Monthly Reading & Meditation

Monthly Reading & Meditation

Tuesday (August 5):  "It is what comes out of the mouth that defiles"

Scripture: Matthew 15:1-2, 10-14  (alternate reading: Matthew 14:22-36)

1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat." 10 Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, "Listen and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles." 12 Then the disciples approached and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?" 13 He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit."

Meditation: Which is more important to God - clean hands or a clean mind and heart? The Scribes and Pharisees accused Jesus' disciples of breaking their ritual traditions. They were concerned with avoiding ritual defilement, some no doubt out of fear of God, and others out of fear of pleasing other people. Jesus points his listeners to the source of true defilement - evil desires which come from inside a person's innermost being. Sin does not just happen or force itself upon us. It first springs from the innermost recesses of our thoughts and intentions, from the secret desires which only the individual soul can conceive.

Only Jesus can free us from sin and guilt
God in his mercy sent his Son Jesus Christ to free us from our sinful cravings and burden of guilt, and to restore us to wholeness of life and goodness. But to receive his mercy and healing, we must admit our faults and ask for his forgiveness. "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:8-9).

Let Jesus be the master of your heart and desires
When Cain was jealous of his brother, Abel, God warned him to guard his heart: "Sin is couching at the door; it's desire is for you, but you must master it" (Genesis 4:7). Do you allow any sinful desires to enter the door of your heart and mind? We do not need to entertain or give in to sinful desires or thoughts, but instead, through the grace of God, we can choose to put them to death rather than allow them to be the master who controls our way of thinking, feeling, and acting.

The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness
Only God can change our hearts and make them clean and whole through the power of the Holy Spirit. Like a physician who probes the wound before treating it, God through his Word and Spirit first brings to light our sinful condition that we may recognize sin for what it is and call upon God's mercy and pardon. The Lord is ever ready to change and purify our hearts through his Holy Spirit who dwells within us. His power and grace enables us to choose what is good and to reject what is evil. Do you believe in the power of God's love to change and transform your heart?

"Lord Jesus, fill me with your Holy Spirit and make my heart like yours. Strengthen my heart and my will that I may choose to love what is good and to hate what is evil."

http://www.dailyscripture.net/
 (c) 2014 Don Schwager

May plans

Hi Connect!

I won't be able to go to the May meeting, my boys have a baseball game that evening. So for now there will not be a planned meeting. But if most people in the group want to still get together and hang out or have a topic you really want to discuss, definitely meet up! You can email the group to coordinate.

I want to keep our 5K run/4K walk tradition going strong with Good Karma. It is coming up next month, May 25th, Sunday, 9:30 AM. My entire family will participate this time. My husband won a free registration ticket last year so he'll be running. I'll walk this time with my boys. So if you haven't started training, the weather is looking nice this week, it would be a good idea to start! Here is the link to sign up:

http://www.goodkarma5k.com/home.html

	Home Benefiting ___________________________________________ (fill in the blank with the charity of your choice) 5K run or 4K walk​ ​ Sunday, May 25, 2014 9:30am Seattle's Seward Park
	View on www.goodkarma5k.com	Preview by Yahoo

  Let me know if you're joining us this year!

Have a Blessed week!

Reggie

April Topic Notes

Hi Connect! It was great catching up with some of you at our meeting. I hope everyone had a great Easter celebration! If you were not able to go to reconciliation before Easter, it's not too late. Here are the notes from my presentation...

Reconciliation Questions

Definition: The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a common name used for the Sacrament of Confession. Whereas "Confession" stresses the action of the believer in the sacrament, "Reconciliation" stresses the action of God, who uses the sacrament to reconcile us to Himself by restoring sanctifying grace in our souls.

http://catholicism.about.com/od/thesacraments/g/Reconciliation.htm

Q. Why do I have to confess my sins to a priest?

Of all the objections to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the one most often voiced, particularly by Protestants, and sometime by Catholics is:  “I don’t need to go to confession to a priest! The priest is just another human being! All that I need to do is to confess my sins directly to God, and that is enough!” This objection is flawed on a number of counts. 

