Hi There Strangers

Remember me?

I'm here to share a few pictures from the latter part of 2014. I suppose this year I put down the camera and just lived in the moment more than usual. It's nice to do that, and not worry about getting shots of everything. Plus, the kids are just old enough now that they don't want their pictures taken!

This Thanksgiving we went to Suffolk and shared Thanksgiving with Sally, Philip, and the Norcross family at their house. As usual, it was a beautiful setup with family and good friends.

Charlotte and I posed for a few pictures...

She's a huge fan of mashed potatoes, so wasted no time loading up her plate.

There were so many of us that we had to split up between three tables. You found your dinner partner by matching up your half of a postcard with another. I got Anson!

The view out the back of the Norcross house was beautiful.

And before we knew it, it was time for Christmas.

Can you tell Charlotte isn't as camera shy as Anson these days? She put the start on the top of our tree, and helped me make a Christmas joke advent calendar for some friends.

I'm in charge of a program at Charlotte's school that helps families in need, and she helped me set up our school Angel tree.

Did I say Anson was camera shy now? I did capture this shot of him and a friend ordering burgers at the local diner. He's the one on the left.

 A selfie of me, about all I could find from the holidays!

Charlotte joined the school chorus and they performed a holiday concert. That's her in the middle with the blonde hair and the big grin.

Silly with a friend...

Sweet...

She's also taking dance, and here she is with her holiday dance outfit on. (The last class before the holidays they could wear something fun.)

We did some decorating around here.

 And some cooking. It's those mashed potatoes again!

 Charlotte's best friend on the street, Kathryn, came by for some Christmas Eve "cocktails."

I just didn't take ANY photos at Christmas otherwise but these two. One of Anson surrounded by discarded wrappings...

...and one of Charlotte with a new gift. She loves dressing up, so Santa brought her a light-up red carpet. Here she's showing us her supermodel pose. She IS wearing makeup for fun; don't worry, I don't let her out of the house with it!

We caught a Carolina Hurricanes game as a family. Anson thought I was totally weird and embarrassing for trying to take a family selfie.

And then, it was time to wind down and take a breather, before New Year's and Charlotte's birthday!