Merry Christmas 2018

There is no denying that our guys love the holiday season!  We had a two day week leading up to our Winter Break, and they joyfully celebrated their friendships with each other.

On Tuesday, Carol and her family welcomed us to their new home where we watched "Home Alone" in the theater room, followed by lunch, games, and fellowship.

Carol set up plenty of extra seating and also served popcorn while we watched the movie!  Our guys laughed a lot and shouted at the screen to encourage "Kevin" as he outwitted the bad guys.

Carol also set tables in three different rooms so we could sit with small groups while eating lunch. 

The friends enjoyed chatting with each other!

We were excited to see them socialize in this type of setting.  It felt very "adult" and was relaxing, too!  

We played a lively game of Christmas Charades.  Alexis grabbed a nearby candle to use as a prop.  Can you tell she was acting out Rudolph?!

Liz did a great job catching snowflakes on her tongue!

In this game, Nan sang verses from Christmas carols and we had to guess which ones they were.  Nan sang extra verses as needed, and we guessed all the carols! 🎶🎄

For dessert, we decorated brownies to look like Christmas trees!

Annmarie nabbed a pair of binoculars which she used to see if she could spot anything on the lake behind Carol's house.  She saw a couple of ducks!

Kacie, Laura, and Sam checked out the bridge that crosses one of the koi pools in Carol's backyard.  We got to help feed the fish.

Thank you, Carol and Gene, for a wonderful holiday time!  We appreciate everything you did to make our 2018 Christmas Outing one we will long remember.  

We kind of referred to our time at Carol's as the "pre-party" because we had quite a celebration planned for Wednesday at AFCC!  We had prepared for days but had a couple of things left to do.  

First up, we made a centerpiece for our potluck luncheon table.  It was our own Christmas tree forest and it looked great on our table!

Next, we decorated bags to put our goodies in to take to our families.  We hope you enjoyed the things we made over the past few weeks.  💚

We included this year's AoA Christmas card in the family bag.  It was a challenge this year to get a picture with everyone present and in their Arc shirts.  The closest we came was this picture taken at Eaton when we went there on December 6 to receive the grant check.  Sixteen of our seventeen associates were with us this day!

  

Unfortunately, our friend Kate wasn't able to make it so she is missing from our card this year.  But she would want to be sure and wish you a "Merry Christmas," too! 

One of the most exciting parts of our last day was the exchange of the Secret Santa gifts!  But we had to hang on until after lunch...

Our luncheon came together very well!  We had plenty of delicious food and festive paper products on which to enjoy it!  Special guests Heike, Tracy, and Ellie stopped by, and Karen (Heike's substitute) was able to join us, too.  Mr. Howard was needed in the school, so we missed him.  Everyone gathered around and Liz and Carol gave thanks for our many blessings.  Thank you, AoA families, for helping to make this day special!  Everything was wonderful!

Finally, it was time to reveal the Secret Santas!  This year we changed things up and instead of playing a gift card game, everyone brought wrapped gifts for their chosen friends.  They did a great job selecting gifts that suited their friends, too!  They really know each other!

Sam is a big fan of Busch Gardens, so he was all smiles to see that Drew had a Christmas Town blanket for him!

Chloe was Kate's Secret Santa and she knows that Kate loves Disney's "Frozen."  She gave Kate a sampling of "Frozen" items that suited Kate to a tee!

According to his mom, Chris, who was traveling with his family and not with us today, was quite excited to select the soundtrack to "Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again!" for Devin.  Chris knows that Devin loves music, singing, and dancing!  Devin was happy!

Kacie selected a variety of puzzles and coloring items for Laura, who was pleased with her gifts once she got through a few layers of pretty tissue paper!

We were proud of our associates as they shared in the joy of each other receiving their gifts.  Everyone was gracious and thanked the givers, too! 😍

Mr. Howard was able to pop in near the end of the day.  We wished him a "Merry Christmas" and gave him one of our Christmas cards along with a gift from the AoA.  He, and all of the custodial staff, take great care of us and we are appreciative!

Becky had gifts for her friends, too.  She brought each of them a cocoa mug filled with marshmallows, cocoa, and a candy cane!  She said her granddaughter Emmy (one of our junior volunteers) put them together with her.  Patrick couldn't resist giving Becky a hug when he got his!  Thanks, Becky.  You are special to us and we are grateful for your help with our many activities and adventures! 

We also received this beautiful card from Sam's grandmother, and our friend, Nina, who lives in Arizona.  When we opened it, we were overjoyed to find lots of gift cards to Wendy's!  In fact, it's enough for us to make lots of Frosty runs in 2019!  Thank you, Nina!  We love getting Frosty treats, especially after a "hard" day's work at Eaton.  Wendy's is right on the way back to the center, so we will enjoy this very generous gift for a long time!

