Dec. 9th Theme: Christmas Tidbits

Lynne was our toastmaster today and she picked "Christmas Tidbits" as the theme. Throughout the meeting she introduced the history of Christmas in the United States and some critical events, such as the recognition of Christmas as a national holiday was not until 1870. Christmas was first celebrated by Louisiana in 1838. 

Jim was our first speaker. He spoke from the Competent Communication Manual, speech #6. His topic was "Getting to Know Yourself Better.” Jim, in his previous speeches, touched upon knowledge about brain activity and psychology. This time, he taught us the benefits we will get and the tools we can use through self-examination. He also demonstrated a "metric exercise" to help us get a baseline on our emotions. With that information we can work on becoming more positive in our lives.

Alice was our second speaker. She gave a talk from the Competent Communication Manual, speech # 5. Her speech was entitled, “Choice of Life.” She told us the story about a single mom she met at a company's Christmas party. Alice was touched and surprised by the lady's upbeat attitude. The woman served others coffee as she told Alice about her autistic child.  Alice concluded, "We are what we give back to life.”. We were moved by Alice's powerful speech about love. 

We had two guests today, Anisha and Amritha Imandi. They enjoyed our meeting and Amritha decided to join after the meeting. Welcome Amritha! We're very glad to have her. Anisha signed up to give a speech in January!