The Beaver Tails Christmas Party was a great success! It was held Sat Dec 9 @ 6 pm at Comme Chez Soi, a Belgian restaurant in the Pointe Claire village.
As we entered and reached the top of the stairs, we were greeted by our party organizers, Gwen and Richard. They gave us each a place card with our name and main course selection that we could then use to mark our seat at one of the tables.
We had the entire place to ourselves, so we had lots of room to mingle before dinner and between the courses. Several people visited the bar, where their drink selection included a fine choice of Belgian beers. We sat down at 7 pm to begin enjoying the first of our four courses.
The food, drink and conversation flowed over the next few hours. During the dessert, yours truly got up to say a few words. Besides thanking our hosts and running down some of the upcoming events in the calendar, I reminded everyone that we will need a new president next year in order to keep the club going.
Al Lawson, the club’s founder and president for the first 18 years, also got up to speak. As has been a tradition for many years at any large social occasion, regardless of the time of year, there was a spontaneous singing of Happy Birthday to Al. This happens a few times a year in spite of the fact, or perhaps because of it, Al has never divulged the actual day and year of his birth. Al explained how this tradition began 40 years ago during the first weekend trip of the brand new ski club. He then capped off his story by finally sharing with us his birthday. Last month on the 12th, Al became a nonagenarian. There were some gasps, followed by a sustained round of applause
After dessert, the dance music started and there were a lot of impressive moves to be seen on the dance floor. This included our indefatigable club founder Al, who was surrounded by several of our female members.
The party began winding down at 11 pm, as many people called it a night. But among the last to leave, at 11:40 pm, was Al. He may be looking to start a new club for people who have enough energy to keep up with him!
A big thank you to Gwen and Richard for organizing a splendid Christmas shindig.