A. Jesus Commissioned Forgiveness through his Apostles. Jesus asked believers to approach God for forgiveness through the apostles who were commissioned to act as his agents. Jesus told Peter, “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Mt 16:19). After the resurrection, Jesus breathed on his disciples and said, “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them and whose sins you retain are retained” (Jn 20:22,23). Priests alone carry out this apostolic role (Canon 965; CCC, Nos. 1461 & 1462)

Catholic Sacraments are mediated. The sacraments celebrate the most profound moments of our lives:  birth (Baptism), the transition to adulthood (Confirmation), lifetime commitment (Marriage and Holy Orders), and the end of life (Anointing). Two other sacraments strengthen us for the journey through life:  Eucharist, spiritual sustenance, and Penance, the forgiveness of sins. We need to be fed at least weekly, and because we sin so often, we need to be forgiven regularly. The sacraments are not self-administered. Rather, the priest is the mediator, the linkage or conduit between God and the people, a rich channel of God’s grace.

A Personal Encounter with Christ. The priest is not just “another human being,” but one who acts in persona Christi, in the person of Christ. With faith we believe that when the penitent speaks to the priest, the penitent speaks to Christ, and when the priest speaks, the priest speaks on behalf of Christ. When the priest says, “I absolve you,” it is Christ who absolves (Mk 2:10). 

http://rediscover.archspm.org/resources/topic.php?id=7183

Q. How to prepare for confession

Confession is not difficult, but it does require preparation. We should begin with prayer, placing ourselves in the presence of God, our loving Father. We seek healing and forgiveness through repentance and a resolve to sin no more. Then we review our lives since our last confession, searching our thoughts, words and actions for that which did not conform to God’s command to love Him and one another through His laws and the laws of His Church. This is called an examination of conscience.

http://www.diopitt.org/office-new-evangelization/short-guide-confession-sacrament-reconciliation

Q. Does that mean that those who commit mortal sins will never go to Heaven?

A. All mortal sins can be forgiven.     With a conversion of heart through the Sacrament of Confession, the sinner can seek God's mercy and reinstate the state of grace that was previously obtained through the Sacrament of Baptism.

To be denied entry into the Kingdom of God, the sinner must:

1. Commit one or more sins of a grave matter;
2. Have full knowledge that the sin(s) is a mortal sin;
3. Voluntarily consent to commit the sin;
4. Reject the grace of God;
5. Reject the mercy of God by refusing to confess his sins through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

http://www.catholicdoors.com/faq/qu06.htm

Q. Can you provide me with a list of possible mortal sins?

Abortion, Anger, Adulterers, Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, (Eternal sin), Cowards, Defrauders, Disrespect towards parents, Drunkenness, Envy, Greed, Idolatry, Jealousy, Murderers, Quarreling, Thieves

Activity: Share confession experiences

Monthly Reading and Meditation

See you tonight!

Monthly Reading & Meditation

 Tuesday (April 1): "Walk and sin no more"

Gospel Reading:  John 5:1-16

1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Beth-za'tha, which has five porticoes. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed.5 One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" 7 The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down  before me." 8 Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your pallet, and walk." 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who was cured, "It is the Sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your pallet." 11 But he answered them, "The man who healed me said to me, `Take up your pallet, and walk.'" 12 They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, `Take up your pallet, and walk'?" 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you." 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did this on the Sabbath.

Old Testament Reading: Ezekiel 47:1-9,12

1 Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east); and the water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar... 12 And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing." (Ezekiel 47:1,12)

Meditation: Is there anything holding you back from the Lord's healing power and transforming grace that can set you free to live in wholeness, joy, and peace with God? God put into the heart of the prophet Ezekiel a vision of the rivers of living water flowing from God's heavenly throne to bring healing and restoration to his people. We begin to see the fulfillment of this restoration taking place when the Lord Jesus announces the coming of God's kingdom and performs signs and miracles in demonstration of the power of that kingdom.

One of the key signs which John points out in his Gospel account takes place in Jerusalem when Jesus went up to the temple during one of the great Jewish feasts (John 5:1-9). As Jesus approached the temple area he stopped at the pool of Bethzatha which was close by. Many Jews brought their sick relatives and friends to this pool. John tells us that a "multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed" were laid there on the pavement surrounding the pool (John 5:3). This pool was likely one of the ritual baths used for purification for people before they went into the temple to offer prayers and sacrifice. On certain occassions, especially when the waters were stirred, the lame and others with diseases were dipped in the pool in the hope that they might be cured of their ailments.

