The Cadillac Crew December trip has come to be known as The Holiday Party, and we’re certainly a crew who works hard and plays hard. This December, after trail work at Entry Run Tract, the Crew headed back to the wonderfully welcoming house of Hope and Steve Barber, our gracious and generous Holiday Party hosts of several years. There we enjoyed a weekend of celebration and community while welcoming first-timers, second-timers, and many-timers alike.

The Crew awoke Saturday to a crisp, clear winter morning. We enjoyed a delicious potluck breakfast, celebrated the arrival of more Crew volunteers, including Alisa Schaefer returning for her second Crew trip with Sam Rulli in tow for his first, gave lots of pets to the newest Crew dog, Fred, and gathered for a group safety briefing.

We worked hard at Entry Run Tract building stone steps, relocating a section of trail, improving the trail tread, and placing large stepping stones at a creek crossing to reduce hiker impact. However, soon after lunch the temperature dropped and clouds moved in. When the drizzle set in, we wrapped up our work for the day. Moving heavy rocks on steep hillsides is only safely done in dry weather, and The Holiday Party awaited us.

The festivities blossomed as The Crew returned to the Barber’s house and the rain fell harder. The Holiday Party brings joy of old traditions, creation of new traditions, and celebrating a year well done with a fantastic crew of people.

The beautifully decked-out Grand Banquet Hall (also known as the garage) brimmed with potluck dinner boasting homemade main courses, bountiful side dishes, and decadent desserts. The Crew welcomed the return of Tom Hutchins, a long-time Crew regular back from years of world travels, and relished time with other veteran members who had spent time away but were back with the Crew this year. Stories of Crew trips past warmed the Grand Banquet Hall and stoked hearty laughs, looking back decades while enjoying how far we’ve come.

The annual Cadillac Crew holiday work trip brings appreciation and cheer beyond sharing meals and stories together. Crew leaders Dan and Ellen Feer gave their year-end address expressing their gratitude to our dedicated Crew members and thanking the crew leadership: Robert Fina, project manager and equipment wrangler; Kirsten Elowsky, stash manager and kitchen organizer; Janet Arici, attendance and trip reporter; Steve Phillips, Outreach manager; Ian Paige, website manager and 2023 Hawksbill recipient; Barbara Cook, safety coordinator; and every other crew member who this year stepped up to lead a task team, or contributed their expertise to the success of our year. As has become tradition, S. Claus (Bill Greenan) and Ms. Claus (Tysha Robinson) gave out the annual holiday Crew safety swag in recognition of our outstanding volunteers. 

Keeping up our tradition of festive games and caroling, Tysha Robinson brought a new popular reindeer antler toss game. We hope this surprise game-of-skill makes a return appearance next year. 

In typical Crew collaborative fashion, we worked out all the lyrics (in order!) of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” to great success. Impressively, we managed a spontaneous yet respectable a capella version of “Carol of the Bells.” 

The tuckered-out Fred Dog slept through two simultaneous and raucous card games of Up and Down the River. 

An impromptu karaoke carol concert took place in the Barber’s living room starring Keith Tondrick singing “Little Drummer Boy” complete with wooden spoon and drum 

After a long and playfully festive evening, we headed to bed, hearts full of joy, stomachs full of delicious food, and ears full of the sound of rain on the windowsills.

The rain persisted through the night with no relief Sunday morning. The plan to continue our work at Entry Run was a wash. With work canceled, we ate our final potluck breakfast of 2023 at a relaxed pace, thanked our gracious hosts as we all cleaned up, hugged our good friends and set home after a weekend of joy, love, and gratitude for the here and now.

If this sounds like your idea of fun, or if you would like to be a member of the crew, please email Ellen and Dan at ccrewpatc@gmail.com.