We ended our holiday party pulling apart Christmas crackers that Laura's family sent us.  We learned that they are traditionally part of Christmas celebrations in the United Kingdom, and that since Laura was born there, her family enjoys continuing this tradition.  When the ends were pulled, we heard a few cracking sounds and then prizes fell out!  What fun!  Thank you, Palmer family, for sharing this with us.  We always enjoy activities that have a story or relate to us!  

Missing from our fun were Chris and Cameron, who were traveling with their families, and Kevin, who was under the weather on Wednesday.  We missed our friends. 😔

🎄🎄🎄As our party ended, we took a moment to reflect on how very fortunate we are at the Arc of Abilities.  We have the love, support, and friendship of all of our families, the amazing Arc of Greater Williamsburg, and many, many friends.  We can't thank ALL of you enough for everything you do to make our day support program a fun, engaging, and safe place for our special friends to spend time.  We wish all of you a joyful holiday season, filled with many blessings!🎄🎄🎄

The Arc of Abilities will reopen on January 2, 2019!  Here's what we'll be doing our first week of the new year:

Wednesday (January 2):  It will be a busy start to the new year! We'll spend part of the day removing our holiday decorations from the walls, and planning our January calendar.  We will celebrate Thank You Note Day (which was December 26) by writing several notes of thanks we have on our to-do list!  One of our Rotary friends will be here for Computer Lab support.  It's also Personal Trainer Awareness Day, so we will give Patti some extra love during yoga (dress to stretch)!  Lunch on your own.

Thursday:  Crossword Puzzle Day was on December 21 so we will make up for it today since many of our guys enjoy crosswords.  It's also Science Fiction Day and Drinking Straw Day, so we will explore those topics, too.  After lunch, we will head to the Art Museums of CW for our first session of the year with Christina, so please wear Arc shirts!  Lunch on your own.

Friday:   It's National Trivia Day, and that is right up our alley, so we will have trivia activities today.  AND, one of our favorite dishes is celebrated today as it's National Spaghetti Day, so spaghetti for lunch! 

🎄💗 To all of our families, Lisa, Carol, Nan, and Becky would like to thank you from our hearts for the Christmas gifts we received from you and our beloved associates.  We are deeply touched by your generosity and thoughtfulness. 🎄💗

 Once again, we wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  See you in January!

Lisa, Carol, and Nan

Too Soon for Snow Days!

What a surprise snowstorm we got last weekend!  When we left on Friday no one thought we would see much, if any, snow, and if we did, it would get washed away by rain.  So, on Tuesday, we were shocked to have the first of what we hope won't be too many snow days this winter!  

Because of the Tuesday snow day, we didn't get to take our trips to drop off the food donations or go bowling and have lunch choice or visit with Christina at the Art Museums.  We were able to reschedule the food donation drop off for Friday, but it will be 2019 before we make it back to bowling or to see Christina. 😞

Wednesday began beautifully when Sam's mom sent in donations of fresh hot dog buns for the food pantry at Grove Christian Outreach (GCO).  Unfortunately, the storm caused the cancellation of her neighborhood party and the buns weren't needed.  Wednesday is GCO's Bread Day, so we were happy to run Sam and his buddy Dev down to make the fresh delivery.  We will take the rest of our donations on Friday, and it will take every set of hands we have to carry it all!!

Ruth at GCO happily accepted the hot dog buns!

Can you believe it was already time to assemble the January mailing for The Arc?!  Seems like we just did December's!  One of the highlights in January is a fun night with the W&M Men's and Women's Tennis Teams.  They always provide fun games and activities, and they're fun to hang out with, too!  Be sure to check the calendar and send it back to Bette Faye with your choices by the due date of December 28!

Look who volunteered to get a head start on our pasta lunch for Thursday!  Devin eagerly volunteered to brown the ground beef.

We had our last yoga session of 2018 with Patti.  She lead us through some "elf" moves that included catching snow to make snowballs.

We were pretty good at elf dancing but had to be careful not to trip over those funky elf shoes with the curled up ends!

Throwing our snowballs at each other was fun!

We gave Patti a treat basket and wished her the happiest of holidays.  She was excited!

There was time after yoga to complete a quick project.  We still needed decorations for our room...

And Santa needed some reindeer!!  Thanks, Kate, for the cute idea!

On Thursday we created these cute Santas using red napkins and some felt pieces that Kacie's Aunt Wendy sent to us, all the way from California! The Santa doubles as a napkin ring...or a finger puppet!! Thanks Aunt Wendy, for thinking of us AND for pre-cutting the pieces!  We had fun making them!

The guys had fun with Santa, too!

Also on Thursday, a couple of our friends from Anheuser-Busch, Cristin and Samantha, stopped by to do some crafting with us.  They had to reschedule from Wednesday, but we didn't mind.  Especially when we saw the fun craft idea they had!

Samantha helped Bo make sure he covered all areas of this part of the project with red paint.  Liz helped Xavier, and Sam smiled because his was done!

