Love and Blessings to all of the Blank Family and Friends! 

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing...

We know that you will be united with us in these sentiments whenever and wherever you read (or sing!) these words. 

It is good to recall that we are all united in the peace and joy of the great mystery of Christmas.

This website is an idea to give you more then a glimpse of our lives this year.  It is a way for us to share some recipes, games, songs, and pictures  with you. Click on anything that is underlined to go to that page.   Photos from the family will surprise you here and there throughout the website.  They are mostly at the bottom of the pages (including this one) so you can be reading as they "open" up for you. (in case you have dial-up).

As a review, Gary and Bonnie's four children are:

1. Lori (lives in Alaska, she has a son Justin, and a daughter Stephanie, husband Jay)
2. Gary Jr. (lives in Illinois and Costa Rica, he has a son Gary III, and three daughters Tanya, Danielle, and Amanda, wife Irene and her two sons Phil and Kevin)
3. Andy (lives in California, he has a son Andrew Jr, known as AJ, and a daughter Amber, wife Suzie)
4. Jennifer (lives in Illinois, she has two daughters Jasmine and Marina, and a son Solomon, husband Chris)

You can go directly to the Family Comment Page.   See current pictures of our children and grandchildren. Or to

1.  Lori's Family Photos,
2. Jennifer's Family Photos,
3. Gary Jr's Photos,
4. Andy's Family Photos
5. Gary and Bonnie's Family Photos
or
6. Gary and Bonnie's Friends Photos

There is a page named Helping Others  with some of our families thoughts and ideas about how they can help bring about peace in their own way in daily life. You'll see touching pictures here too.

Check out Games and pictures If you are having a get together this Christmas here are some ideas for games/Mixers.  Even if you are not the one planning games this season, you will enjoy reading these ideas. 

 Favorite Recipes with fun pictures too.  Here are my favorite cookie recipes. Email yours to us and we will include your name. We would love to try your recipes.

 Christmas Lyrics In case you forgot some words for a Christmas Carol or if you'd like to see some of our grandchildren performing.. 

 History of Christmas Carols  Did you know?  Some trivia for you.

Please email us with your favorite recipes, games, and songs/poems/stories this year. garbon@ix.netcom.com

From Left to Right, back row, Bess Andersen, Jan Barone, Karen Kuhn, Bonnie,

and in front, Jan Karnoscek - you know them as the Retreat Ladies.

While visiting Fort Lauderdale we went to the International Swimming Hall of Fame.  One of Gary's favorites from his childhood,

Tarzan/Johnny Weissmuller was happy to get together after all this time for a photograph.

This is a view from our hotel in San Antonio, TX. We were able to walk to the historical Catholic Church (still going strong) and to the enclosed mall.  We watched a parade before a big football game from this balcony and in the evening we took the river boat ride.