The lame man that Jesus stopped to speak with had been paralyzed for more than 38 years. He felt helpless because he had no friends to help him bathe in the purifying waters of the pool. Despite his many years of unanswered prayer, he still waited by the pool in the hope that help might come his way. Jesus offered this incurable man not only the prospect of help but total healing as well. Jesus first awakened faith in the paralyzed man when he put a probing question to him, "Do you really want to be healed?" This question awakened a new spark of faith in him. Jesus then ordered him to "get up and walk!" Now the lame man had to put his new found faith into action. He decided to take the Lord Jesus at his word and immediately stood up and began to walk freely.

The Lord Jesus approaches each one of us with the same probing question, "Do you really want to be healed - to be forgiven, set free from guilt and sin, from uncontrollable anger and other disordered passions, and from hurtful desires and addictions. The first essential step towards freedom and healing is the desire for change. If we are content to stay as we are, then no amount of coaxing will change us. The Lord will not refuse anyone who sincerely askes for his pardon, mercy, and healing.

"Lord Jesus, put within my heart a burning desire to be changed and transformed in your way of holiness. Let your Holy Spirit purify my heart and renew in me a fervent love and desire to do whatever is pleasing to you and to refuse whatever is contrary to your will."

www.dailyscripture.net 

author Don Schwager © 2014 Servants of the Word

Next Meeting, April 1st

Hi Connect! How are you?

Our next potluck meeting will be next Tuesday, April 1st, 7 PM in the youth room. Since the focus for Lent this year across the Archdiocesan is "The Light is On for You", the topic for discussion will be on the sacrament of Reconciliation. It is offered at St. EAS every Friday from 6 PM-7 PM and every Saturday at 3:30 PM. I encourage everyone to go. Then you can share your experience with us, if you'd like, at our meeting.

Have a Blessed week!

Reggie

 

Monthly Reading and Meditation

Reminder, no meeting tonight. Hope to see you tomorrow at Ash Wednesday Mass. Tuesday (March 4): "We have left everything and followed you"

Scripture: Mark 10:28-31

28 Peter began to say to him, "Lo, we have left everything and followed you." 29 Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many that are first will be last, and the last first."

Meditation: What's the best investment you can make with your life?The gospel presents us with a paradox: we lose what we keep, and we gain what we give away. When we lose our lives for Jesus Christ, we gain a priceless treasure and an inheritance which lasts forever. Whatever we give to God comes back a hundredfold. Generosity flows from a heart full of gratitude for the abundant mercy and grace which God grants. Do you give freely and generously? And why do you give, for reward or for love?

Right after a wealthy young man refused to follow Jesus, Peter, somewhat crudely wanted to know what he and the other disciples would get out of it since they had freely accepted Jesus’offer to follow him unconditionally. Jesus spoke with utter honesty: Those who left all for him would receive a hundred times more now, even in this life, as well as unending  life in the age to come. Jesus’disciples can expect opposition and persecution from those who are opposed to Christ and his gospel.

Should we be surprised if we lose favor and experience ridicule, intimidation, and injury when we take a stand for truth and righteousness? In place of material wealth, Jesus promised his disciples the blessing and joy of rich fellowship with the community of believers. No earthly good or possession can rival the joy and bliss of knowing God and the peace and unity he grants to his disciples. The Lord wants to fill our hearts with the vision of heaven and with his joy and peace. Do you know the joy of following the Lord as his disciple? Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with the joy of the gospel and the knowledge of God’s personal love.

"Lord Jesus, I want to follow you as your disciple and to love you wholeheartedly with all that I have. Fill my heart with faith, hope, and love that I may always find peace and joy in your presence."

http://www.dailyscripture.net/
author Don Schwager © 2014 Servants of the Word

February Meeting Recap

Hi Connect!

Here is a quick recap of our February meeting. I was hoping to have it out to you before Valentine's Day, so I apologize. 

