The Austin Pond Society held its Annual Thanksgiving/Christmas party this past Monday at the Zilker Park Botanical Gardens Meeting Room which was attended by more than fifty members and guests, Our new chef, Laura Creaser excelled with an enormous spread added to by the members. There was a huge assortment of food with the main course of Pork and Chicken. The members additions included salads and casseroles and deserts. I had a piece of apple pie that was out of this world. Of course, that was not all that I had as my plate was loaded when I went back to where the cameras were set up to enjoy the food. I resorted to moving the video camera in between mouthfuls.

Following the meal, we had a small piece of business in electing, or in most cases,re-electing the officers for next year and then we turned our attention to a visit by the Austin Police Departments Blue Santa. many of us had brought unwrapped gifts of toys for the needy children which were presented to Blue Santa. He had circulated among us as we were eating spreading the Christmas word and he and several “helpers” all gave a brief outline of the program.

Following his visit, it was time to have fun and play a few games. The group broke out into four teams as it was time to get competitive and play some games that BJ and Sam had come up with. There were three games in all bordering on the ridiculous but it didn’t bother the very eager participants as they joined in with much enthusiasm. We didn’t have any money left over after we gave away the Million Dollar prize last years so this years winners had to settle for bragging rights until next year. We did get a group picture as you can see above.

This meeting is the last for this year as we don’t meet in December. Our next one is January 19, 2015, same place and same time. Hope to see you all there.
On behalf of the Austin Pond Society and for myself personally, I would like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and I hope that Santa, the one in the red suit, is kind to you all on Christmas Day and for the upcoming year.

Below are the links to the videos

First up is the Business part of the meeting, mostly Election of Officers to serve on next years Board.

APS Business November 2014 from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.

Next up is Blue Santa speaking to the group about the Blue Santa Program.

Blue Santa from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.

Finally Fun and Games where the members can make absolute fools of themselves and nobody cares…

Fun and Games from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.