Scenes of Christmas 2016

Tree at Kathy's home

Here's a small selection of scenes from Christmas celebrations on our family "tree."

We hope to collect more in the coming days. Please share yours!

Birch Street HQ on Christmas Eve

Andy & Christine ready to dive in

Cathy's been baking

Hugh & Dolores' tree

Nanette visiting Courtney

Heirloom Nativity scene at Brien's

Nolan on Gerrit & Angela's card

Bea - Christmas Joy

We wish all our family and friends a Merry Christmas!

May we all be blessed with a joyous Christmas and a safe and happy New Year.

Xander & parents visit the wizarding world

"Butterbeer" for breakfast

Marie, Brian and Xander paid a visit to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando this month.

They'd planned to make the trip around Xander's 10th birthday in early October, but postponed it due to Hurricane Matthew.

Visiting in December meant getting to see Christmas decorations, such as the tree in the lobby of the Hard Rock Hotel.

By the magic of greenscreen, Xander appears in a series of Potterverse vignettes in a souvenir video. Click here to watch.

Of course, in one more year Xander will be old enough to be admitted to Hogwarts!

Dolores at Oakland gallery opening

Earlier this month, Dolores and Hugh attended the reception and ribbon-cutting marking the opening of the Garrett County Arts Council's new gallery in Oakland, Md.

Hugh writes: "The new gallery is on Second Street in the heart of the Oakland business district. It replaces the gallery around the corner on Alder Street that the Council was forced to leave 18 months ago after a burst pipe flooded the building. The new gallery is a wonderful space that will display the fine art and craft works of the artisans of Garrett County."

Five paintings by Dolores in pastel and watercolor are currently exhibited in the gallery. This photo shows her standing by her pastel, “February Snow.”

Among the crowd at the opening were the mayor of Oakland and members of the Board of Commissioners of Garret County along with the Arts Council's executive director and members of its board of directors.

Christmas music from Stephanie & her schoolmates

Stephanie took part in the Darby High School "Celebration Concert" last week, and her mom, Cathy, has sent us several videos. "Hope this holiday music puts everyone in a festive mood," Cathy writes.

Stephanie performed in four pieces - two with the Wind Ensemble and two with the full Orchestra. "In the first two you can easily see her as the 2nd chair clarinet on the left side of the stage. For the Orchestra pieces however, she was way in the back so you can't see her at all."

(Click on the titles to see the videos)

The wind ensemble pieces were:

• "Festive Christmas" by Kenny Bierschenk 
• "Rest" by Frank Ticheli 
• "Sleigh Ride" by Leroy Anderson 
• "Longfellow's Christmas" arranged by Mark Wilberg (narration by Cabot Rea, a retired Columbus TV anchorman and former music teacher.)

And one more: The show's closing piece, "Hallelujah Chorus." Cathy says: "Steph didn't perform in this number, however it is a Darby tradition. They always end the concert with this and invite any Darby alumni to join them onstage to sing along."

Holiday season begins with family festivities

Because Christmas falls on a weekend this year, the annual Yonkers gathering took place a little early - on Sunday the 18th at Kathy's home.

The party included a visit by Santa Claus especially for Beatrice - who reacted warily at first...



...but gradually came around...



...as Santa gradually transformed into Rick.

Winter makes its presence felt early

The pine tree in the backyard of Cathy's house in Ohio makes a very wintry, even Christmas-y, scene after three inches of snow fell on Tuesday, Dec. 13.

"It snowed steadily all day," Cathy writes. "Sure makes it feel like Christmas!"

Our family members in Rochester were probably the first to see snow this season, when a storm on the weekend before Thanksgiving blew in a few inches worth of "lake effect" snow. And today saw snow and ice sweep across most of the Northeast.

In memory of Jean

The family is saddened by the passing of Jean, beloved mother of Kathy, mother-in-law of Kevin and grandmother of Shanna and Kevin.

Jean died on Dec. 4 at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, surrounded by family. She is also survived by her daughter Patricia and grandchildren Jacklyn, Gina and Catherine. She will be deeply missed by her family and all who knew her.

Visitation will take place Wednesday, Dec. 7, from 4-8 p.m. at Flynn Memorial Home in Yonkers, and a funeral Mass will be celebrated Thursday, Dec. 8, at 10 a.m. at St. Eugene's Church in Yonkers. There is more information on the funeral home's website.

Jean at granddaughter Shanna's wedding.
L to R Kevin, Kathy, Rick, Shanna, Jean, Kevin.

Happy birthday to Brennan & Brooklyn Rae

Brooklyn Rae, seen here at Halloween, turned five years old yesterday!

Dec. 1 is that special day when both Brooklyn Rae and her dad, Brennan, celebrate their birthdays. Best wishes to both!

