Our October Meeting: Plan, Plan, Plan for November and December
October has arrived in and brought with it chilly air, falling leaves and even a few snow flurries!
But first, we need a brownie and a sip of wine! Our president suggested we try something a little different tonight. Let's arrange four tables in a ‘circle’ she suggested. Maybe this will facilitate conversation a little better and allow us all to hear each other.
This month's meeting is really a strategy session for Women’s Club activities that will take place in November and December. With any event, planning is key and these ladies know just how to do that. A lot of our members have been involved in our activities for decades and pull out details of past years doings and proceedings with ease and genuine love. There is a certain tradition, shall we say, of what gets baked, what fillings to use, and how exactly to sell it.
In years past, the Women’s Club held a Christmas Fair - complete with crafts, games, baked goods and an ethnic dinner. All of the ladies, along with other parishioners and groups, would donate homemade crafts: hand towels, tablecloths, dish towels, et cetera. The fair served as a major source of income for the Club and was well loved by the parish. We have not held a full Christmas Fair for a number of years and we tend to get asked on a regular basis if we will? Typically, when a parishioner makes this request, they also share a special memory of past Christmas Fairs and items that their mother or Baba made. You can’t help but smile when these ladies speak about this connection to the past. Will there be one this year?? Yes, however, we will host a pared down version known as the Christmas Market!
For now, our planning session included the bake sale and bread baking event in November, in conjunction with a Church coffee hour for our Christmas Market. We may possibly host an ethnic dinner later in the year… Stay tuned!
The topic of bread baking took the majority of the meeting time. The St. Mary's Women's Club has a long history of baking the most delicious cheese buns, cheese bread, poppy seed bread, apricot bread and potica or nut bread.. For the last several years, our lovely Nina S. has taken the lead in organizing the bread baking. She is a formidable woman in the kitchen and a master bread baker. This year, her role changed due to an illness, and we had to come up with a new plan. This took a lot of discussion, human resource planning, logistics and procurement planning.
All of the ladies from Women’s Club (with the exception of our beloved shut-ins) will be expected to help with baking, hosting the coffee hour or pay $20 towards the club. It’s in our bylaws.
The Saturday baking day is open to the entire church, and, in fact, we welcome helpers. With that in mind, a notice was placed in the Sunday bulletin seeking volunteers, young or old, novice or master bread baker. So, if you aren’t busy on Saturday, November 10th and you’d like to bake bread, come join us. We would love to be community with you!
In Christ,
The St. Mary’s Women’s Club
