Sixty-eight holiday revelers, members, spouses, friends and children gathered at the Shoreline Yacht Club in Long Beach to celebrate the Christmas season. This venue has been the home of the Club’s Holiday Party for many years courtesy of yachtsman and Healey owner George Merino.
Members gathered in the bar area to exchange greetings and catch up on the latest news. Vice President Greg Aden and Past President Steve Kirby handled the guest check-in, regalia sales and orders for shirts with Healey outlines as we waited for President Mike Biss (Santa Claus) and his elves Anna Johansson and Tom Biss to arrive from Camp Pendleton, where he had entertained the Marine’s children.
With the call to find a seat in the dining room, the assembled group took turns by table going through the serving line for salad, rolls, Chicken Marsala, Beef au Jus, mashed potatoes, and steamed vegetable medley. Mike Biss then took the podium and greeted all the guests, asking the members to introduce themselves, their family and tell what classic they drove.
This went well until Peter Roses introduced himself, remarked that his car was still in Italy and headed for Norway, and totally forgot that he had his wife, Alexandra, seated beside him. This drew a lot of chuckles and good-natured comments from the crowd.
Mike went on to thank everyone for the toys and batteries that were donated for the Marine Corps Toys for Tots. The final agenda item was the presentation of the Bill Barnett Memorial Spirit Award. On hand to present the trophy was last year’s winner Phil Caliva, whose point total then was 241. He handed over the trophy to Chuck Lakowski, 179 pts since the rules stipulate no consecutive winners and Phil only had a paltry 217 pts this year.
With the formal portion of the agenda complete everyone was invited to enjoy more food and drink and visiting with fellow members. In all, a very festive and pleasant afternoon was had by all – and to all a Good Night!