December 15, 2011 Christmas Theme and Road Kill Cafe

The Linguists of Listowel were blessed with a nicely decorated Christmas tree and shiny new presents to open .......or were they? Rumour had it that some presents were re-gifted from last year's Christmas gift exchange?
Each member had to wait until the Table Topics portion of the meeting to find out if their present was new or re-gifted.
If the member liked the gift they picked, then they may not get to keep it as "stealing/trading" another member's gift was allowed until the end of the Table Topics program.
All ended well as each member got to take a present home with them.
Watch out for next year because some of those gifts may be making an appearance again at the 2012 Christmas gift exchange.





Members were greeted by the sound of wonderful Christmas songs played by Jane Stoltz.

















Val Hummel and Keith Stoltz prepare for the meeting.


















Lorna VanderPloeg (left) discusses the meeting preparations with George Nichol (shown in middle).
Also shown is Marilyn Nichol (front right) as well as Leo and Holly Brisebois (back right).

All members and guests enjoyed a delicious potluck meal.
Keith Stoltz provided entertainment for the evening with his descriptions of the menu selections from his Road Kill Cafe.











Jane Stoltz provided all members and guests with the rules of the Table Topics Christmas gift exchange.
No gift can be "stolen/traded" more than three times.
We all learned that the present we selected wouldn't necessarily remain with us as we had to move our present to the left and the right according to the instructions provided in a story.
If we really wanted the original present back, we had to present a 1 minute table topic speech explaining why we needed to trade it.
Even after all of that, a member's present wasn't safe until all of the Table Topics speeches had been completed and all of the "stealing/trading" was completed.
Great fun was had by all!