Rhea led a discussion from the book "The 5 Love Languages, The Secret to Love that Lasts" by Gary Chapman. We highly recommend reading this book. It brings awareness of your partner and your own primary love languages. Knowing your love language and of other loved ones (spouse, parents, siblings, best friend) can help bring a better understanding of each other and build a stronger relationship. This knowledge allows you to fill one's "love tank" more efficiently, more purposefully. We can make a more conscious daily effort to help meet our loved ones love language to keep that "love tank" full. I think this is great information that every newlywed couple needs to learn.

The five love languages are words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch. You can read the book to find out more about them. You can also check out their website, http://www.5lovelanguages.com/  The book and the website have a quick quiz you can take to figure out your primary love language. Try it out, I'm curious to find out what your language is!

My primary love languages are physical touch and quality time. So I welcome any hugs or pat on the back or just hanging out for fun!

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Have a Blessed week!

Reggie

Monthly Scripture and Meditation-February 2014

See you at tonight's meeting! Thank you for letting me know if you can't make it. -Reggie
Tuesday (February 4): "Daughter, your faith has made you well"

Scripture:  Mark 5:21-43

21 And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him; and he was beside the sea.  22 Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Ja'irus by name; and seeing him, he fell at his feet, 23 and begged him, saying, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live." 24 And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25 And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard the reports about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she said, "If I touch even his garments, I shall be made well."29 And immediately the hemorrhage ceased; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone forth from him, immediately turned about in the crowd, and said, "Who touched my garments?" 31 And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, `Who touched me?'" 32 And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had been done to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34 And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."

35 While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?"  36 But ignoring what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe." 37 And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, he saw a tumult, and people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 And when he had entered, he said to them, "Why do you make a tumult and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping." 40 And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside, and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 Taking her by the hand he said to her, "Tal'itha cu'mi"; which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise."42 And immediately the girl got up and walked (she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. 43 And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Meditation: Do you approach the Lord Jesus with expectant faith or with skeptical doubt? People in desperate or helpless circumstances were not disappointed when they sought Jesus out. What drew them to Jesus? Was it hope for a miracle or a word of comfort in their affliction? What did the elderly woman who had suffered miserably for twelve years expect Jesus to do for her? And what did a grieving father expect Jesus to do for his beloved daughter who was at the point of death? Jesus gave hope where there seemed to be no human cause for it because his hope was directed to God. He spoke words of hope to the woman (Take heart, daughter!) to ignite the spark of faith in her (your faith has made you well!).

In both instances we see Jesus' personal concern for the needs of others and his readiness to heal and restore life. In Jesus we see the infinite love of God extending to each and every individual as he gives freely and wholly of himself to each  person he meets. Do you approach the Lord with confident expectation that he will hear your request and act?

"Lord Jesus, you love each of us individually with a unique and personal love. Touch my life with your saving power, heal and restore me to fullness of life. Help me to give wholly of myself in loving service to others."

 www.dailyscripture.net

(c) 2014 Don Schwager

 

Upcoming February Meeting

Hi Connect!

The month of January has blown by so quickly! I can't believe it is February already.

 

We have our next meeting this coming Tuesday, February 4th, 7 PM in the youth room. With Valentine's Day around the corner, Rhea thought it would be a great idea to lead a discussion on our 5 love languages based on a book by Gary Chapman. It doesn't only have to apply to our significant other, but it is a good idea to find out about yourself, and about your other loved ones around you such as parents, siblings, children... I was impressed to find out from a newlywed couple at our church that they learned about this during one of their premarital sessions. Yes! Let's build a strong, solid, understanding and loving marriage from the beginning!

 

I also am itching to do another community service project. Who wants to lead another family dinner preparation for the Ronald McDonald House? Let me know, I can help coordinate and plan this event. If you have another project you want to do, let me know, let's start planning and making it happen! How about a food drive, bake sale to raise money, blanket and socks drive?

 

I can't believe we won the Superbowl! Go Hawks! Go Jesus!

Many Blessings,

Reggie

January 2014 Meeting

Hi Connect!

It was great seeing everyone in good spirits and healthy last Tuesday. 

