Hope everyone had a great holiday season and a Happy New Year!

December was filled with HNN events. The Gingerbread House Decorating Fundraiser was great fun, plus our members enjoyed a couple of social get-togethers starting with a Dinner Club of appetizers for dinner and followed by a Ladies Holiday Escape, where we enjoyed a Shop Local Yankee Swap. And many member families had a very special Visit from Santa. Thanks to all our committee members and member volunteers! Great job everyone!

All of these events can’t happen without members stepping up to volunteer on the committees. The Princess and Superhero Party committee is looking for one more member, and we still need a coordinator for the Easter Basket Project for the Food Pantry. And I’ve begun investigating another possible fundraiser - a Month of Prizes! We do have a couple of people for the committee, but since this is a  new venture, if anyone else is interested - send me an email.

We have a couple of people interested in the Touch-A-Truck committee - our largest  fundraiser. But this event cannot be held without a full committee (5-8 co-chairs). Touch-a-Truck volunteer responsibilities can be separated into four areas - Volunteer Truck Reservations, Food Truck Reservations, Event Publicity, and Day of Event Coordination. We are holding an informational meeting for anyone who is interested but wants to know more about what is entailed before they make a commitment. This meeting will be on Monday, January 20 at 7:30 pm. Email committee.newcomers@gmail.com, and location details will be emailed to you. Remember - all family members are able to volunteer on our committees and at our events.

Hope to hear from you!

Debbie
President
Debbie Colburn   president.hnn@gmail.com

We wish to thank everyone who joined us for our Appetizers for Dinner event in December! A special thank you to Katrine Giroux and Mark Fynes for hosting us in their beautiful home. The food was plentiful and delicious, and we're glad so many members could join us for a wonderful evening.
 
We are in the process of selecting dates for spring events, so please stay tuned! The next Dinner Club theme will be Breakfast for Dinner, which is always a fun night! As always, we are looking for someone to host - if you are interested, please contact Beth and/or Erica. The committee will provide you with disposable dinnerware and setup and cleanup help!
 
Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!
Beth and Erica
Dinner Club Co-Chairs
Beth Welch   edwma46@gmail.com
Erica Long   erilouboston@gmail.com

Please join us on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 7:30 pm for a discussion of In the Midst of Winter, by Isabel Allende.

 The location will be emailed to book club members a day or two before the meeting. Copies of the book are on reserve for HNN members at Holliston Library. 
  

In the Midst of Winter begins with a minor traffic accident--which becomes the catalyst for an unexpected and moving love story between two people who thought they were deep into the winter of their lives. Richard Bowmaster--a 60-year-old human rights scholar--hits the car of Evelyn Ortega--a young, undocumented immigrant from Guatemala--in the middle of a snowstorm in Brooklyn. What at first seems just a small inconvenience takes an unforeseen and far more serious turn when Evelyn turns up at the professor's house seeking help. At a loss, the professor asks his tenant Lucia Maraz--a 62-year- old lecturer from Chile--for her advice. These three very different people are brought together in a mesmerizing story that moves from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala in the recent past to 1970s Chile and Brazil, sparking the beginning of a long overdue love story between Richard and Lucia.-- Provided by publisher.

A look ahead at our 2020 reading list:
February- One Book/One Holliston: The Island of Worthy Boys, by Connie Hertzberg Mayo
March- Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens
April- A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
May-Olive, Again, by Elizabeth Strout
June-TBD-Put on your thinking caps and send us some suggestions!

Cindy and Sue
Book Club Co-Chairs 
Cindy Carr   carr.cynthiad@gmail.com
Sue Hatton   hncbookclub@outlook.com

Book club will close out the year reading, Little Fires Everywhere, by Celete Ng.  Please join us on June 18th at 7:30 PM for a discussion of this book and to help select our titles for next year.  Meeting location and any other updates will be emailed to book club members a few days in advance.
 
Would you like to host our June meeting?   If yes, please reach out through Facebook or send an email to the co-chairs.
 
About the book:


 ”In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned - from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules. Enter Mia Warren - an enigmatic artist and single mother - who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community. When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town--and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs. Little Fires Everywhere explores the weight of secrets, the nature of art and identity, and the ferocious pull of motherhood - and the danger of believing that following the rules can avert disaster.”  ~Provided by the publisher.
 
