[Hellsgate] Thank you to the Yule Revel "Staff"!

[Elayne Hoover]

As an event steward, I couldn't be happier with our Yule Revel.  Everywhere
I looked, people were having fun.  I wish I could take credit for
organizing such a smooth and enjoyable event, but thanks go to many people
who all pitched it to make our Yule a successful day.

We started with a crew of efficient furniture movers, Madylyne, Vasilii,
Aubri, and Alec.  They got tables and chairs into place in no time at all.
Then Thomas and Wolf arrived and put the wall together in what seemed to be
seconds.  Alfred and Alec helped them tug the wall into place and before I
knew it, the hall was ready for Yule and I had time to sit and sip some
mulled cider before the populace arrived.  Thank you, wonderful setup crew!

Avery cooked the baronial meats this year and what a great job he did!  Not
only were the ham and roasted beef succulent, but it was also apparently
endless!  Huzzah to Avery and his roasting pan of plenty!

The potluck was a roaring success, thanks to ALL the chefs in Bryn Gwlad
and Hell's Gate.  We were challenged not to rely on breads and packaged
foods and we responded with a cornucopia of exciting dishes.  By 6 p.m. I
was sure we should have invited an extra hundred people, there was so much
food!  Thank you, everyone who contributed!

Aethelyan**<http://heraldry.ansteorra.org/OP/op-names.php?search=Aethelyan%20Moondragon&id=37>made
sure all the food was sliced, chilled, or warmed up as needed, the
empty dishes removed and replaced with even more food.  Vivat Aethelyan!

Daniel kept us dancing all evening, heralding us through the moves and
teaching new dancers.  If we were beautiful and inspiring with our mad
dance skillz, it is partly due to Daniel's guidance.  Thank you, Daniel the
Dance Guru!

During the day of the event, I was also very grateful to our seneschal
Alfred for keeping the schedule running and hunting me down at the gaming
tables if something came up which needed my attention.  Then he stayed late
to lock up!  Thanks, Alfred, for being so awesome!

Land Court was wildly popular this year, and I appreciate the hard work put
in by our tax collectors and Scribes.  Kelly and Alicia were the first
shift but later in the day more volunteers arrived and lent hands -- I
apologize that I do not know who they all were.  But thank you all for
distributing farms and orchards to the populace.

Our taxes this year were amazing.  We collected a ton of toys for Brown
Santa and I was overwhelmed by everyone's generosity.  I'm proud to belong
to such a caring group of people.  Thanks to everyone who donated!

If you had fun with the pirate gift exchange, thank Franchesca! I think
it's now a baronial tradition!  You all know what that means for next
year?  Arrrr!

It was delightful to see the results of the children's gift exchange, so
thank you Julie for organizing it!

As for the Clean-up Crew -- I wish I could name everyone who lent a hand to
cleaning the hall after the revel was over, but there were simply too many
people!  One moment I was wondering how we could ever get all those tables
and chairs put away and then only seconds later, it was done and people
were sweeping the floors.  Our populace excels at taking care of business
and I thank you all for your hard work!

I hope I did not forget anyone!

Marie

-- 
Lady Marie de Girau