A special meeting of SpanishDict members
Thursday December 29, 2011 is a day I will not forget. Here in our home in New Hampshire we had the pleasure of hosting what I believe may have been the largest gathering of SD member in it's history. Our Jen from England came to the states with her mum to visit with Mariana who was visiting her mom in her home state of Massachusetts, Mariana as most of you know now resides in Guatemala. With this in mind we thought it would be nice to get a few of the friends together from the area. Sanlee is only a few hours away and came to stay overnight while Jason drove up with his beautiful family. My wife was kind enough to put together a traditional Thanksgiving style dinner for the group. We have all known each other for over a year here on SD so the first time meeting for me was a rather emotional and wonderful experience. Did I mention, we also managed to connect with Ray and Sir Ian on skype for a grand total of 7 SpanishDicters in one room together (well 5 in person anyway). The small photo is me and Sandy showing Ray around my home. 
Jen and her mum are probably in the air right at this moment heading home and I can only wish I had had more time to spend with them and Mariana but I feel confident I will see the others and more New Englanders from the forum in due time. We must make this a regular event.
25 Answers
It was a great time. Thank you so much for having this celebration, Gary!
What a wonderful time we had at Gary's (Yeser007) house !!!
Gary's wife, Sue, made a delicious, traditional meal and each of us brought desserts.
Gary was the most gracious host you can imagine and he even had champagne for us to toast the momentous occasion.
Sandy gave us all a wonderful gift--something uniquely American from Rhode Island.
Jason and his gorgeous wife, Shannon, were there with their two children (very polite and very cute!).
Jen (some of you may know here as Nametaken) and her mom, Janine, were simply lovely. They were the stars of the party...coming all the way from England just to meet their "internet" friends who had sincerely touched their hearts.
We Skyped with Ian Hill (Bolivia) and Ray (Austrailia) and saw each other for the first time on video. It was incredible.
All of us will treasure this visit and carry the warmth forever.
Fantastic mate! I'm glad you all had a great time. I vote we all meet at Heidita's place in Madrid next time 
Awesome! Good for you for making this happen. Happy New Year!
Very cool....wish I could have been there....
Garry you and your wife are indeed " Legends " for putting on that incredible
spread for all those people , every attention to detail was obvious in the skype
view that I had . I was so surprised and delighted when I got the Skype call
I thought that we were back on the Saturday chat , and how lucky was I to be
in a state of correct dress because it being our summer and quite hot you may
have viewed another stuffed Turkey. Poor Heidi only a day or so later got more
than she bargained for when she skyped me . Well done all of you , I am green
with envy but so happy that it went off so well for all of you gorgeous people.
Qué envidia! 
We will have to hold a meeting here in Europe!!! jeje
I wish that I could have been there to enjoy the time with you, to have met you all personally and to have had the opportunity to get to know you and your families better I am very happy to hear that you all had a wonderful time together! 
That sounds great. You know at one time there was talk of trying to plan a trip either to Europe or the United States with members so that we could all get to know one another as well as travel to some great exotic place together. Let's try to set something like that up in the near future..like a year from now! Happy New Year everybody!
Sounds like a great time. Please think of me next time as I visit my sister over the holidays. She lives in a town north of Boston -- a stone's throw from the New Hampshire border.
I left her house on the 28th because there wasn't anything interesting happening...or so I thought.
All of my SpanishDict.com friends have been very special and encouraging to me in the last two years.
I'm so happy to know that some of you got together. Who's hosting the next gathering?
This is the gang, minus Jen (who is camera shy)
Sandy, Gary, Jason, Marianne
awesome - I am in English and currently in Europe and my daughter is half Guatemalan! Very pleased to have found this site.
What a magical moment for you all. I know when I met Ray it felt just as awesome. Good on you all for sharing a happy moment together.
What lucky ducks you all are!
If I'd been within a "co-eeee" of there I would have been your first "gatecrasher"!
I can't express how much fun I had with everybody!! Gary for you and Sue to host this was too awesome!! I appreciate everything you-guys did for us. It was sooooo awesome to see Marianne and she is a wonderful and kind friend. It was such a pleasure meeting Sandy and she was just as caring there as she is on this site. As I had a treat with everybody I really wish I could've spent more time with Jen and her mum, all the way from London baby!! As Gary said the New Englanders will meet again and I'm sure we will be forever friends. It's funny how a common interest and love can lead to a bond that can last forever. A regular event, Gary, I second that motion!! Marianne, I hope to get to Guatemala sooner than later!!! Jen, London....we'll see!! I would love to visit.
