December happenings and family Thanksgiving!

Hellloooo December! So much is going on in Summit this month starting tomorrow night when all the stores will be open late some till 9pm! GET THIS!! Find the elves walking around handing out snowflake dollars which can be used as cash in downtown Summit until December 31st and there are even a couple of $100's in their sacks ! Thank you to the Summit Downtown for encouraging shoppers to keep it local!   It's a great night to see all we have been carefully collecting for holiday gifts and to kick off the holiday season with GreatHouse! Matt will be creating small tree cloches available for purchase! After some shopping I know some of you are meeting up with friends at one of Summit's great restaurants. Enjoy free babysitting at the YMCA from 5:30-9:30. There will also be carolers on the street, free hot chocolate, and free gift wrapping at 408 Springfield Avenue. Last year was really fun and a great way to get in the holiday spirit and get some shopping done locally. Many of you requested family Thanksgiving photos ....  Thanksgiving always starts Wednesday night when the men prep the birds with special rubs, enjoy a bourbon and inject the bird with flavorful herb con goons that they discuss at length the week before Thanksgiving. Both my son and my nephew Nicky love to cook! You would never find my Italian father prepping for the holidays, my mother always did it all with my Grandmother but Dad buys the cigars for them to enjoy while frying the birds outside. He was like a kid in a candy shop! We started Thursday morning getting up at the crack of down and driving into NYC to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Police were everywhere keeping the areas secure....our world is changing, isn't it? There was still a festive spirit and we thanked the men and women in blue! Hello Kitty! My niece, Bergen, on the right was a clown in the parade this year and had a ball dancing and spreading cheer. It's such a great experience .....if you know a Macy's employee you can be in the parade too! I was a balloon handler twice and it was such a fun unique morning! My sisters and I all live in the same small town in NJ and years ago we started walking from house to house and doing a different course at each home.  It's fun to get out and exercise a bit and be outdoors together. My 32 year old son meets with his high school football buddies every year for breakfast and he wears his old jacket all day....who says "you can't go home again" ? Nicole went Italian Thanksgiving style this year and made lasagna with her noodles from scratch!!! DIVINE!! The birds were fried at Danielle's and pictured above are my son Ryan, my father, my son Adam and my husband Roger...and, of course, my photo bombing munchkin Madison!   FYI we also roasted a bird but everyone loves the flavor of the fried bird better! Nicky got to do the honors this year and very SLOWLY drop the bird in the hot oil. "Jim got a tad too close to the bubbling oil" pictured here with my brother-in-law Tom. Jim always plans fun things and this year we played Hammerschlagen!! There is a nail in the wood stump ... you take the hammer, flip it in the air and grab the handle and follow through with a WHACK!  Fun!  I hosted the dessert course this year....I made a lemon tart with toasted coconut, pumpkin cheesecake and my niece Hilary made a beautiful apple cranberry pie with a leaf trimmed crust....delicious! After dinner my sister Denise brought out this crazy game called SPEAK OUT! You are supposed to put these ridiculous looking contraptions in your mouth and then try and read difficult phrases and have your team figure out what you're saying. Well it was easy peasy as both teams didn't even need a second reading....what up? The game was a bust but was it really?? We laughed until we cried... I hope you all had a memorable and fun day surrounded by love and good cheer. As we gear up for the next festivities I feel I am ahead of the game as I already thought of this year's....CHRISTMAS QUESTION!!   This is a fun activity....each year I come up with a silly question and I email it to all the guests who email their response back to me....all ages this year from 7-87! Some answers are short, some are lengthy and hysterical! We print out the responses and each Christmas we try and guess who said which one.   Some of the questions have been...  "Which job would you have at the North Pole?"or  "Santa is tired of his suit how would you restyle it?"  And one year it was "describe your fantasy Christmas!" Let me know if you try The Christmas Question this year,  it's fun and everyone enjoys it tries to get bragging rights. We don't even care when certain people always resort to cheating....you know who you are!! Love and hugs,  Bonny Follow us on Instagram and Facebook to stay in touch about the latest happenings at GreatHouse and to be in the know about our super special flash sales you will not want to miss!     Please note delivery and shipping is available on all items EMAIL ME with any questions.     GreatHouse Bonny Neiman    p.908-522-8900  www.bonnyneiman.com   12 Beechwood Road | Summit, NJ Monday-Saturday 10:30-5:30