Area 51 Christmas Party – 2013

Area 51 Christmas Party – 2013

52 pax and most of their Ms make 91 total (give or take) to make the F3 Area 51 Christmas Party a big success!  Tons of food, tons of fellowship, tons of fun in a big, beautiful home seemingly designed for just this purpose.  Thank you TR and wife Leslie for opening up your doors and welcoming us all into your home.  I will share a few thoughts of things leading up to and including the party, but I welcome all to sound off in the comments to ensure we’ve got a good record of the event for posterity.

• We expected a bigger turnout this year over last given the amount of growth we’ve seen in Area 51 since last year.  YHC explored multiple venues, but after a few weeks and no ideal option Tiger Rag throws out the idea of hosting at his home.  Dude are you crazy?
• After estimating a turnout around ~100 (including Ms), Tiger Rag is calm and cool about hosting.  Then the evite goes out to 400+ pax (not counting the Ms).  OK…now he’s a little worried.
• The party starts and people start to arrive bringing a delicious variety of appetizers, main dishes, desserts, and a takeout pizza care of Big League Chew.
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• Some pax apparently thought this was an ugly sweater party.  Spackler’s Hane’s sweatshirt with an airbrushed Santa Claus was a first.  Pretty sure he made it in Home Economics class back in high school.
• Lars (aka Zippity), the Swedish masseuse, was looking very stylish in his CREAM colored mohair sweater.
• Perhaps the biggest surprise with Donkey Kong.  No plans to dumpster dive tonight…he was dressed to impress.  Yes, that’s a tie around his neck!!
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• As the crowds were forming it quickly became apparent that YHC forgot an important detail…nametags.  Big thanks to Boutique and his M for a quick stop on their way in to the party!
• All should be impressed with Bugeater’s selling skills and Radar’s negotiating skills at the raffle table.  Congrats to Busch and Strange Brew!

I’m sure there are many more fun and interesting moments to call out, so I will leave it to you to shout out in the comments.

In addition to TR and M.TR, I would be remiss if I didn’t give a few folks a shout out.

• Cottonmouth – thanks for leading the charge to pull together all of our volunteers to setup for the event.  We had everything we needed and everthing was in place when the party started.  Thank you also for staying late to clean up and break down.
• Gullah – thanks to you (and your M) for facilitating the food sign-up and ensuring we had plenty of good food for all to enjoy!
• Yo Yo Ma – thank you for spending your Saturday morning chopping firewood to use in the fireplaces and pits that kept us warm… after your band played until 3am.
• Thanks to all of the other guys that took time out of their Saturday and lent equipment for the party: Deep Dish & his 2.0, Hops, Abacus, Dolphin, High Tide, Zippity.

And for the BIGGEST accomplishment of the night….thank you to ALL of you that brought your bag of non-perishable foods for the Matthews Help Center.  We filled TRs truck and collected enough food to feed 100-125 people.  THAT is the Christmas Spirit….Outstanding!

What a great way to kick off the Christmas season!  It was a joyful time spending the evening with all of you, and I hope that continues for all of you and that you all enjoy a happy and blessed Christmas season.