Trains, trains, and more trains

Trains, trains and more trains both big and small. The South Bay Railroad Museum was a great venue for the Christmas Party. My date and I received a welcome greeting just outside the building from the campfire group responsible for the wonderful turkey and pork dishes. It was a mild evening with no rain and great for outdoor cooking.Inside the building everyone (approximately 45 people) were met with festive decorations complete with a model train, loud whistle and Christmas music. The set up crew did a great job of decorating and organizing the buffet and dining tables. I especially enjoyed walking around the back of the train museum which contained an elaborate set of train models running through mountain passes, hills, towns and train stations.

The food and camaraderie was similar to my last outing with the team during the October Fest i.e. very enjoyable. It’s always fun hearing and talking about Jeeping adventures and sharing what’s going on in one’s life!

The best part of the evening was the gift exchange! I have never participated in a white elephant gift exchange quite the way the club does it. When Ellen announced during the last club meeting that it would be a good idea to come with tennis shoes and be prepared for a fast and furious gift exchange she wasn’t kidding. Competition for the best wrapped gift was stiff. Congrats to all those who took the time to be so creative. Instructions given, tickets drawn and the gift exchange was off to a mild start. However after about 5 gifts were opened the crowd lost their bashfulness and the stealing began. I counted as many as 7 people running in different directions stealing from one another before the untimely whistle blew. Let me just say the NRA would have been impressed with how many times one of the gifts was stolen from one another. The Battery Booster, Bass Store gift cards, flash lights, knifes wine glasses and yes Blankets were among the most popular gifts to steel. With all the running around I’m happy to report there were no injuries or heart attacks just one heck of a great party!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all. Dick

Esprit de Four Christmas

We first went to meet at the Big Lots on parking lot on Camden in San Jose to meet up for the toys for tots caravan. There were a lot of people there from the club…more than 15 vehicles (most decorated) showed up. We took the slow route through San Jose to get to the drop off for the toy drive. We went to Christmas in the Park in downtown San Jose and delivered our toys to the United States Marines that were collecting them. They gave us a Christmas music CD and a carnation. Later that evening we went to the ED4 Christmas party at the historical Santa Clara train station/museum. We took some time to peruse the model trains that were set up in the back room. They had two scales of trains (HO and N) with some very intricate layouts and scenery. The food was very filling and very good. This was our first year attending the party so we were able to experience the gift exchange for the first time. It is the best gift exchange we’ve ever seen. Some of the presents were very interestingly wrapped for the wrapping contest. The two main contenders were the drunk/peeing snow man and a realistic winter scene on the box top. The winter scene won the competition. Once the exchange began, everyone seemed to fight over the blankets. We took home some nice gifts after numerous switch ups. All in all, it was very fun and very interesting. We got to meet many people from the club that we had never met before and got to know everyone a little bit better. We hope to attend again next year.