To celebrate Christmas as it should be done
The meeting was special – good food, jokes, and fun.

We kicked off with songs thanks to musical Tricia,

And a paté foie gras – there is no food delish-er!

Both Santas appeared, clad in festive red suits,

Bob in a beard, and Vicki in boots –
Mr. Claus TME’d, Mrs. Claus gave out gifts,
And between them, they both gave the evening a lift.

President Oana opened the meeting
Asking each of our guests to give a brief greeting.
We had Kelly and Caroline, Kalue, Larissa,
And Danielle returned (she must know we still miss her!),

Gäel, Jasper, Dian, Fancy. Then last
Was Tricia’s friend Linda, and she was a blast

When they both harmonized! Next came Anäelle

Who provided the toast (was inducted as well!)

The opening finished, the humor came after,
With jokes, puns from Vicki, which raised lots of laughter.

As usual, we turned next to extempore,
And Martin suggested what people would say:
Where they’d celebrate Christmas – how they did when a kid –

What gift they would choose – and what Santa did
For the rest of the year…. And a favorite song

Induced Josep to sing for us!

Then, before long,
We’d moved into the speeches, of which we had four.

Laura B, an icebreaker; Nelum, with a store
Of Christmas emotions; and then a great tale

About hairstyles from Tricia, and last Laura F

With advice about gifts. To conclude – well, en bref –

The general standard was really so high –
When it came to a vote, it was hard, that’s no lie!

Then time for the evals – Jessica praised
Laura B’s choice of message, clear outline, and raised

The bar that bit higher: she should try fewer notes.

Vincent liked the way Nelum had chosen a quote
To conclude and a question to start
And suggested she might spend more time on description.

Suzanne was amazed at the wonderful fiction
In Tricia’s fine story, her humor, her voice,
And suggested that visuals might be a good choice.

We ended with Alex, who said Laura Fortin
Was guilty of swaying (which he’d also been caught in)

But praised her strong gestures, eye contact, and face,

As well as her laughter and natural grace
Of vocal variety.

Then the report
On stumbling and grammar – though Paula had sought

To catch all our errors, she said we’d done well.
In fact, full of praise, she said even more,

Claiming most of the speakers were quite without flaw!

And then came awards, the great accolade,

(Though it has to be said that we ALL made the grade!)

Kelly won table talks, Tricia the speech,
Alex for eval, with ribbons for each.

The word of the evening, from Josep: holistic –

So a holistic view of the meeting? – terrific!