What did YOU do for Thanksgiving? Here at Avista Resort, we enjoyed sharing the occasion with our wonderful guests, some who came for several nights' stayed with us and some whose sole focus was the delicious meal. Held in our Just Off Main Restaurant, the "turkey day" event had a "full" attendance, for which we were quite thankful.

Nothing defines "busy" as much as the month of December with its relentless march to the end of 2008. Despite what the news media reports about the floundering retail market around the nation, the shops here along the Grand Strand seem to be full of life. For some, the excitement of the season means "pro" football games and parties as they wind toward Super Bowl XLII on February 1st, 2009, in Tampa Bay. For others, the promised excitement of the college bowl season with games from December 20th to January 8th is all important. For still others, feeling festive for the holidays, receiving seasonal cards, tinsling of trees, and lighting of lights keep creatures stirring, even mice, in order to accomplish everything by December 25th.

Whether your own personal blessings are football, family, friends, health, job, neighbors, puppies and kittens, or even planning for tax season next spring, we at Avista Resort hope that ALL your blessings will continue to keep you warm during the holidays and throughout the New Year.

Avista Resort extends to you and your families, the heartiest of blessings for the New Year! May your New Year 2009 be filled with your favorite things, and we hope to see you here again at Avista!

Your Friends at Avista Resort!

Avista Resort's Thanksgiving feast was eventful, to be sure. With four seating sessions for a total of 295 dinners served to eager and festive guests, everyone enjoyed the delicious meal prepared by Chef Reggie Richardson and staff. In all, he used a total of 20 whole turkeys, 166 pounds of turkey breast, 60 salmon filets, and 70 pounds of rib-rib-eye steak to prepare the feast. Dessert entailed 200 mouth-watering puddings and 30 delectable pies to round off the occasion.

Each service went along with precision. In the kitchen 7 people kept the momentum going from start to finish, and in the dining room 8 servers made certain that everyone had ample supply of the holiday dishes. In the end, anything left over went into a delicious post-Thanksgiving soup.

At mid point on Thanksgiving afternoon, we did have a change of schedule: a misconnection in the fire alarm system. Though unexpected, the whole issue turned into a blessing, with everyone thankful that there was no fire involved at all. We wish to thank any guests who experienced this delay in their Thanksgiving meals and apologize for the inconvenience. Their endurance resembled that of our country's Pilgrim forefathers whose early Thanksgiving feasts must have occasionally been interrupted with wild things threatening them as they ate.

As Father Time moves us from Thanksgiving to Hanukkah to Christmas, then New Year's, we remember the turkey wishbone, a good-luck symbol of the holiday season. Once called the "merrythought," this has for generations been saved from the Thanksgiving turkey, then dried to a brittle condition and offered to children who made a wish and pulled it apart. The child with the larger half has the wish granted. If the bone breaks evenly across both sides, BOTH have their wishes granted. However, when the wishbone is left whole, it symbolizes hospitality and warmth. May all your wishbones remain whole.

Holiday lights are going up! Music is in the air! With the festive season well in motion, New Year's cannot be far behind. If you are considering your party plans for December 31st, we invite you to join us! Consider staying with us for a few days and enjoying the festivities as we move into 2009 or, if unable to stay over, just come along to the party.

Imagine spending your New Year's Eve at oceanside. Enjoy a gourmet dinner full of flavorful appetizers, a full carving station with prime rib and baked chicken and luscious lobster. Tasty side dishes round out the meal, and once your tummy is ready for more, the chef's special desserts will delight you to no end. From 9 pm to 1 am, the lively party music originates from a great ensemble called The Hip Pocket Band. With all that making merry, plus party accessories, a champagne toast, loads of fun and plenty of celebrations for any and all reasons, we expect this to be a party to go down in the record books as memorable! Remember, this party occurs at oceanside, so if you and your loved one just want to slip away for a quiet walk under the stars, you are only a few steps away from the beach.

At party's end, avoid having to drive off somewhere! Keep your New Year's Eve glow by staying overnight or even several days at our relaxing ocean setting. Just contact our agents to select one of many choice accommodations, whether ocean front or ocean view, and then leave the rest to us. Bring a few things to tide you over several days, and we can provide you with a restful sleep in your beautiful luxurious condominium overlooking the crystal-clear Carolina coastline. On the first day of 2009, enjoy breakfast in Just Off Main, just for you. The year is yours to design however you wish!

Recently a guest from Beaufort, SC, called us after returning home from a stay at Avista Resort. He and his family wanted us to know of their pleasure in staying here during their multi-part visit: the entire months of January, April, and then finally November.

He called us to share his excitement, a special pleasure that he and his family had in being here. In particular, he and his family shared the opinion that staying at Avista Resort bore an uncanny resemblance to the joys of staying on a cruise ship.

Now, obviously, the differences between living on land and on sea are miles apart. One enormous contrast is freedom of movement. Guests at Avista Resort are on land, have vehicles with them, and enjoy spacious condos with ample space for relaxation right there in their living quarters, not to mention the amenities of the resort and the Grand Strand on the whole. Avista's guests also benefit from having roomy kitchens and closet space, pull-down Murphy beds, open balconies, and much more.

No, the similarity that our guest referred to was the view. Even on the fifth floor at Avista, he and his family enjoyed broad expanses of oceanfront scenery where each splendid scene differed from their next glance-the hues of color, the shadows and light, the movement of the ocean waves, even the ebbing and flowing of migratory wildlife, both on the wing and in the water. He said that the panorama was especially breath-taking at Avista. Every glance out the window was a picture-postcard for them, and they could not say enough to share their pleasure at having stayed here.

Another of their similarities with living aboard a cruise ship was the romance. Not only did these guests express warm feelings of being in a beautiful place with loved ones, but they also felt as if they were living in a dream-like setting far above the ocean, just as if being on a tall cruise ship.

