2017 January meeting highlights

Location: Banbury Center
Date: Sunday January 29, 2017

Organizing Committee:

• Cheryl D.
• Yvette & Ray F.
• Buelah & Ray L.
• Bonnie M.
• Andy N. & Don R.
• Charlene & Tim P.  

The theme of this meeting was Love as the Valentine’s Day is near us.   But since the Chinese New Year was just a day old at the time of the meeting, there were displays of rooster figurines to celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Rooster.

There were also ample amounts of food and snacks made available at the meeting by the organizing committee.   Unfortunately, due to technical problems, no photographs could be presented here.

Our club president Dennis was unable to attend the meeting and it took both Sue and Cherie to fill in the job



  

1. Tabletop display with the theme of “Love”
   • club members were asked to create a tabletop display using at least 1 Department 56 item
   • as usual, our members came up with creative and ingenious display ideas
2. Tidbits about love and Valentines
   • Yvette shared with the members history and origins of Valentine’s Day, cupids, how apples and the love apples (aka tomatoes) are associated with Valentine
           
3. A game about Love (or “how well do you know your spouse?”)
   • 4 brave couples were invited on the stage to participate a game that is similar to the Newlywed Game on TV
   • each person from each couple was asked a few questions about himself/herself or his/her partner separately and the one couple who had the most number of matching answers won a box of chocolates
   • the competition was fierce as the game was extended into second round before Cherie and Eric were declared the winner
           
4. New Year tradition trivia
   • club members took up the challenge in answering 15 questions about New Year traditions; for example, when did the tradition of dropping the ball in New York City’s Time Square first begin? or what do the Spanish eat at midnight New Year’s Eve to ensure twelve happy months in the coming year?
   • everyone tried to answer the questions to the best of their knowledge and was given a Chinese “red envelope” (called “lai see” in Cantonese) as a token of luck and reward at the end
   
   
   
5. Village Friends membership kit
   • club member Rick was probably one of the first few Canadians to receive Department 56’s Village Friends membership kit
   • he showed club members the contents of the entire kit and his experience in acquiring the kit