CHRISTMAS came early for OJOA members this year.

And nobody complained.

That's because everyone who participated in the Ontario Jaguar Owners' Association Christmas Dinner, held Saturday, Dec. 2, at the Royal Canadian Military Institute in downtown Toronto, ended up feeling like kids on Christmas morning.

The event location was a first for the club -- first time at RCMI, that is -- and marked a return of OJOA's Christmas party after a hiatus of a decade or so. Some lucky folks even got to take home door prizes, with winning numbers being drawn from the silver champagne bucket that is the yet-to-be-awarded Jaguar Thornhill Cup.

Christmas Dinner was served in very best 5-star style — and by white-gloved wait staff — in the second-floor library of the storied institute. Diners were surrounded on all sides with rich wood paneling, several tiers of books on history and  culture and an above-the-fireplace portrait of the Duke of Wellington.

For the bibliophiles at the table, thousands upon thousands of volumes were at hand in this amazing library, complete with the appropriate rolling wooden ladders to allow readers and researchers to rise up and retrieve the thousands upon thousands of beyond-reach tomes.  Above the fireplace, and above all OJOA dinners, was the  portrait of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington -- the commander whose forces repulsed Napoleon's army.  (See photos, right and left).

The event was multigenerational, spanning guests from their early 20s to seniors. Attire was formal, with elegant dresses, several tuxedos and one member in kilt order complete with formal Prince Charlie jacket.

Dinner, served on china bearing the gold monogram of RCMI, began with a delicate spinach salad, followed by a main course of succulent prime rib with Yorkshire pudding, vegetables and roast potatoes.  Dessert was vanilla ice cream atop an apple crumble-like affair, served with a sprig of fresh mint.  Of course, there was coffee and tea.

As the Jaguar club's evening revved up, crackers helped exclaim the seasonal cheer.   How?   Well, with a staccato burst of bangs along the linened T-shaped table, thanks to OJOA Activities Director (and stand-up funny man) Michael Woodman. Wine was served for toasts and dinner, courtesy of  Secretary Dan Lokun and President Jeff Booth. 

Despite the formality of the venue and dress, the event was very deliberately focussed at the as-informal-as-possible level of celebration, with a minimum of protocal at commencement of dinner.  That formality consisted of: a toast to The Queen, by Dan Lokun, who is also a member of the Military Institute; a toast to Our Troops, by Jeff Booth; and a toast To Friends and Friendship, by Michael Woodman.  OJOA member John Scopis also rose to formally thank Dan and Michael for all their work and efforts in creating the night out for OJOA members, family and friends.

Door prizes, which were bottles of Gatto Nero  (Black Cat)  Merlot and Cabernet Souvignon, were well received  by lucky winners Steve Sherriff, Eric Carstensen and Bonnie Day.   It's worth pointing out that Eric's winning ticket was drawn by his wife, Cathy  (go figure)  and Bonnie's was drawn by .... wait for it .... by Bonnie herself!  Both of these turns of event were greeted with good-natured uproars from the room.   All of the door prize tickets were drawn from the Jaguar Thornhill Cup.   The wine prizes were donated by Jeff and Connie Booth.

While the Chilean vino rojo may have been a Door Prize success, a full and most lusty uproar was saved for the consolation prize, donated by an OJOA member who wished to known only as  Mr. Anonymous.  The focus of attention here was an imported sampling of one of England's finest examples of festive fare — a can of Spotted Dick.    Yes, Spotted Dick, you read this correctly.

Nothing else this night, it seems, sparked such a welcome uproar as the prospect of winning the Spotted Dick.  And we have it on good authority that one 20-ish gentleman, declined the opportunity to be able to win this prize, instead giving his draw ticket to his girlfriend, who gleefully accepted it. The gleeful winner for this can of Heinz specialty fare was none other than Jake Russell, who's been seen with his lovely wife Maureen driving about in a magnificent white, Jaguar Mk. V drop-head coupe.  Now, they have been known to carry a picnic basket in that Mk. V ... we wonder if Jake's prize will show up next year in their picnic basket......(photo at right).

(Spotted Dick, by the way, is a traditional English treat.  It is a steamed pudding that contains dried fruit, usually raisins or currants.  It is often drizzled with custard.  The "spotted" adjective refers to the raisins or currants. The pudding is also known as Spotted Richard.)

While the raucus fun was sometimes happily over the top, the priceless artifacts which surrounded OJOA dinners were as serious and as varied as any martial museum could offer.

First up for any visitors, is the pair of 9-pounder brass field guns at the front of the institute. While the 1813-1815 vintage guns reveal marvelously preserved and cared for bronze tubes, they are mounted on reproduction American Civil War era carriages.  Until a few years ago, the guns had been mounted on proper, British-style wooden carriages but the ravages of weather over the years took their toll and the woodwork began to show an inability to safely support about 1,500 pounds of gun bronze and were replaced.

Throughout the building there are displays of weapons of all kinds, from spears to modern examples.  Visitors could easily spend days touring the Institute's exhibits.

Arguably the most significant artifact within RCMI's walls -- perhaps "treasure" would be a more appropriate word -- is the pilot's seat from the red Fokker triplane that was flown by Baron Manfred Von Richthoffen -- the famed Red Baron himself -- from World War I.   It is the seat that the Red Baron was in when he was shot from the skies over Morlancourt Ridge, near the Somme River.  He died in it after being shot by a .303 bullet but not before he managed to safely land his Fokker triplane in a field.  His last word, to an Australian medical corpsman was reportedly, "kaputt."

In addition to the seat, RCMI also displays with it a portion of the red fabric from the famed Fokker which displays the Iron Cross and a small section of one of the wings.  While the mortally wounded "ace of aces" managed to land his fabric-covered fighter without damaging it, the plane was dismantled by souvenir hunters.

All in all, the event was a huge success with many requests to repeat the dinner again next year. Based on comments heard during the meal, as the evening wound down and in the days after, members are already lobbying for another RCMI dinner for next year's holiday season.

The only thing, we think, that could have made the night better would have been to have our invitees from Jaguar Canada attend.   Unfortunately, Jim Robertson and his wife could not make the dinner.