New Canaan Rotary Club Bulletin                                             December 18, 2008

 

Deep in the mysterious Roger Sherman wine cave President David called the final meeting of 2008 to order and commenced the secret rituals with which we initiate our meetings.  Following the Pledge and the most perfunctory blessing in many months [perhaps the strain of coming up with a grace once each week is starting to tell on Chaplain Ad who announced that he is planning a four month sojourn in Florida after the first of the year to decompress] the membership sat down to a tasty holiday repast.

 

There were no visiting Rotarians or guests and, with the exception of noting that our next meeting would occur on January 8, 2009, in the immortal words of Steve Risbridger, David had nothin’.

 

Santa [Joe Rucci] and the Elf [a pms crazed Nancy Robinson] disparaged the throng, distributed numbers for the gift queue, and explained the rules for the annual grab bag.  The rules were complicated by the fact that Gentle Ben drew number 1, which so enraged Santa that he extemporaneously spewed out a three page preamble filled with legal boilerplate which effectively emasculated poor Ben.  In honor of our present economic situation Santa and the Elf dictated that the presents would be distributed in three traunches.  The first occurred during the salad course, the second during the main, and the third during desert.  Except for Skip nodding off, this plan worked very well.  Ben led off with a weasel ball, followed by John Kerchoff who scored a righteous bright red fuzzy pimp hat which looked strangely appropriate on him.  There then followed a much traded model Hummer [some wag was heard to comment that it was the Edsal of this decade], several bottles of assorted spirits, a pair of racing nuns, two tasteful tree ornaments, a decorative lobster head dress, a souvenir Muenchin Octoberfest pointy hat, various culinary delicacies, two golf themed gifts, several books and cd’s. a pull my finger Santa and everyone’s favorite, George Megrue’s half eaten box of chocolate truffles.  There occurred much good natured trading, the highlight of which resulted in the lovely and proper Carolyn Clark receiving a gift with anatomically impossible instructions.

 

Santa, who held in his back pocket a proxy from absent hall of fame raffle participant Steve “Spider” Sovich, then launched another difficult to understand activity which featured bidding on wrapped gifts with the successful bidder then given the opportunity to sweeten his bid for the right to trade the unknown treasure.  Spider was, not surprisingly, an active and successful player who was able to score a Newt Gingrich book encouraging oil exploration in our pristine wilderness as well as some lesser trophies.  The dignified Gene Tonkovich paid a record sum for the right to take home the pull my finger Santa [a classic in any league].  In a nod to Illinois, all of this pay to play activity raised several hundred dollars which will be donated to our hard working friends at the Salvation Army.

 

We left feeling embraced by the Christmas spirit, full of gratitude for the privilege of being citizens of this great country and members of Rotary.  By the time we meet again, we will have entered a new year in which we will strive to be of service to our fellow

man [and woman].  In spite of the present economic situation, who is luckier than us?!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!

 

St. Nick