Cindy and Sue
Book Club Co-Chairs 
Cindy Carr   carr.cynthiad@gmail.com
Sue Hatton   hncbookclub@outlook.com

Monday June 17th at 4pm
Petting Zoo & Pony Rides at Willowbrook Farm (Lil Folk Farm) 

$10 per child

This was tons of fun last year; can’t wait to do it again this year!

Please RSVP as soon as possible, as there is a minimum we have to meet to make this event successful.
 
Julianne
Children’s Activities Chair
Julianne Catlin   juliannecatlin@gmail.com
 

Dear Newcs,
(An endearing term I learned from Loretta, past president circa 1970s)
 
The weather isn’t the only thing to look forward to this spring — we’re exactly a month away from our Big 50th Birthday Bash! We intend for it to be a town-wide celebration of five decades of fun, friendships and giving. We will be highlighting our wonderful grant recipients and enjoying food and entertainment, and we do hope you join us on Saturday afternoon, June 1st at the Green outside of the First Congregational Church. Exact time to be determined.
 
Now that our logo contest deadline has been met, the Board will look at the applicants and pick the top entries for a member-wide vote on the winner. Please look out for that vote.
 
Last, but not least, it is time to start thinking of next membership year. Executive Board positions, in particular, have term limits, so many of us will not be continuing in these roles. Please take a look at the descriptions and consider joining this special team. https://hollistonnewcomers.org/board-positions
The new board is traditionally installed in June with a little party. We are happy to answer any questions you may have on these valuable positions.
 
Thanks for reading,

Christel
President
Christel DiPippo   president@hollistonnewcomers.org

Our Spring Membership Special is still on.  New members, who join now, not only enjoy Newcomers social events and participate in giving back to our community for the rest of the 2018-2019 membership year (ending August 2019) but also will be enrolled as a full-paying member for the 2019-2020 year! So tell your friends it’s not too late in the year to join!
 
We would like to extend a warm welcome to our new members who have recently joined:

           Allison Fisher
           Payal Mittal & Gaurav Jain

Debbie 
Second Vice President
Debbie Colburn 2ndVP.HollistonNewcomers@gmail.com
 

Join us for dinner, drinks or dessert on Friday, May 17 at 7:00 pm at the newly opened Bar Athena at 770 Washington St. (where Jasper Hill was located). They boast a seasonally changing menu with Mediterranean influences. Come hang out with fellow members and feel free to bring a friend.

Please RSVP to Committee.newcomers@gmail.com if interested by May 13, so we can reserve a big enough table or section.
 

Make-up Party on May 31 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at B. Luxe Salon, 165 Main St. Suite 208 in Medway.

The party will be approximately two hours long. It will include 1.5 hours of an individualized makeup lesson taught by a professional makeup artist. She will show you how to put your best face forward, using your own makeup as well as making recommendation for new products. So grab your makeup bag, and B. Luxe will show you what to toss and what to keep. Wine and light snacks will be offered as well!  Tickets sales have closed, but please email timusch@yahoo.com if you are interested in attending.
 
Thank you,

Jennifer and Timea
Ladies Escapes C0-Chairs
Jennifer Mott hncladiesescape@gmail.com
Timea Kovacs timusch@yahoo.com

Read along with other HNN book fans this month as we make our way through Beartown, by Fredrik Bachman.  This popular title is on reserve at the front desk of the Holliston Library for HNN members, so grab a copy, enjoy the read and come chat with other members at our monthly meeting on May 21 at 7:30 PM.  The meeting location will be emailed to Book Club members a few days beforehand.
 
We could use a new host location for the May or June meeting.   If you are interested, please let us know. Members are reminded that Book Club has its own Facebook page where you can stay up to date with current happenings.  Any questions?  Reach us through Facebook or at the emails listed below. 
 
About BEARTOWN: 

”Fredrik Backman knows that we are forever shaped by the places we call home, and in this emotionally powerful, sweetly insightful story, he explores what can happen when we carry the heavy weight of other people's dreams on our shoulders."

“From the New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry, and Britt-Marie Was Here, comes a poignant, charming novel about a forgotten town fractured by scandal, and the amateur hockey team that might just change everything. Winning a junior ice hockey championship might not mean a lot to the average person, but it means everything to the residents of Beartown, a community slowly being eaten alive by unemployment and the surrounding wilderness.”  Provided by the publisher. 
 
Looking ahead, we will close out the year with Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng as our June selection.
 
Cindy and Sue
Book Club Co-Chairs 
Cindy Carr   carr.cynthiad@gmail.com
Sue Hatton   hncbookclub@outlook.com