Oh what fun is to come together for a meal with fellow Toastmasters and their partners. Paul H had kindly organised the venue and invitation.
Chris was Toastmaster of the evening and kept us entertained with his wife's purchase, showing us the alternative, but most of all leading us confidently with a voice as big as the sea through the program.
After Gail H, Chris and his wife Carlene decorated the table and the side tables for the Secret Santa and the hampers had filled quickly, our Christmas meeting with the theme "Happy Holidays" could begin.
Sergeant At Arms Helen called the meeting to order and took great care to explain the proceedings to our three guests (Colin - Helen's husband, Carlene - Chris' wife, Peter S - Trish's husband). She then read the mission statement.
It was Gail H's turn as President to open the meeting and introduce Chris as Toastmaster. He called on Jonathon to give us the toast.
Jonathon spoke about the different tag line when he first joined Toastmasters and why it attracted him. He toasted to "Embracing growth and Toastmasters".
The Round Robin was led by Arun who gave us a hard task deciding to share the most memorable or exciting Christmas experience (Oh what to choose). It was a revelation to see where Toastmasters had spent their Christmases before (India, Japan, Latvia, UK, Austria, Germany, on a cruise to New Zealand) and why music, snow prints for the kids, a tornado, knee stuck in a chair, grandma playing Santa, receiving the wrong present from Santa, choir practising at an old church, extremely hot Christmases and a 9 month pregnancy at the hot Christmas made lifelong impressions.
Afterwards we were served a very yummy dinner of ham, turkey, veggies and roasted potatoes - you just need to believe us that it was yummy and very well presented because it smelled so delicious that we all just dug in (without a single of our photographers taking a photo).
To digest the dinner better, Christmas Trivia Quiz Master Trish got us to our feet and deciding head or tail. She was quite disappointed with our lack of knowledge because she only got half down the first page, but had three pages prepared, before John was declared winner with Jonathon a close runner-up.
Since we were made aware that no photo of our dinner existed, many of us took photos of the dessert: alternate drops of steamed pudding with cream or pavlova.
Marlene and Rosie had prepared and distributed the cards which gave us the order for the Secret Santa. Rosie reminded us of the rules before Arun with number one could start us off by unwrapping a present.
And so it continued both day and night (ok, not that long, just 18 presents to unwrap). The following participants were able to choose not to unbox but steal an already revealed present and as such you might see the "unlucky" person unpack yet another present.
Arun unwrapped a set of mugs.
Carmy unpacked Lindt chocolates and coffee.
Jonathon got a bottle of Merlot and a joke book for the dunny.
Rosie unboxed a glass candle holder and a Christmas pudding.
Chris took out a cup with a Santa koala, different teas and coffee assortments.
Carlene got a set of Naughty/ Nice glasses.
Colin revealed a stack of T2 tea.
Ben received a serving platter - making it clear he had already several.
Daniel unwrapped a set of mugs.
Since Christiane fancied the chocolate/coffee duo, Carmy unwrapped a cocktail fish bowl.
Marlene
liked the chocolate/coffee duo as well, so Christiane was able to steal
the cocktail fish bowl, so Carmy was yet again called to the front and
unwrapped a big box of chocolates and Lebkuchen.
Somebody (Trish?) stole Ben's platter, so he was able to unpack another present: he got three games challenging his humming and pronunciation.
Somebody (Peter D?) stole Chris' bag of goodies, so he unboxed what he first thought was a kettle set. We clarified that it was a creamer/sugar assortment.
John got a star platter.
Even though Trish tried to convince her husband to steal the creamer/saucer combo, Peter S went straight to the front and took the wine bottle gift bag - no time wasted opening it.
Hazel untied a wind chime in the form of a lady beetle.
Gail H unboxed four margarita glasses.
Helen had a hard time deciding to steal either the margarita glasses or the creamer and sugar container combo - in the end, she decided for the former (hence, you see Gail H twice in a row.)
Gail H unwrapped a set of Christmas lights.
We ended up with presents for everybody of comfort and joy.
You might ask what the gladsome tidings be: The next segment was a visit by The Amazing Toppo.
Not only were Jonathon, Christiane and Carlene in tears of laugther (at least they were captured on camera), but even The Sands staff came over to look which card trick John was performing. (At the start he didn't want to look at the card, so he went behind the curtain - we thought first it was a vanishing act).
Before the card trick, The Amazing Toppo was able to tell us which number Carmy selected and then was able to repeat the sounding joy with Arun.
The next performance was an addition which brought even more laughter. His last quick act was an in your head calculating game.
It was a hard segment to follow on from, but Marlene's Christmas Memories also brought laughter when she recited her kids setting the song sheet on fire, expertly deploying a balloon to land in the music teacher's cleavage and lastly the story of her son's bike falling apart, so walking to the shopping centre and the bike lock ending up on the roof.
No Toastmasters meeting is complete without Table Topics, so Chris asked Helen what she found to be the hardest part to buy a Secret Santa present. Her answer was that the 10 dollar amount doesn't buy a nice present anymore, so she was glad to see that she wasn't the only one that disregarded the amount and just bought something nice.
It was Helen's turn to ask Daniel (who deferred to Hazel) what he/she tried, but would never do again. Hazel was so conditioned by Helen's present of margarita glasses that she recalled a night overseas where she drunk too many of those.
Hazel queried Peter D to tell us which three foods he would be happy with for the rest of his life. He recalled his standard lunch of toast and Portuguese sardines and then weighed up which fruit to choose: I let you judge how lasagne fits in.
Peter D requested Gail H to tell us where in the world she would like to celebrate Christmas. Somewhere cold was the quick answer, but she did confess that Ireland didn't work some years ago and Canada is still to be tried.
Gail H challenged Jonathon to report on his worst Christmas. He recalled a not completely cooked through chicken which was a present that kept giving well past Boxing Day (unlike Jonathon splattering on this occasion, please notice Rosie in the photo spluttering with laughter).
Jonathon wanted to know the pros and cons of New Years resolutions from Trish. Only on cruises is she for New Years resolutions (what happens on the cruise, stays on the cruise), but otherwise, she rather people attend her planning goals for 2024 event on January 6.
Christiane and Hazel were responsible for a fair raffle draw, so Hazel asked Colin to draw the first raffle: Hazel won. Subsequent winners were Helen and John.
After a group photo, President Gail H closed the 2023 meetings.
Sandgate Toastmasters would like to thank its members and blog readers for the support in 2023. The next meeting is on January 23, 2024. Until then we wish you a Merry Christmas, a strong start into 2024 and some relaxation in-between.
Thank you to Marlene and Ben for providing photos for the blog.
Suresh called us back to a special treat: A Zoom interview with an active Toastmaster member - the special thing: Jose from Alice Springs is 100 years this year, coinciding with Toastmasters International turning 100.
