News: Virginia

Dogwood Winnies
Local Chapter
By Sue Nicolella

We met Sunday, Dec. 6, at Calabash restaurant in Mechanicsville, VA. There were 23 members present and five guests.

Leroy and Mary Wright were our hosts and provided us with snacks for the social hour. During the social hour, we packed 15 Soldier Care Packages for our service members in Afghanistan that do not receive any letters or packages from home. Everyone brought items and we signed cards and put a picture of our Chapter in each box. We are hoping they will write back and we will be able to send them items throughout the year. We got a lot of enjoyment from our project this year. The chapter meeting followed our social hour where we discussed upcoming events for 2010. The food was excellent, as always. Several of our snowbirds will be heading south for the winter and will be missed.

Mary Anne Moyer 804-769-4400 www.dogwoodwinnies.org

Tidewater Tascas
Local Chapter
By Pat Montgomery

Our annual Christmas party at American Heritage Campground in Williamsburg, VA was as great as ever. Mike Montgomery played Santa, but would not let the guys sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. However, the ladies were more than welcome.

Saturday brought our traditional Tasca Breakfast and the afternoon was spent shopping, relaxing, or watching the games. We went out for dinner Saturday at the Welcome South restaurant which had a very diverse menu. Everyone enjoyed the meal tremendously.

After dinner, we held our annual ornament exchange and, again, it seemed that a couple of people were picked on during the Yankee Swap process. We had our coach decorating contest and Mike and Pat Montgomery won this year. We finished the evening with desserts and coffee and sitting around the fire.

Sunday we shared coffee and sweets and started our LONG trek home. Another successful Christmas party and we will have it at American Heritage again in 2010.

Jim Aldrich 757-236-3288

Virginia Coasters
Local Chapter

Our campout began Thursday, Dec. 3, at Green Acres CG in Williamston, NC. After settling in at our sites and a little R&R, we attended the Christmas parade, then started jigsaw puzzles, and played washer toss. Homemade soup was dinner.

Friday after a fun morning of games, some went exploring to the craft show in Washington. In addition, they went to the Estuarium down near the water. We highly recommend it to anyone looking for something different. Dinner was at The Ribeye restaurant. That evening we enjoyed lively conversation while playing games.

Saturday we headed off to the Heritage Day at the event center. They had old tractors and other farm equipment, carriages, stagecoaches, farm tools, etc. They demonstrated the making of cracklin', the grinding of corn, the making of ice cream, and other processes of days past. A man and his mule showed off their skills while a dog waited patiently for his turn to perform. Vendors had exquisite pottery, quilts with slots for feet, baby clothes, jewelry, and much more.

Back at the campground, some prepared food for dinner while others played games or tended their RVs. We had a lovely Christmas meal then sang Christmas carols until it was time for gift exchange. We could not forget about beanbag baseball, so after the gift exchange, we played a quick four-inning game.

Sunday Vinson Synan gave an inspirational and thought-provoking talk with an advent theme. Our hosts were Betty and Duke Coolman who did a wonderful job.

Duke Coolman 757-479-1464

Winnebago-Itasca Travelers