Laughter and good cheer once again escaped from the King Island Hotel when the Senior Citizens held their annual Christmas lunch last week.
The sit-down Christmas dinner had ham, turkey, vegetables, gravy, and cranberry sauce on the menu, followed by plum pudding or pavlova and berries and was enjoyed by all. But the real reason more than 75 attended the lunch was the entertainment.
All the way from the North Pole, Santa interrupted Senior Cits president Jenny Hill and Colleen O’Flaherty’s welcome, but guests were astounded when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, courtesy of King Island Radio, sent his greetings and warm wishes for Christmas to the King Island Senior Citizens.
Santa and Mrs Claus, with the help of Grades 1 and 2 students from the school, opened the festivities with a Christmas modified Jailhouse Rock. Blonde Marilyn, aka Janet Hamilton, schmoozed and wiggled across the stage with Santa Baby. Who knew Janet could move those hips and slide that boa in such ways?
John Smith quickly followed the Aussie classic Jingle Bells in a Rusty Holden Ute with a uke.
The kitchen staff couldn’t believe their eyes. Darelle Thompson found her ‘Ho Ho Ho’ in the bottom of a bottle and Sonja Hassing slinked and brought a very sexy flavour to I Saw Mummy Kissing Santa Claus (by this stage the drinks were flowing at the tables).
The King Island kitchen staff thought their boss’ tripping the boards had finished but left their duties to watch John with Arnold Stellmaker and the team perform Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. Both Grandma and Grandpa missed their calling and really should have been on the stage, not running a farm or a pub. A highlight was when our local Tasmanian police force arrived and got into the act.
The ‘I can’t believe I won all this’ raffle winner was Liz Bond. This year the 30 lucky number prize winners had the opportunity to select their gift themselves from under the Christmas tree.
The Senior Citizens’ Christmas troupe received cheers, standing ovations and show director Colleen O’Flaherty – who has said for the past few years “Never again” – has already started thinking about next year’s Senior Citizens extravaganza.