We will have a holiday party instead of a regular meeting in December. This year, the meeting will be at 7PM, Saturday, December 10, at the Sinor residence.
It’s our tradition that we each prepare a story or story fragment of not more than 1000 words. The stories are on a pre-set topic and should include a magic word. There’s nothing magic about the word, except that it should be used in the story. The idea is that it is chosen to be both well-known and a challenge to use in a story.
You should print out your story, eliminating any identifying information, and place it in an unmarked envelope. The night of the party, a member or members will read the stories, and everyone will guess the author. The last two years, Jace has done a fantastic job reading all the stories. The person with the most correct guesses gets a door prize.
For the December, 2022 meeting, we settled on Winter Solstice Celebrations, Past, Present, and Future for the topic. So that our topic isn’t restricted to a particular culture, “holidays” means “holidays celebrated at or near the time of the winter solstice.” That’s pretty broad: it could include Kang and Kodos from the Simpsons celebrating a holiday near the winter solstice on their home planet, Rigel VII.
We have settled on “epiphany” for the magic word.
Secret Santa Yankee Swap
We also traditionally have a secret Santa gift exchange, in which each of us brings a wrapped gift, inspired by our genres, costing $10 or less. Our exchange involves something called a “Yankee swap.” Each person bringing a gift picks a number from a bowl. The person who draws “one” picks a gift other than their own and opens it. The person who draws a “two” picks another gift, and opens it. But the second person can keep that gift or swap it with gift one. The third person does the same, but can swap with either of the prior two gifts. The higher your number, the more gifts you have to choose from!
Participation in the gift exchange is not required to attend the party. Couples may bring one gift each, or may participate as a couple with one shared gift and one shared draw. Gifts are often related to our genres–SciFi, Horror, or Fantasy–but anything is fine. If you’re handy with crafts, that could make an awesome gift to bring.