When Shirley Cook was growing up, a long walk down a spooky, old logging road to her home used to deter suitors.
"My mother used to say, the man who will walk you all the way home - that's the one you'll marry," Mrs. Cook, 83, said with a smile, explaining that she eventually married her now departed husband of 50 years after he drove her all the way home down that road.
There were no bumpy roads between Mrs. Cook and the dance floor at Fiorelli's on Sunday, which she planned to try out.
"Oh I'm going to try (to dance), if anybody asks me, anyway," she said, laughing.
She, along with her daughter, Marge Cook, were a few of the guests at the United Neighborhood Centers of Northeast Pennsylvania Family and Friends Christmas Celebration on Sunday. The third annual event included dinner, dancing and caroling for the families and friends of the UNC senior center attendees.
"They always look nice at the center, but they look especially nice today," Mrs. Cook said of the other guests.
The event brings together the people who spend time at all four senior centers, Cathy Hardaway, UNC's director of adult programs, said. It also ensures that the seniors will have at least one great, holiday event.
"For some of the seniors, this will be the major Christmas event they go to outside the center," she said.
The purpose of the evening was to bring the seniors together, she added, not to raise funds.
"We hope to continue it as an annual event," Mrs. Hardaway said.
Mary Rose Mandarano, a West Side Senior Center attendee, said spending time with her friends was better than her usual Sunday afternoon activities.
"I'd probably be home sleeping," she said with a smile.
She hoped her friends would take on the dance floor with her after dinner.
"I'm not going out there by myself," she said.
Contact the writer: rbrown@timesshamrock.com, @rbrownTT on Twitter