Happy Holidays!

The Holidays have been a wonderful time for gatherings with families and friends. Please see the pictures below. Unfortunately, because of travel restrictions due to Jim's recent back surgery, we were unable to join the family gatherings in New York. Better luck next year!

Scenes from the Good Family Gathering

Zolls gather at the Good family gala.

Cousins catch up on the latest news.

John and Barb.

Erin and Lucy.

Andrew, Jim and Ed.

Scenes from the Zoll Family Gathering on Christmas Day

Chef Jen invites one and all to enjoy.

Tom prepares the banquet table.

Jen, Tom and Anne served a nontraditonal tapas-style Christmas dinner, complete with lobster bisque, seafood paella, smoked trukey with assorted olives, smoked salmon with capers, chipotle-barbecue meatballs and more! It was scrumptious!

Carly and Granddad pause during the festivities.

Jim and Kim meet JJ.
However, we were so caught up in the gift exchange that we didn't get any pictures. Hopefully Sarah did and we can add them later. Evan was very impressive as he accurately named the train cars (Thomas, Edward, Bertie, etc) as he unwrapped them. The "free to five" gifts were incredible - including a $ 50. gift card (Myra swears it was free) of which Tiffany was the lucky recipient.

With Ray and Birgitta and Family

Ray and Birgitta strike a Christmas celebration pose.

Birgitta with Claire Addison--born three months ago to Mandy and Eric.

Barbara meets Claire.

A portion of Ray's collection of Santa Claus statues and figurines. The wood carving in the left foreground, with green body, was made for Ray by Jeff at The Highlands Camp when Jeff had Ray as a secret friend.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Zoll family gathered at Dave and Lois' home for a wondrous Thanksgiving holiday. What a spectacular event! From bright sunny weather, to a delectable turkey dinner, to the sharing of kindred spirits, this was a truly great family celebration.

Ready for carving!

Granddad's view of the Thanksgiving table.

Birthdays were also part of the celebration--for Evan Michael, Jacob and Jen.

Jen celebrated a very special birthday with a lifesize likeness (referred to as "JJ"). Below JJ cheers on participants in the 2008 Zoll Family Thanksgiving Football Classic.

Below are two highlights from the Zoll Football Classic. In the first, Mike intercepts a pass and returns it for a touchdown. In the second clip Carly catches a pass from Tiffany and weaves her way to the end zone for a score.





Here are the true football fans - Granddad and Parker!




What are they thinking?



Did you know Parker had a human twin?



Here's the entire "David & Myra" crew: Sarah, Mike, Ben, Amy, Evan, Myra, Harper, David and Ida Jane

A Beautiful Fall

We have been blessed with some wonderfully sunny and warm Fall weather. The ginkgo tree in front of the house has been radiant in its beauty. That's true of many trees on our street. Recently, Barb completed her annual climb of the ginkgo.

Congratulations Nicole and Darrell!

Nicole and Darrell successfully closed yesterday on their purchase of a wonderful co-op in the historic Jackson Heights neighborhood in Queens, New York City. They will be the newest residents of Laburnum Court, one of 10 garden-style apartment buildings constructed as a planned community in the 1920s. Noted for their distinguished English and Georgian architecture, Laburnum Court and the related buildings were the first to be constructed in New York City around large interior gardens. Below are photos. No doubt Nicole and Darrell will greatly enjoy their beautiful new home!

Clambake, Engagement and Hall of Fame!

Carly and Tiffany's third annual clambake and lobsterfest was a seafood spectacular. Guests came from all over the country. College friends of Tiffany came from Denver, St. Louis and Milwaukee. Les and Pam flew in from Cincinnati on their private plane. Sarah and Don represented the state of New Jersey. Anne hitched a ride from Lexington, Virginia. Ohio cities of Findlay, Fostoria, Huron and Toledo were represented. Over 50 guests attended the party.

The calm before the storm--the firepit before the event.






















The rocks at the bottom of the firepit are ready. Carly and Andrew load in the lobsters.



















Some lobsters are still wiggling as steam rises from the seaweed at the bottom of the pit.



















Joe throws on bags of clams. Then the mussels will be put on last.



















Carly and Jen ponder the pit.






















Guests socialize while waiting for seafood to steam.




















Tom grills the chicken, chorizo and brats while Scout and Parker wait for a morsel.






















Tom checks the test egg. If it's hardboiled the lobsters are done.

















The tarp is pulled back, seafood revealed and the crowd applauds.




















SUCCESS!

















Let the feasting begin!



















GREAT PARTY CARLY AND TIFFANY!

At the party, newly-engaged Joe and Becky showed off her ring. Congrats to them. Are they excited?

















YES!


















And finally, who knew when Slider attended our Indians party in July that he would be inducted into the Mascot of Hall of Fame in October? Way to go Slider!