Posted by Philip King on Jan 10, 2019
 
Happy Dollars 1/4/19 -- Cara Galbavi for the money raised by Soup For All this year
                                   Chris Burns for The $1,000 gift from our Club for the Art in the Park project (Jason Kik's idea, by the way)
                                   Orville Crain, husband of our Assistant District Director, Susan Crain
                                   Gordon Gallagher
Raffle Tickets were distributed by Brad MacLachlan for this year's Snow Jam.  1,200 tickets were printed.  $25 each or 5 for $100.  This is our club's only fundraiser of the year, so get out and sell, sell, SELL those babies.  See Chris Burns at Village Hall if you need more tickets.
  The Band for Snow Jam this year will be Electric Red, headed up by Shannon's fiance.
Sad News:  Dave Stocking announced the passing of Gary Gerlach's wife, Cindy, and the times for the visitation and service for her.  I was pleased to note that lots of our members attended the visitation Friday.
   The program today was our own members telling about what they did for Christmas and their family's Christmas traditions.  A fun and interesting program.  Here are a few of the highlights.
   John Nash said he and Kathryn entertained their twin granddaughters over Christmas.  Sue Zwart and her husband, Don, welcomed the arrival of a new granddaughter
   George Gardner said it was fun for him and Sarajane to watch their little grandson open gifts.  He would tear off the wrapping paper and declare that gift to be "Box."  The next gift was also "Box," and so was every gift after that.  He would also happily help everyone else unwrap their boxes.  George said it was a treat to see Christmas through a child's eyes.
   Laura Grafton said she and Ed found out that it isn't important to celebrate Christmas exactly on Christmas Day as long as you celebrate it with those you love.
   Jason and Kim Kik have 2 sons, 14 and 11.  Jason had the whole Christmas week off for the first time in years, which made the holidays extra special for their family.
   Dave Stocking and wife Lori have a tradition of exchanging "White Elephant" gifts with family members.  This year, they stole Dave's brother's gift "Wilford the Dog" and took it all over the area to photograph Wilford at restaurants, stores, and other businesses, and then returned Wilford and the photos to his brother.
   Ginny Ryan said Michael's gift from their grandson brought Michael to tears.  Their grandson graduated Law School and then decided to join the Marines, which made Michael and Ginny extremely proud.  The present that brought Michael to tears was a book of photos from their grandson that showed the rigors of the training he had to endure to become a Marine.
   Last, Mike Cotterall reported that he and Mary had no kids at home on Christmas morning for the first time EVER!!!  They have a tradition that commemorates each Christmas of their marriage.  They put a slice of a tree stump on their mantle, with the year painted on it and a word or saying that reminds them of the year in some way ... sometimes good, sometimes not-so-good.  A neat tradition.
Next week's meeting will be at SLCC.  Hope to see you all there.
Phil King as Scribe, subbing for Stefanie Herder.