Service: Cy is looking into available dates for Habitat for Humanity

Next month's topic: Rhea volunteered to lead next month's topic, let me know soon if you can't! =)

During our meeting, we met with a new member of our church, Stephen. He is our new Youth Minister. He learned a little about each one of us and we learned a little about him. =)

He also shared with us information about Sanctus, a group of adults whose mission is to keep Catholic kids connected to the Catholic Church. The goal is to reverse the 90% of today's Catholic teens who have become disengaged by reaching out to them. If you are interested in joining the group, their next meeting is on January 25th, 12-3 PM, at Archbishop Murphy High School.

http://www.WeAreSanctus.org 

Thank you, Stephen, for taking the time to meet with us. We look forward to collaborating more with you in the future! We wish you many blessings in your new leadership role!

Suzanne and Phil, hope you had fun on your 10K Tinkerbell run!

Rhea, good luck on your upcoming test!

God Bless,

Reggie

P.S. Go Seahawks!

P.P.S. Go Jesus!

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton church website

Check us out on the St. EAS website! 

We're under the Ministries tab. It's tricky. If you scroll over to Ministries, the auto drop list appears, Connect is listed. If you click on Ministries, it'll say the page is under construction and the drop list does not have Connect added yet.

Hope this clears up the confusion. We are an official ministry group! Yay! Go Connect! =) Keep up the great service work! 

-Reggie

http://www.easbothell.org/connect.html

January's Monthly Scripture & Meditation

See you at tonight's meeting!

Tuesday (January 14): Jesus taught with authority

Scripture: Mark 1:21-28

21 And they went into Caper'na-um; and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. 22 And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. 23 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; 24 and he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God." 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching! With authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him." 28 And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

Meditation: Do you believe that God’s word has power to set you free and to transform your life? When Jesus taught he spoke with authority. He spoke the word of God as no one had spoken it before. When the Rabbis taught they supported their statements with quotes from other authorities. The prophets spoke with delegated authority – “Thus says the Lord.”When Jesus spoke he needed no authorities to back his statements. He was authority incarnate –  the Word of God made flesh. When he spoke, God spoke. When he commanded even the demons obeyed.

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) remarked that “faith is mighty, but without love it profits nothing. The devils confessed Christ, but lacking charity it availed nothing. They said, 'What have we to do with you (Mark 1:24)?' They confessed a sort of faith, but without love. Hence they were devils.” Faith is powerful, but without love it profits nothing (1 Corinthians 13). Scripture tells us that true faith works through love (Galalatians 5:6) and abounds in hope (Romans 15:13). Our faith is made perfect in love because love orients us to the supreme good which is God himself as well as the good of our neighbor who is created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26,27). Hope anchors our faith in the promises of God and purifies our desires for the things which will last for eternity. That is why the word of Christ has power to set us free from all that would keep us bound in sin, deception, and despair. Bede the venerable abbot of an English monastery (672-735) contrasted the power and authority of Jesus' word with the word of the devil:  “The devil, because he had deceived Eve with his tongue, is punished by the tongue, that he might not speak” [Homilies on the Gospels 1.8].

Faith is both a free gift of God and the free assent of our will to the whole truth that God has revealed. To live, grow, and persevere in the faith to the end, we must nourish it with the word of God. The Lord gives us his Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds that we may grow in his truth and in the knowledge of his great love for each of us. If we approach God’s word submissively, with an eagerness to do everything the Lord desires, we are in a much better position to learn what God wants to teach us through his word. Are you eager to be taught by the Lord and to conform your life according to his word?

"Lord Jesus, your word is power and life. May I never doubt your saving love and mercy, and the power of your word to bring healing and deliverance to those in need."

www.dailyscripture.net

(c) 2014 Don Schwager

January Meeting rescheduled to January 14th

Happy Sunday!

Our potluck meeting for this month will be this Tuesday, January 14th at 7 PM in the youth room. We will have a guest speaker, Stephen (St. EAS Youth Minister), talk about their teen outreach plans.

I look forward to seeing everyone for the first time this year!

I hope everyone is doing well.

God Bless,

Reggie

 

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." Romans 12:12

Happy New Year!

Hi Connect!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and joyous New Year with family and friends!

Thank you Cy for hosting a wonderful Christmas party at your beautiful home! You are a great host! We had lots of fun. I've included a couple pictures of us with our cracker hats. =)

-Reg