Mike Hennessey
Dateline Dayton – Last Thursday night Pauline and I attended the Carriage Trace Investment Club Christmas party. Although the group was small, we had a great time sharing food, which each person brought, fellowship and a heated white elephant gift exchange.
A few weeks ago we went through our Christmas decorations. Pauline had the task of deciding what to keep. She discarded a music playing reindeer and a sitting moose, decorated for the holidays, moose. I rescued then, thinking they would be great white elephant gifts. I was right again.
I received two $5 gift cards from McDonald’s, placed one around the neck of the moose, one around the reindeer. Since we are allowed to steal gifts in place of selecting a new item, these two pieces changed hands a few times.
Saturday morning Pauline attended the Dayton Catholic Women’s Christmas brunch and party, at the Miami Valley Country Club. After errands, I helped our son Chris with a project for his evening concert.
Five o’clock found us on the way to pick up our granddaughters Julia and Madison to attend the Dayton Gay Men’s concert. The theme was, Home Is Where the Story Begins. The concert was absolutely terrific. Three members reflected on personal Christmas stories. Chris was one of the presenters, and he told about the birth of our youngest son, Jon, on Christmas Day, 1973. Jon’s daughters had tears in their eyes.
Sunday was church, where we had coffee and donuts after the service. At 1 o’clock, we were on our way to the Dayton Women’s Club, where I was playing Santa Claus for their children’s doll tea. The jams I can get myself into by volunteering.
The Santa suit was very large. I had to use safety pins, suspenders, pillows and bungee cords to fill out the suit and to hold up the pants. Everything worked. On a mild day, the suit was hot. My main tasks at the tea were to lead the doll parade, welcome guests and to be available for pictures. For too much time, I sat and tried to keep cool. If I were do it again, I suggest that Santa arrives for pictures, leads the doll parade and goes home.
On Tuesday, Pauline had her card group at the house. So Monday night, we had to go to the store and clean again, which we had just done for the weekend. I try to tell Pauline that dust is a protection, but it doesn’t work. In the evening, our insurance agent invited us to a presentation at the Dayton Racino. Since there was food, we were there. It was a good, thought provoking presentation, which I wished I had heard at least 15 years ago.
Tonight we will be in Cincinnati for a concert. Our middle son Bill and his daughter are participating.
Mr. Hennessey may be contacted at pmhenn@sbcglobal.net