Festivities continue on Thanksgiving weekend

"Black Friday" doesn't have to mean shopping. Doug and Lisa hosted their annual day-after-Thanksgiving gathering at their family homestead in Maryland. Dinner was followed by a very boisterous card game, and many of the guests continued playing late into the night.


The party continued Saturday with another round of food and games. Here's an album of Friday night photos...



...and a group photo from Saturday night.

Front: Chris, Dan, Lisa. 
2nd row: Rick, Doug, Julie, Stephanie, Liz, Dolores, Cathy. 
3rd row, standing: Andy, Hugh. 
3rd row, seated: Dan, Kathy, Dave, Susan, Christine.
See full-size version here - and the goofy version here.

Family members travel to Thanksgiving gatherings

Here's hoping everyone is having a fine and festive Thanksgiving weekend.

In Virginia, Marie, Brian and Xander welcomed Dan, Julie, Christine and Andy for Thanksgiving dinner in their new home.

Christine rode with her cousin Rebecca from Rochester to Maryland to meet her parents and brother coming down from New Jersey. They'll return to Maryland for more feasting before heading back north.

On Cape Cod, Angela and Gerrit hosted Thanksgiving for Gerrit's parents, Owen' and Tish, and sister Lizzie, who had flown up from Elon University in North Carolina.

Meanwhile, Courtney, whose birthday landed on Thanksgiving this year, flew up from Florida to visit her mom, Nanette, on Shelter Island.


Nanette's brothers Larry and Emory joined them for a holiday feast.

Larry and Nanette say cheese

Let us know how you spent Thanksgiving! We'll update this post with further developments.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

We wish everyone in our extended family a Happy Thanksgiving.

May all your travels be smooth and your feasts festive!

And please share your experiences by sending notes and/or photos to The Birch Street Web.

Keep in touch!

Welcome to Winter

Hugh writes: "Winter has come to Deep Creek Lake. Monday morning, the thermometer was near 10° F, there was a skim of ice on the lake and the deck was covered by what was left of the Saturday night 4" snow storm."

Hugh & Dolores are now back in Baltimore County for Thanksgiving. Here's hoping everyone gets where they're going for the holiday safely and with as little weather difficulty as possible!

Big finish to marching band season for Andy, Chris

Marching Band season wrapped up in recent weeks, with Andy completing his senior year of performing with the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School Raiders band and Chris finishing his junior year with the Hilliard-Darby High School Pathers band.


The Raiders won the New Jersey State Championship in their large-band category, then placed third at the USSBA's "national" competition (which included bands from a few states) at MetLife Stadium on Nov. 9. At that event, SPFHS also won the coveted Cadets Award of Excellence. Here's a good action photo from that final competition, taken by another band parent from the stands.


A few weeks earlier, senior members of the band and their parents were honored in a pre-game ceremony on the SPFHS football field.



The Darby band also had a highly successful season.

At various competitions the Panthers earned numerous trophies, including Best Music, Drumline and Color Guard as well as Grand Champion. They finished up with a Superior rating at the State Marching Band finals for the 16th consecutive year.

Chris at top, center

Cathy writes: "We just concluded our season with our annual awards ceremony recognizing everyone's success, especially the seniors who were presented with their plumes. I expect to need many tissues for next year's ceremony!"

Oh no! Snow!

Some of our family members saw their first snowflakes of the season this morning. Tish sent along these photos from Cape Cod.


"This is more than the snow flurries that were predicted," Tish writes.

We hear that there was a dusting in Yonkers, while at Birch Street Headquarters in New Jersey there were flurries but nothing that stuck to the ground.

It's a safe bet there's more where that came from!

Halloween 2013 - collected photos - UPDATED

More photos added 11/10 - Cash and Brook

Where were you on Halloween? And who were you? Here are some photos of family members we've collected. The latest additions: Brienna's son Cash as a race car driver, and Brennan and Shauna Rae's daughter Brooklyn as a pirate. We'd like to add more - please send yours along!