and more like Christmas (Updated 12/17)

Family members are greeting the season, decorating their homes as the days count down toward Christmas, now only about a week away. Here are the Christmas tree photos we've seen so far.

Cathy, Christopher and Stephanie say they "finally" finished putting up and trimming their tree (Dec. 10). Still, there are those of us who will wait a little longer to do our decorating.

A week earlier, Marie, Brian and Xander put up their tree. Here, the X-man poses before the X-mas tree.

Genevieve and John helped John's mother, grandmother and sisters get a head start on the rest of us by putting up the tree at the family home in Delaware over Thanksgiving weekend.

Hugh and Dolores have a tree at their home in Oak Crest and a mini-tree at their Deep Creek Lake condo. "Here is a picture of our smaller tree," Hugh writes. "Maybe when we get home next week, we can send a picture of the other tree -- if we remember to take the camera home!"

Is your tree up yet? Share a look - send us a photo!

A tour of the National Cathedral in Washington

Hugh and Dolores recently took a tour of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. The magnificent building had just been reopened after it was damaged in the Aug. 23 earthquake.

Dolores writes: "This was a wonderful tour, through almost all chapels, except the St. Mary's, which was closed for decorating for the holidays." The photo above is of the High Altar, "with the Altar Guild hard at work."

The cathedral was constructed from 1907, when the first foundation stone was laid, to 1990, when the west towers were completed. It suffered significant earthquake damage, especially to the pinnacles of its towers, although it remains structurally sound. Repairs are expected to cost millions of dollars. Here are just a few pieces of broken stonework visible on the tour.



One of the many interesting features of the cathedral is the Space Window, a stained-glass window honoring man's landing on the moon, which includes a piece of lunar rock at its center.

"We had a delicious tea at the end of the tour -- tiny little cakes and sandwiches -- in one of the towers of the cathedral," Dolores writes.

"Here is a view out the window toward the other tower."

Brennan, Shauna-Rae have a baby daughter!

Brennan and Shauna-Rae welcomed their baby daughter today!

The newest member of our family arrived on her dad's birthday. Great-grandmother Pat writes: "Brennan got the best birthday present ever! Little Brooklyn Rae, 8 pounds and 20 1/2 inches, was born shortly after noon. She has a full head of blond hair. Shauna-Rae and the baby are doing fine."

Brennan was present for the birth, at St. Mary's Hospital in Amsterdam, N.Y. He is on leave from his Marine Corps schooling at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, Va.

We hope to have photos soon, so check back.

Related stories:

Brennan and Shauna-Rae are married (Jan. 29)

Brennan's next assignment (Sept. 17)

Brienna and Clay welcome baby boy (Aug. 6)