The folks who attended

The last meeting of the year for the Austin Pond Society was their Christmas Dinner held in the usual confines of the Zilker Gardens Meeting Rooms this past November 19. This was a pot luck as they usually are but with Roast Beef, Chicken Skewers and Salmon provided by the Pond Society and cooked by Sonya O’Sullivan who is our new Hospitality person.

There were about 45 members present all of whom brought some sort of dish so there was lots of food and drink to go round. I personally held it down a little as regards the size of my plate but it sure was a big temptation to go back for seconds and maybe thirds. The choice of deserts was out of this world and very tempting.

APS Board Members

We had very little business except to vote in the members who will make up the new board. As this was done by acclamation, we got it done very quickly. The members are very grateful for those who are stepping down for the work they have done this past year. Most meeting groups are only as good as the volunteers who take the time to serve in different capacities on the board and we were lucky as we had a fantastic group.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Several of the members were decorating a Christmas tree in competition with other organizations that are associated with Zilker Gardens. Sad to say, we were not among the prize winners.

Jeannie Ferrier had a game prepared for everyone to join in. It consisted of a sheet of paper on which were a list of questions and the goal was to get other members to provide you with an answer. You were supposed to introduce yourself prior to asking the member if they could help you. B.J. turned in the winning sheet getting all of her questions answered in record time. Me, I think I may have gotten three answered in the time allotted. Oh well, guess I am not the game type…Of course, I was busy taking pictures or at least that is my excuse.

With business out-of-the-way, Bill gave the order to get in line which as you can see by the pictures below were quickly followed by everyone except myself and Glen Hubenthal as we were busy taking pictures. We both got to eat a little later and did not miss out.

Everyone brought a gift which were placed together and then names were drawn. When you won, you had your choice of selecting any of the gifts from the table. Everyone had their name drawn at least once with some lucky people, twice.

All in all, it was a fun time and everyone got to enjoy, good companionship and good food. Our next meeting will be held next year on January 21, 2013. Hope to see you all there and maybe if you know of other Pond owners, you can drag them along. I’m sorry, I mean encourage them to come and join in the fun.

Oh yes, Happy Holidays to one and all and be careful out there. See you all next year.

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