Travels and get-togethers around Thanksgiving

At Marie & Brian's home in Virginia

At James' mother's home in N.H.

Dan and Julie traveled north and south during Thanksgiving week to celebrate with family members.

The weekend before the official holiday, they were in Rochester with daughter Christine and her boyfriend, James. They spent Sunday afternoon at the Memorial Art Gallery (which was featuring an excellent exhibit on M.C. Escher). That evening, they dined in a restaurant they had nearly to themselves as a snow-and-wind storm raged outside!

Back home in New Jersey, Julie and Dan had another little celebration on Tuesday with son Andy and his girlfriend, Shannon. Why Tuesday? Because both are working at Kohl's department store these days and were going to be very busy for the rest of the week!

Meanwhile, Christine and James headed to New Hampshire to visit his parents, then to Connecticut for a Thanksgiving gathering at the home of his dad's parents in Connecticut.

Julie and Dan hit the road again on Thursday morning and arrived in late afternoon at Marie, Brian and Xander's home in Fredericksburg, Va. Marie provided the travelers with a fine Thanksgiving turkey dinner with plenty of fixings. That was followed by an evening of board games and conversation that picked up again the next morning.

At Doug & Lisa's in Maryland

Later Friday, Dan and Julie turned back north. Next stop: Maryland for the traditional Friday crabcakes-and-ribs feast at Doug & Lisa's house in Riderwood. Among the crowd this year: D&L's daughter Liz; Lisa's sister, Susan, her husband, Dave, and daughter, Kathy; and brother David, along with daughter Lawson and son Ben.

Meanwhile, Doug and Julie's parents and sister, Cathy, were spending the day together at Deep Creek Lake.

We hope everyone in the family had a fine Thanksgiving! We'd be happy to post photos of your celebrations!

Happy Thanksgiving to all the family!

We wish a wonderful Thanksgiving Day to all!  

Please share pics and stories of your holiday gatherings 

with the rest of our extended family 

on the Birch Street Web!

Rockwell, updated

Stephanie performs in regional student orchestra

Stephanie performed as part of the Ohio Music Education Association South Central Regional Orchestra on Nov. 13.


The members of the orchestra were chosen via auditions from high school students in 20 counties in the region. Stephanie, a junior at Hillard Darby High School, was 2nd chair clarinetist.

Stephanie's mom, Cathy, reports: "The students rehearsed once a couple of weeks ago, then on Friday afternoon and all day Saturday so they could perform on Sunday. They sounded fantastic!"

Stephanie with other Darby students

"Steph really enjoyed it so I hope she has the opportunity to participate again next year."

Stephanie with her clarinet instructor, Amanda

Along with these photos, Cathy shared this video of the shortest of the three pieces the orchestra performed: "Nimrod" from Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar. Enjoy!

More video from wedding of Shanna & Rick

As promised, here's some more video from Shanna and Rick's wedding reception on Oct. 1. This clip shows Shanna's dance with her Dad and Rick's with his Mom. (Apologies again for the grainy low-light video.)

Stephanie & marching band finish on high note

The Hilliard-Darby Marching Band received top scores at the Ohio Music Education Association State Marching Band Finals on October 29.

Pre-show pep talk

"Darby earned straight Superior ratings from all the judges, for an overall score of one (the highest possible)," reports band mom Cathy. Her daughter, Stephanie, plays clarinet and was part of a clarinet trio featured at the start of the second segment of the band's show.

Pre-show rehearsal

Clarinet trio in State Finals show

Here's a video of the performance, taken by another band parent in the stands. The clarinet feature is at about the 4 minute mark.

(If you can't see the video above, click here to see it at YouTube.com.)

Cathy has posted a close-up video on Facebook of the clarinet trio from a performance at a late-October football game. Here's a link -- but it only works if you're connected with her on Facebook.

Halloween scenes from around the family

Here's a quick collection of photos posted by family members of jack-o-lanterns, costumes and other Halloween scenes. The pumpkin above was carved by Gerrit, and the one below by Andy and Shannon.

Bea and her dad, John, dressed as characters from the TV series "Stranger Things" ...

...and Bea also made an appearance as a Sweet Strawberry.

Nolan trick-or-treated as a dinosaur on wheels.

"He wouldn't sit still for a good pic," said his dad, Gerrit - seen below in "Walking Dead" get-up.

Brooklyn Rae made a lovely Princess Elsa and Brennan Alexander was a super Spiderman.

Marie, Brian and Xander went with a Pokemon theme - Xander as Ash and his parents as Pikachu and Charizard (we think).

And pumpkin-carving master Brian created this Pikachu-o-lantern.

And Kathy shares this photo of Jack-o-Leo... looking a bit puzzled.

"Leo thinks this whole pumpkin thing isn't working," Kathy said.