2011 HOLIDAY PARTY (December 3) - by Kenny Goodman
In December of each year, along with the holiday shopping frenzy and getting prepared for family celebrations, MTA has its General Membership meeting and Holiday Party for all its members. Our Holiday parties have been pretty elaborate over the years. When I first joined MTA, I remember we used to rent the Sequoia Lodge and would have the event catered, have a live band, and an attendance of nearly 50 people. Times have changed and attendance has become a bit smaller as our tennis family spends more time with their own families and work commitments on the very day of our event. Not to worry, we have adapted and found ways to serve the smaller but no less enthusiastic group.
This year's party we tried something completely different then in years past. With a group of 22 MTA'ers, we went to Restaurant Chu in the Rockridge district of Oakland to celebrate. After some yummy appetizers, we had our General Membership meeting, reminisced about the accomplishments of the year, and voted in the new Board of Directors for 2012. Before dinner, we had a photo extravaganza with a presentation of changing pictures and memories compiled by Donna Haiman from many of our members photos. It was certainly an eye-opener to see ourselves many years younger and to remember some of our members that are no longer playing.
And then came the dinner feast. With an assortment of dishes sure to please our most discriminating eaters, we all managed to fill ourselves up. Not to worry - there always seems to be a little extra space reserved for dessert, and with some delicious fresh fruit and both plain and chocolate fortune cookies (custom tennis fortunes by our ever-so-talented webmaster, Susan Goodman), we called ourselves completely full. A bit more socializing and finally a quick clean-up of decorations and we closed the restaurant down. And that was it in a nutshell. For those that we unable to attend, we missed you, and hope you will be there next year and at our 2012 events.
Happy Holidays to all and a Great New Year with lots of tennis,
Kenny Goodman [Webmaster's note: Click here for photos, compliments of Donna Haiman and Susan Goodman. A few of Susan's photos are also below.]
   Starting at the left and going around the table: Joann Malta, Herb Weingard, Walt Thomas, Wayne Lippman, Heidi Lerner, Cynthia Podren, Sydney Kennedy, Thelma Lancaster, Sondy Beck, Pete Volin, and Yen Lim.
 Kenny Goodman, outgoing President, conducting the brief board meeting
  The setup for the fabulous slideshow
Robin Lee
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