Last of the Old Year and Three Winners for the New!

I'm pretty sure that no one will deny that 2017 was a pretty chaotic year in many ways. Certainly the political landscape was chaotic, and so was Mother Nature, whose big breath took out parts of Florida, Texas and California (among other spots with the wildfires in the west and in Canada), along with pretty much all of Puerto Rico. Seeing the old year out would be a treat.

But first, one last Christmas celebration. I mention it specifically because it's a great fun idea that I love passing on. We call it our Christmas Carol exchange and it's something Rick and I do with our friends Mark and Jan. After all, we decided long ago that we had a lot of stuff. Let's exchange by couples -- and do something fun.

So, each year we pick a Christmas song and pick our gifts ($25) to match. We've done "Deck the Halls," "The Twelve Days of Christmas," "Jingle Bell Rock," "White Christmas," "The Christmas Song," "Winter Wonderland," "Let it Snow" and "Baby It's Cold Outside," among the 16 we have done to date. This year's song was "Christmas Island." (cue the music) This is Jan from our celebration several years ago!

Needless to say it was loads of fun. For Mark and Jan we found some fun glasses, coconut milk, a stocking filled with goodies, and some ornaments that included a surfboard and Santa in a canoe.

They found us Mango Mimosa, Snoconut chocolates, a Jimmy Buffet CD with the song (he wrote it), a mix of several versions of the song, Hawaiian leis and fun napkins with a shell theme. Most of all, we had great fun!

A couple of nights later, we saw the New Year's in at our friend Cheri's with friends old and new (and there were a few invisible guests as well)!

Don't you love Cheri's centerpiece? I have to make one!

Cheri had cute little crowns for us. Rick found a unique way to display his!

As the clock approached midnight, there was a little bubbly being poured and then...

Happy New Year!

It's been a rough year for some of us in that group. We were glad to say goodbye to the old year. I know it's been tough for some of you as well. So, I'll add a little drum roll and announce the winners of my Marmelade Gypsy tenth anniversary drawing!

They are -- Valerie of Bastelmania! Jenny of Jenny Woolf, English Travel Writer! And Bella of Life on the Pasture!

You might recall I didn't say what the prizes were in the drawing. I had thought something from my inventory but then I decided that I'm going to come up with something new and unique for each of them. We'll see how that works out -- I do have back-up plans! So hold on, you three! Something fun coming in the new year!

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