Over at this table, Cristin helped these guys with the second part of the project...stuffing pom-poms into a clear ornament ball.  Then, she hot-glued the two parts together for everyone.

Ta-da!  Aren't these gumball machine ornaments super fun?!  Thank you, Cristin and Samantha!  We love these!!

We shared our pasta lunch with Cristin and Samantha, but they got a call from work and had to rush off after eating and before we got a picture with them.  They said they would love to come back for another project, so we'll make sure we get a great picture with them then!

During Choice Time, we set up another craft project that this group of friends had fun putting together with Laura, whose mom sent it in for us.  They assembled snowmen, penguins, and snowflakes!  Thanks, Mrs. P., for thinking of us, too!  We appreciate all of our family members and friends who help make our program fun and engaging!

Since we missed bowling on Tuesday because of the weather, we didn't get to deliver our special Christmas card.  So a few of us stopped by on the way home Thursday and were lucky to get to see both Ed and Autumn.  Autumn took Dallas' place, and she's pretty cool and very helpful!  (But we really miss Dallas, so we are planning to visit him at the York Lanes in January!)

While at the bowling center, we also ran into Arc Board Member Erin, who was there for some holiday fun with her coworkers!  She was happy to see us!!

Friday we celebrated a successful Holiday Food Drive when we took all these donations to Grove Christian Outreach!  Isn't this proof that the actions of a "few" can make a difference for "many?"  We are a small program, but we made a big contribution today!  What isn't easily seen on the shelf and floor behind us is our 234 POUNDS of nonperishable food donations!  We exceeded our goal of 200 pounds!  YAY!  Thank you to all of our families and friends who helped make this possible.  Ruth at GCO said it was simply "a blessing."

We spread some holiday cheer at Eaton when we stopped by to deliver a Christmas card and some goodies for their break room.  Jorie wasn't available, but James happily welcomed us and accepted our greetings on behalf of his coworkers.  He told us, "Looking forward to our continued partnership in 2019!"  So are we, James!

When we got back to the center, we had to put some finishing touches on our decorations and bake a couple of different kinds of cookies for our party on Wednesday.  Sam got to try a skill that was new to us...cutting cold butter into cubes.  He was working on a shortbread recipe.

Kacie also tried something new - covering baking pans with parchment paper that likes to roll up on you!  She was working on a recipe for chocolate mint cookies.  We baked and froze our two kinds of cookies.  You'll have to check next week's blog and our party pics to see how they turned out! 

We have had opportunites to make several ornaments this season.  This last one we worked on was a clear plastic ball filled with paper in the colors of The Arc:  blue and orange.  This group was very focused on getting the strips of paper inside the holes on the balls. We also wrote our names on them with glitter glue.  They will serve to remind us that we're proud members of The Arc of Greater Williamsburg!

Meanwhile, over on the other side of the room this group was working on a gift for our families.  We can't reveal too much about it...but it looks like we may be thinking snow again!

At the end of the day, we played a game of Hangman to reveal where our Mystery Trip on Tuesday will be.  Each year during the holidays we try to go somewhere a little extra special as a treat for our hardworking associates.  In our first year, 2016, we went to the Kimball Theater for a special screening of "The Polar Express" followed by lunch at Sal's.  Last year, we were awarded a scholarship to the Virginia Living Museum which included a showing of their holiday laser light show!  Both of these trips were a lot of fun.  

But this year, we're doing something quite different.  Carol has invited us to her new home, where she has a basement Lisa calls "Party Central," and we're going to have a movie party!  "Party Central" includes a home theater!  As you can see in this picture, our guys figured it out way before the man got hung!

We will also play games, dance, and enjoy pizza for lunch.  When the gang found out what the Mystery Trip was, this is how they reacted.  We think they're excited!!

Thank you, Carol and family, for opening your home to us.  We will enjoy this "pre-party" to our "official party" on Wednesday! 

On a sad note, please keep our friend Cameron and his family in your thoughts as they mourn the loss of his beloved grandmother.  They have been in Maine all week, and will remain there next week. We love and miss you, Cameron. 💙

We are looking forward to our final days of 2018 next week!  We will be in session Tuesday and Wednesday, and here's how we will be sending out the year:

Tuesday:  It's Holiday Trip Day 2018 and this year we are going to Carol's beautiful new home for Movie Day!  We will watch a fun holiday movie followed by games, music, treats, and pizza for lunch!  🎄🍕

Wednesday:  Today we will have our annual Holiday Office Party!  We will have lots of fun activities, dancing, more games (including some active ones!), and of course, our Potluck Luncheon!  Feel free to wear your favorite holiday fashions..."ugly" or not! Remember to bring your dish and the Secret Santa gift for the friend whose name you picked!! 🎅🎁


From all of us at the Arc of Abilities, we wish you a joyful holiday season! 

We'll see you back here the week of January 2, 2019!

Lisa, Carol, and Nan