December-January! Where Has The Time Gone?

Hello, Everybody!





It just doesn't seem possible that so much time has passed since we did our last post! Sharon decided to finally look at all of the pictures from December and January, and to choose those that might be appropriate for posting.
Queen of Peace is always decorated beautifully for Christmas. Fr. Trini is the mastermind behind all the decorations.
The nativity scene is from Italy. The previous pastor, Fr. Joe, started the collection and it has been added to ever since.

The photo makes it look rather small, but the figurines are quite large.

The picture below shows what you look like after tasting the delicious wines of Star Canyon Winery right here is El Paso! We had a wonderful time there and hope to be able to go again very soon.

Scott and Steve are putting together a popcorn maker. Ellen was happy when she saw Scott get out the tool kit she had given him, probably ten or twelve years ago!

Concha is the best cook. She fixed the Christmas dinner, which is no small task. There were 25 of us!

Margaret and Scott's brother are checking out the new popcorn machine.

This is Frank Zona. He is Paula's father-in-law. We all had Christmas Day Dinner at his home. The guys cooked and cleaned. It was wonderful.

The presentation of the food was spectacular.

This was dessert. It was fruit, but it had been soaked with some type of liqueur. Yum, yum!

On Christmas Eve, the Zonas and the Pieplows gathered at the Pieplow home. Paula was in charge of the cooking. She did a fantastic job. Sharon had already cooked the brisket, and Paula added Croque Monsieur Mac and Cheese, and Brie with crackers. You can also see the Six-layer Bars that Ellen made for dessert.

Here's the chef working on the horseradish sauce for the brisket.

Here we see Sharon with her daughter, Paula.

These next few pictures show the Zonas at Christmas Eve. Their daughter is Jaimi who is a college student working toward a degree in nursing.

Here we have Kristi and Jeremy Zona, and Austin Martin, who is Jaimi's significant other. These Zonas live in Phoenix.

You surely recognize Ellen with Jason.

On Martin Luther King Weekend, we headed toward Albuquerque for our annual shopping trek. We stayed at our favorite Residence Inn. The nice thing about this visit was that the hotel had recently completed their renovation. It was truly beautiful. This picture shows the redecorated lounge area. We have a story about our trip here this time.

When we arrived at the Residence Inn, the manager was there. We remembered her from last year. Her name is Bernadette. She even remembered us from last year. Before we knew it, she had upgraded our room to a two bedroom suite! What a treat! We already had a special deal, but when we checked out, we had a special surprise!! Since this is our favorite hotel chain, we accumulate points for each stay. We used our points to pay for two nights, and would split the cost of the third night. On the morning that we were going to check out, the bill was under the door. (As it always is.) When Ellen looked at it, the Balance Due was $0.00. We couldn't believe our eyes!! Not only had we been upgraded to the two bedroom suite, our third night had been comped!

We are lucky ladies, huh? Until next time. . . . . . . . . . . .