A Brand New Year

Hi all! A very Happy New Year to everyone. For our first posting of 2011 we will be catching you all up on the wonderful Christmas and New Year's that just passed. We will also be touring the blog site this next month or so. I feel it's good to get a refresher course on all of the fun things on our blog site. We also will have some additional followers who may have never read a blog before, so I want to help ease them into a journey with The Hermans. I also wanted to thank everyone for their patience while we took some time off from the blog. I will begin with a little tour and re-fresher course for all of you faithful readers. Some things have changed and others have stayed the same...so pay attention! Beginning at the top of the blog page you will find three titles 1) Home 2) All About Abby 3) Stella & Dot. These are all separate pages. The home page will automatically come up each time you access our site. To view the other pages, you must click on each heading. The home page will have the current posting as well as numerous other goodies (which I will go over with you eventually). All About Abby will give you a little insight as to what's happening with our little one each week (this page is only updated weekly). Stella and Dot is also updated only weekly and will feature a new item from my favorites collection. As you read the Stella & Dot page, certain words will be highlighted. Those words can be clicked to take you to my Stella & Dot website, or to another link. You can also access the Stella & Dot page from the home page of the blog. Moving to the right of the home page you will find 8 different sections. First you will see Abby's current age and a cute, recent photo. The second section from the top is a little blurb about Jim and I and what our blog is all about. Next comes a new section this year "Noteworthy News". In this section you will find links to video clips, news articles, and interviews. I will only be removing items from this section when I can't add any more! The next section is Upcoming Tour Events. This is simply a listing of the next five PGA Tour events. This is not necessarily where you will find OUR schedule, as it may be different. To read about our doings, well, keep up with the home page and read! The next section is about our journey through the Academy Award winning best picture films. Yes, we are moving slowly, but still viewing movies. I have added a rating after each movie, just our humble opinion. Next, my section on reading. I will list books that I am reading or have read, just in case you're interested. Next, a whole bunch of family photos, our furry family that is. And finally, the blog archive. This is where you can go back to reference a past posting or catch up on the blog if you've been away for a while. Those of you who are new, I encourage you to check out some past postings! And finally, the bottom of the home page contains three different sections. The first is a collection of our favorite sites. You can click on each link to take you to that site. Next, you'll find the picture of the day. This is usually updated each time I make a new posting. These photos do not get archived, so enjoy while they last! And finally, you can find a section of links that will take you to sites that can help you decorate your own blog. I also want to point out that there are a number of icons/words at the end of each posting. You will find a small area giving the posting information including time of day and at the end of that line a section that lets you know how many comments there have been on each posting. You can comment by clicking on that small line, or by clicking anywhere on the post and scrolling to the bottom to a comment section. Under that small line you will find 5 icons. From left to right they are 1) for emailing the post to someone 2) for blogging about the post on your own blogger account 3) for sharing the post to your twitter account 4) for sharing the post to your facebook page and 5) for sharing the post to google buzz. I WILL NOT BE SENDING OUT EMAILS TO THE FOLLOWERS OF THIS POST ANY LONGER. I HOPE YOU WILL CHECK BACK WITH US OFTEN. TREAT OUR POST LIKE YOUR FAVORITE WEBSITE. OUR CONTENT CHANGES FREQUENTLY, SO CHECK IN OFTEN! To get in touch with us you may also email us from the bottom of each posting (click on the envelope icon), or write a comment! Now on to the fun stuff ...oh you can find the picture captions at the bottom of each picture! We enjoyed a beautiful Christmas this year. Here we are on our way to Christmas Eve service.

The Hermans and Carsellos (Carolyn's mom Carol, and dad John) in after Christmas Eve service

Santa was very good to us this year, bring all our things all the way from Pennsylvania. Here are our stockings filled with goodies!

This was supposed to be a test photo, but it came out so nice. On Christmas morning in Florida you can usually wear your summer pj's as we are doing here.

Shortly, Abigail joined us for her first memorable Christmas. I think she was a bit overwhelmed. It took her a while to pick the first gift to hand out.

On of Santa's best gifts was Abigail's new chair. Santa is so good, that he brought one just her size! She loves it...although her attention span is still short.

Finally, a family photo complete with Santa & Reindeer antlers! A Merry Christmas indeed.

These are our friends Steve & Teri Wyder. We joined them for a beautiful Christmas Day dinner. Juicy prim rib of beef was on the menu and filled our bellies nicely!

Teri & Steve got Abby her first baby doll for Christmas. Here Jim sits with the two babies.

A wonderful family photo, Teri and her parents, George & Shirley. We had so many delights and such fun with our friends that we were ready for bed early and had a nice restful night.