Finally, the cruise ship lifestyle seems to inspire their warm feelings afterward. Even having returned home, they were still sharing their pleasure in their stay at Avista, just as people cruising seem to do. Our guests wanted to communicate their excitement about their Avista experience, and we in turn pass it to you in hopes that you and your loved ones will join us here at this resort for your own personal experiences. Of course, we might impose other similarities of Avista-life with cruising-life, such as the Spa Treatment Package and other in-resort specialties, but we hope you will come see for yourself.

So, just as with cruises, guests at Avista tend to return again and again. If you, too, enjoyed a stay at Avista, we hope you will return. In the meantime, we would love to hear your compliments about your own experience here and invite you to share them with others in travel web sites such as TripAdvisor.com.

Little Sticky Toffee Puddings

Serves 8. Preparation time: 15 minutes. Cook time: 25 minutes

Pudding Ingredients

• 6 ounces (168g) dates, pitted, chopped
• 1 teaspoon (5mL) vanilla
• 3/4 teaspoon (3mL) baking soda
• 1/3 cup (90mL) butter at room temperature
• 2/3 cup (160mL) sugar
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup (250mL) self-rising flour, sifted

Sauce Ingredients:

• 6 Bigelow Vanilla Caramel tea bags
• 1/2 cup (125mL) whipping cream
• 1 cup (250mL) brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (125mL) butter

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º F (180 º C).
2. Prepare eight (8) 6-ounce ramekins or custard cups by spraying with cooking spray.
3. Place dates in a bowl. Cover with 6 ounces (180mL) boiling water. Add vanilla and baking soda. Set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl or food processor, cream butter and sugar together, beating until the mixture is pale light and fluffy. Gradually add beaten eggs (beat after each addition).
5. Fold in sifted flour. Add date mixture. The mixture will be quite wet, but that is the correct consistency which gives the puddings their lightness.
6. Divide the mixture evenly among the custard cups. Place the filled cups on a baking tray. Bake for 25 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and allow them to cool for 5 minutes before unmolding. If they have risen too much, slice a little off the top so that they can sit evenly on the plates.
8. Make the sauce by heating cream in a saucepan. Add tea bags and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove tea bags, squeezing well. Combine remaining ingredients in the same saucepan and heat very gently until the sugar has melted and all the crystals have dissolved and sauce is thickened.
9. The puddings can be made ahead and frozen if desired. If frozen, defrost and heat for 30 seconds in microwave. Pour hot sauce over and serve with whipping cream or ice cream.
10. This sauce is also wonderful over ice cream, pound cake, angel food cake, or any dessert that calls for a toffee sauce, even fresh fruit.

The Reservations Department at Myrtle Beach Seaside Resorts is one of the busiest places in our company. It is here that our staff talk with people who call in with interests in booking reservations, questions about rates, or inquiries about specials or packages such as groups playing golf at a number of courses over a number of days.

Some members of this team have specialties such as knowledge of booking golf packages, but collectively they all share a love of communication. As a typical description, Reservation staff members are friendly, customer-service oriented people with maturity, self confidence, and good judgment. Typically, they have an in-depth knowledge of the resorts that they represent, along with the resorts' amenities, the layout and design of the rooms, as well as a geographical understanding of the Grand Strand area. They often receive additional training on interpersonal or customer service skills and on how to use the computerized reservation system, any changes in booking and billing procedures, and, of course, new equipment.

As the economy improves and more people travel, we expect that our Reservations staff will grow, but one feature will not change - our personal service to our guests. Guests are our purpose and our pleasure.

Avista Resort is reducing waste, reusing, and recycling items to conserve energy. Here are several ways that Avista is green:

• Using everlasting decorations, rather than buying new ones and disposing them after each New Year's party.
• Replacing guest towels every second day instead of after each use. Some guests choose to reuse their towels. Unless guests specify otherwise, Housekeeping replaces towels every other day. This practice saves soap, water, and energy for washing.
• Administrative printing of first drafts on recycled paper to avoid wasting "new" paper needlessly.
• Administrative use of personal cups for beverages, not costly disposable Styrofoam cups.
• Administrative conservative use of lights, computers, other electric devices not in use.
• Recycling selected items in strategically boxes located around at Avista for everyone's use.

You will see more of our efforts listed in this section in future newsletters, but if you have other suggestions for recycling and conservation of energy, please send your suggestions to sue.duncan@seasideproperties.com.

1/3-4. Men's Open Basketball at SportsZoneCenter. All games played on Sunday nights. Contact 843-249-4FUN for more information.

1/7. Cardio Tennis at McLean Park Tennis Courts in North Myrtle Beach. From 6 pm to 7 pm, taught by certified tennis professional. Pre-registration at J. Bryan Floyd Community Center or call 843-280-5584 for details.

1/9. Concert at the First Presbyterian Church with Joshua Bell, Violinist, and Jeremy Denk, Pianist. Sponsored by FPC Concerts, this event occurs at 1300 N Kings Highway and lasts from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm. Mr. Bell is considered the greatest American violinist of our day. More information at 843.448.4496.

1/09-11. 25th Annual Grand Strand Boat Show. Myrtle Beach Convention Center. Dreamers and buyers alike will enjoy seeing the many items, from boating to fishing, including seminars and free give-aways. Admission $7. More information at 843.357.3098.

1/15. Jazzercise. Held at J. Bryan Floyd Community Center From 6 pm to 7 pm. More information from Debbie Transou at 843-249-5828. Classes are for all ages (18+) and fitness levels. Contact instructor or visit website at www.Jazzercise.com.

1/17. Alabama Theatre presents Eddie Miles: A Salute to Elvis. Performance begins at 7 pm. For more information 843.272.1111.