By Chamath Ranasinghe
The month of December was upon us and the air was bustling with excitement for the most awaited festive season of the year.
It was a time of joy and togetherness. The Gavel family, being super close as it is, had their eyes set on the festivities and went ahead with a Christmas meeting.
Our beloved Gavel President Suthira started off the proceedings with a lovely introduction and handed over the controls to Santa a.k.a Toastmaster of the day, Ameera (expect a twist at the end!). Of course Ameera, being the fun person that he is, made us feel quite close to Santa. He had the gathering cracking with laughter and the meeting started off on a high note. The round robin session was interesting and heartwarming, being given the chance to make a wish for the person next to you. Although the phrase “I wish you get to go to the department you wish” was quite abundantly heard (the 21st Batch’s first sem exam having only ended a couple of days ago), many had some amazing and sometimes funny (May you find a girl/boyfriend) wishes for the people next to them.
With the end of the round robin session, it was time for the Elf a.k.a Table topics master of the day, Disini to take charge and carry out the table topics session. Since it was a special meeting, we got a little twist in the table topics session. Disini with her usual energy and enthusiasm went ahead and explained the setup as everyone’s spirits rose. We were to divide ourselves into 6 teams. What we had to do was to select a person from the group we belonged to and dress him/her like a christmas tree and no, the fun didn’t end there. We had to get on stage and pitch our trees to the buyers (the audience)!
We were given A4 sheets, newspapers, ribbons and other decorative stuff and off we went. It was quite fun to have everyone joining in with the decorations, sharing laughs and joking around. I’m pretty sure it was especially fun for the person being decorated. Everyone was excited and wanted to do a great job. We were given 15 minutes and as the time ticked away some funny (yet interesting) trees started emerging.
There was a faded scent of competitiveness in the air too. Time was up and the presentations began, which was undoubtedly the highlight of the day. The 6 trees stood as wonderful as they could be, none of them looking like the other.
The presentations were fun and the hall filled with laughter as each group went against each other in a friendly competition. Group one presented their “Goddess of Christmas”. The audience was even willing to bid for group two’s tree. Group three’s “Party loving tree” cracked up the crowd. Group four’s tree was modern with AI assistance and support. Group five’s was a “Wish granter” tree. Group six brought out the “only tree looking like a Christmas tree” from their argument. It was a wonderful session and finally, group 6 had the best costume and was the overall best. Group 3 made the best pitch.
What’s the first thing that you remember when you think of Christmas? You might say Santa, but after that… presents. Yes, it was the time for presents. The arrangement for the presents was again heartwarming, it being a secret santa. Each person was assigned to give a present to another but none knew who gave one to them. Who else is best but Santa to give out the presents right? Remember the twist I mentioned before? Turns out the Santa we had was a grandson of the real Santa! And with “Jingle bells” playing in the background, the original Santa (Hesandu) came along with a red suit on and a white beard. The meeting turned merry and Hesandu’s radiating energy made everyone feel overjoyed. It was a special moment where everyone was ecstatic with their presents and it was a beautiful ending to the evening.
The meeting marked its conclusion and it was indeed a Merry Christmas for the Gavel family.
