Well, didn’t we have a fun time at our Christmas Party this year? Other than getting 15mm of rain on Thursday night and a little more on Friday, the rest of the weekend was either just cloudy or clear and hot.
A total of 18 units came, although Tony and Belinda had to leave their motorhome at home with electrical issues, and could only come for Saturday, so there were 34 people, as well as John the caretaker who called in from time to time, as well as a flying visit from Santa and Mrs Claus, although Don and Yvonne could not be found to get their Christmas presents.
After Happy Hour on Friday, we had a Christmas Word Search competition, and the quickest to finish was Gary, who won a book of word searches for his efforts. For dinner, the Chapter provided Chicken Kebab Wraps with salads and condiments for sides. This was followed by a hard-fought Christmas Family Feud, with a survey of 100 people and the top 5 answers. The team of The Scholars defeated the team of Murphy’s Law 220 points to 185.
On Saturday, we all gathered to pay our fees through morning tea, then held the Annual General Meeting, where Carla was appointed President, and Tim was appointed Treasurer. After that, we had a short General Meeting. Following the meetings, Marilyn read out the Christmas Left/Right Game, with everybody’s name being mentioned. A copy of the poem is enclosed, as we were so busy listening to the left/rights that we couldn’t keep up with the poetry. June finished up with the prize envelope with a $20 Coles Gift Card.
After lunch, the fun continued with a Santa Stocking Catch, won by Don T with some shortbread, Pulling Santa’s sleigh, where Yvonne won some licorice, and Candy Cane Fishing, won by Ken for cookies. These games were followed by two rounds of raffles, the first being Christmas-themed goodies, the second for a large Christmas hamper supplied by Ron and Carla, and a personally carved wooden bowl from Ken.
We all came together to share Christmas Dinner, with Nola and her hard-working team of caterers putting out chicken and ham with salads and condiments for sides, with desserts of Christmas pudding and custard or fruit salad and ice cream.
We didn’t have long to wait for Santa and Mrs Claus to turn up to hug every person, and we all lined up to receive our presents.
On Sunday, everybody got together to clean up the area, so John could have his shed back in good order, and then we left to go our various ways.
So, we look forward to February 2026, when we will be celebrating our 28th birthday at Glenreagh.
See you there,
Regards, Don Brackenreg (Secretary).