On December 11th the St. Louis Sail and Power Squadron held its Christmas Party at Agostino's Restaurant in Chesterfield, MO. We had a small area off of the bar for our party/meeting and it made for a cozy environment to meet up with old friends and recap the year.

Those that attended were Chris Beutler, Rosemary and Ed Bialecke, Dorothy and Ben Blunt, Jane and Don Campbell, Pat and Bill Casey, Terry and Gus Elia, Ruthann and Charlie Jones, Sue and Chuck Kraeger, Jan and Andy Minardi, Marilyn and Bill Morris,Millie and Bob Steffe, Sue and Paul Stohr, Marlene and Doug Warden.

Everyone bought unwrapped gifts for girls and boys that were collected by Rosemary and taken to a charitable group in Wellston. Our assigned waiter/bartender kept the cheers coming by providing us with beverages and Agostino's provided us with a great meal.

The highlight of the evening was the celebration of Ed Bialecke's 75th Birthday on December 3rd. Everyone pitched in and sent cards to Ed's home to help him celebrate this joyous day. A cake replica of Griffin was made to celebrate Ed's birthday. Gus provided some pictures of Griffin to Millie to use for a template but Millie's daughter, a professional cake decorator, went to Silverton's website and downloaded pictures to use as a guide. A scale replica of Griffin was made and served to us latter as dessert. It was a tough decision, whether to save the boat or eat it with his boating buddies. There was a celebration of Ed's almost 40 years of service to the USPS but it was also time to roast him a little and many came forward with some good stories of Ed at many of our past meetings and adventures.

We also were paid a visit by Santa (Greg Dostal) Claus who also joined in the festivities.

A good time was had by all. We all left and headed home. Terry and I thought we saw Santa's sleigh on our trip up U.S. 61 to Troy.

Merry Christmas to all !

P/D/C Gus Elia, JN