Approximately 100 residents of Grand Horizons and some family members enjoyed the New Year’s Eve celebration in our community center. It was definitely done in very good taste, and you could see the preparations that went into it. There was much work, and it certainly was appreciated by all.
Chick and Annmarie Shackewyc were the hosts for this party, and were assisted by Brian Heidman and Sue Laurin, Rich and Chris Fulton, and Bill and Judy Ellsworth. Our sincere thanks go out to all of them.
Billy Cole performed the DJ duties, and it was one song after another. He did an outstanding job. Billy also took requests and tried to accommodate all. There was country, pop, slow dances, and many songs from our generation that brought back pleasant memories.
There also were line dances, and even a polka thrown in. The music had us singing, dancing and more.
Every couple that attended brought a plate for the table and there ended up being a large variety of nibbles. In addition to this, a huge table was set up in the room with all types of spreads, crackers, and quite a bit more.
In the course of the evening, names were pulled and the winners got an envelope with something “special” in it. So, in addition to the good time, several people went home with a little something to remember this grand event.
Toward the end of the evening pictures were also taken, and then emailed to the specific person or couple. We had the television set on in the community center when it was getting close to midnight, and when it eventually got to be the new year, we rejoiced with the crowd on the set.
Horns were blaring and clickers were clicking as we welcomed in the new year in Grand Horizon style.
On Jan. 2, we had our first social club of the year with our new social director, Barb Sullins. Approximately 20 to 25 people came to the community center to hear about the activities that they have planned for the coming year and to give our new director some support.
Terry Gardner spoke about the upcoming show on Jan. 24, and another show that will be in February, while Andy Castonguay talked about the spaghetti dinner on Jan. 16. Several more items were on the agenda, and all in all, the meeting was informative.
The following day proved to be very windy and quite brisk out, but we still had four shuffleboard players that braved the cold and played three games. It was fun, and you tolerated the cold more and more as the games progressed.
The afternoon hours found several people at the community center playing Rummikub. This is a fun game and has you thinking as you would do in the game of mahjong. As in most of our games played at Grand Horizon, there is much laughter, kidding around and friendly banter along with much teasing.
The following morning, on Jan. 4, we had our first breakfast of the new year. It was an excellent turnout of 85 to 90 people buying tickets, and more being served that included all the volunteers that made this breakfast such a success. This was the biggest that we ever had for breakfast.
Attending this function were many of our neighbors and several guests. There were three couples that attended the egg n’ bag for the very first time, and they were recognized by Linda Tutin, along with the rest of the people in attendance.
As in every breakfast, we had a drawing for a winner of a free egg n’ bag, and the lucky winner was me. Our breakfast consisted of eggs or Egg Beaters, along with potatoes, a biscuit, orange juice and coffee. There was also jam, butter and other condiments available.
After our holiday break, many of the residents met at the community center on Jan. 6 for a lively game of dominoes. We always have a very good time at Mexican Train, and this day was no exception with friendly banter.
On Jan. 10, we had our once-a-month lunch connoisseurs at The Lucky Dill. We had gone there before and we had a delightful time with great food, and we did once again. There were 42 people who attended, and there were so many items on the menu that people had a difficult time deciding what to order.
They had a bakery with all sorts of goodies in it, and it was quite busy. The many cakes, cookies, pies, bagels, etc., were so inviting that you had to at least take a look.
Our thanks go out to Bill and Donna Quinn, who were hosts for this luncheon.
By Helene Rubenstein
