Boy thIs Christmas we have been so BUSY:) 
    My sister has joined a church, King of Glory over in Tempe.  She found out they do a Christmas Tea every year and she jumped right in and volenteered to do a table.  Each table has 8 attendee's.  Jen invited me, Debi, Kate, and Karen as her guests at her table for our Christmas gift.  This was one of the best things I have been to all year.

 

       Jen decorated her table (Table 12) beautifully with a Winter Snowflake theme and each person received a gift of a tiny night light - a Christmas House,  all decked out for the holidays. 

    Debi and I toured many of the other tables before the Tea started - each one was different.  We met a lady who used her antique, gold laced china for her table.  She has been a table hostess for several years and let us examine her beautiful tableware.  And - I ran into an old friend from work at MtBell - Phyliss Eske!  She told me she has been coming to the teas for many years. There were several groups of Gals who consisted of Grandmother, mother and daughter, and 1 group also had a great grand-daughter - 4 generations of women together.  Reminded me of when I was a kid and Mom and Grandma took us to the Mother and Daughter parties at Trinity church in Detroit. 

   An area Boyscout Troop helped serve as a Community Project (they get a badge for the service too).  Look at the beautiful Cupcake Pops made by some of the ladies at the church.  And we had "Dueling Pianos" playing Christmas songs for entertainment.  Tiny English High Tea Sandwiches, platters of beatiful Christmas cookies, at least 8-9 kinds of tea.  Pure Heaven. 

Monday night, Dec 10th, we went to the "Christmas Winter Concert" put on by Avery and Audrey's school, San Tan Learning Center.  This year their were so many Parents, Grandparent, and relatives that the school rented the auditorium at Willams High School.  Even with 250 seats, the place was packed.  We only got 1 reasonable picture!  It's of Avery - he was right in the front row.  He has the red shirt and the jeans (no SantaHat).  In Audrey's group she was on the top row and we could just see her head and the top of her purple blouse when the kids moved around a bit.  She gave us a beaming smile when she saw us!   Avery was very intent on his job - and he did all the movements with his groups song perfectly!

One of the things we like about Avery and Audrey's school, San Tan Learning Center, is that they have a Lunch event the week of Thanksgiving.  Parents and Grandparents come to school at Lunchtime and there is a big outdoor picnic.  Parents in each room have an assignment to bring either Pies, Cookies, Fruit or Vegtables and Parents and Grandparents bring lunch for themselves and the kids.  We had a great time this year.  Avery's Grade 2 classes made a 7 foot tall Oak tree and had an Oak leaf on the tree for every child in the school.  Avery also was one of the kids who carried a sign to remind people to put thier soda cans in the re-cycle bins.  It was beautiful weather and we met a lot of Avery and Audrey;s friends. 

This year we had Thanksgiving dinner here at Sunrise Village.  We Invited Rob to come to.  The Park had a snaafoo and instead of dinner at 5:00pm that was on the Calender they had it at 1:00pm and had a lot of no shows!  They called us at about 25 minutes after 1:00pm and told us to hurry up and come.  Rob made it over here in only 15 minutes and we still got there in time to get some dinner.  Afterwards we played pool in the club house. 

Zoo Lights at Phoenix Zoo

Here's another one to cross off our Bucket List.
Last night, Saturday, December 8th, we went to Zoo Lights at the Phoenix Zoo with Rob, Avery and Audrey.  I have always wanted to go and it didn't disappoint!  The lights were spectacular.  We only have a Nikon Coolpix so these night shots were not the best - but belive me in person it was magical.

     The artistry of the team who design and set up the displays was unbelievable. They had a span of jungle vines in the air with gorillas swinging hand over hand accross the vine - all in lights.  A giant prehistoric alligator creeping out from the Palm Trees coming at the pedestrians.   Tall trees covered with vibrient colored lights right to the top - stunning darks blues, turquoise, gold twinkling, every color you've ever seen.  A 15 foot tall talking Giraffe.  An old fashioned Carosal with Bengal Tigers, Big Cougar Cats, and Dolpins. 
           Tips -  If you go, Hot cocoa is $3.50 a cup - bring a couple of hot cups in your purse to share with everyone - no one wanted to stop cruising the lights to drink and eat.  The Cinnamon Pop corn was very tasty and they provided small bags to share the huge giant bag they sell.   If I were going again - I'd get the $1.00 tube of glowstick bracelets from Michaels or JoAnns to put on the kids - they sell lots of high tech glow stuff at the entrance but prices were steep..