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Lions Tale December 15, 2020
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Enhanced Edition
Next Meeting - Tuesday, January 5, 2021, at Noon. By Zoom, as required by today's circumstances, with Pres. DALE presiding. You can use the same invitation code as last time. If you're not sure of the code, contact DALE BURMESTER or SCOTT.
This will be our first Business Meeting in the New Year of 2021. Few will regret the departure of 2020, because it was full of problems. But we have a new page before us, and, as always, a hope that better things will be written on this new page. It's still a little early to expect activities to ramp up, but hopefully we will soon be able to resume the things we did before everybody dove into their own gopher hole. We, meaning the collective. We can't do it without your help.
It seems as though everyone is holding their breath, waiting for the vaccine to free us up a little. Most Lion activities are in groups, though, and so it will be a while before we can resume them. In the interval, ask yourself what has been the most fun, and/or the most satisfying, about your Lion membership, and help us make plans to do that sort of stuff again.
At our last meeting, we were “visited” by Past President DICK POMO via the magic of modern electronics. He's spending the winter in warm country - Arizona, we think. Lions shared their Christmas memories, and some of their traditions.
SCOTT talked about his father's love of Christmas. One year he purchased the first tree the day after Halloween, the needles fell off before Thanksgiving, and they had to get a second tree. Another time, he placed sleigh runner tracks and reindeer tracks in the snow, totally amazing his very young son.
BECKY's neighbor has land on Goose Lake and thinning trees and asked if anyone needed a tree. There were many large trees and the neighbor cut the top off for a Christmas tree. Everyone had to look up 50 feet to pick out the “best” Christmas tree. When they got it home, they discovered it was a Charlie Brown Christmas tree.
DALE B got home Christmas Eve about 11pm and realized that one of the kids' presents needed to be “assembled”. It was a 6ft diameter bouncy trampoline. DALE didn't have an air compressor, so it took over two hours to blow it up “by hand”.
JOHN - Over the holidays, he was cooking a steak with friend Arthur Ashe and Arthur had a great attitude.
MELISSA - Holiday tradition is cutout Christmas cookies. Mom had the same recipe for years - colored sugar frosting with sprinkles. After college, Melissa started making cutout cookies, but, different types and frosting. Oleg (8 years old) helped and made quite the mess and another from 2014. Even this year, she made cookies, even though not taking them anywhere.
STEVE - Lots of nice memories of Christmas as a child. Mom made great Christmas cookies. they seemed like the largest cookies ever. When we had our own kids, lots of good memories too. Delight to see them in the morning, believing in the magic of Christmas. On the downside, being a retailer during Christmas was challenging.
DICK - One of their first trees was huge, 14ft tall, and they couldn't get it into the elevator, so they carried it up two flights of stairs. They then realized how difficult it is to decorate a large tree - it needs LOTS of decorations. Never got a large tree again.
The Editor missed his chance to tell about the time his Dad stored the early-bought balsam on the next door neighbor's unscreened back porch by permission, since they were in Florida. When the tree was brought into the warm house, it soon became obvious that it had been visited by some roving canine, as the fragrance was not that of the “deep woods” variety. We had to replace it. A second time, the tree, pride of the Boy Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps Christmas Tree Sale Lot (run by a family friend) was brought into the garage for the usual cut at the bottom to open a path for it to absorb water. When the bottom section was cut off, the tree collapsed into two half trees - the double trunk just above the base had gone unnoticed. Once again, new tree. When the Editor was about age 5, the family planned Christmas with the grandparents in Oak Park, IL. On our way out of town, the car, in the parlance of the day, “threw a rod.” Dad borrowed a car from a friend, but there was no way for them to hide the transfer of the large Christmas ornament box from one car to the other. The inklings that maybe it wasn't actually Santa who brought the tree for Christmas morning were confirmed. But the brightly lighted and decorated Christmas Tree is still essential to our celebration.
Set up your Zoom circuitry for next Tuesday noon, and Happy New Year from the Editor, who is now home recuperating from the installation of a pacemaker and a couple of stents. You Lions were right, “the old guy is slowing down”, but now picking up the pace again. To repeat the published quote from a Madison Rabbi, “we thank God for the blessings we have, and hope for brighter days ahead.”
Calendar:
• January 5 - Business/Board Meeting
• January 10 - District Cabinet Meeting
• January 19 - Program Meeting
Once again, from the Editor and Publisher on the BULLetin staff, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!