Thank you for sharing your memories, Lintian! Looking forward to seeing you again next month!
Having freshly returned from the lovely yet windy and soaked fields of England, I’m keeping my knit socks and the fluffy snowflake hoodie on, as it’s time to recall the first AD Christmas Meetup. Gather around, kids. 
After the Helsinki summer meetup, to my great joy, even more people were emboldened to join the next one, held in late November 2016. So many in fact, that we hit the guest limit of the venue reserved for the event with thirty participants! Either people had genuine fun in the summer and word spread, or my bribe coffers were bloated to the brim.
While not showing any faces (perhaps the meetups were just me and my imaginary friends), you might at least appreciate catching glimpses of the dungeon used for the raid. The champagne bowls just a marketing trick, as I’m using pictures provided by the pub.
This was the first meetup with a theme, in this case, a Christmas party. People were welcome to dress up fancy if they liked, but that was optional. Being the mage that I am, sparkling is part of my nature, donning a black glimmering dress.
A variety of gard games were played, such as the Joking Hazard.
Winter Veiling on the table.
Attendees had been asked to bring a small gift, costing less than 10 euros to keep it budget friendly, for the secret santa. Ninthalas, who attended the summer meetup, had kindly promised to be our surprise Santa Claus, with all the red and beard that came with their award-winning performance.
Everyone got exactly what they’ve always dreamed of!
Acrona sketch by Shuang. Thank you 
Shuang is a very skilled artist, and you can see their work proper here: https://shadoca.carrd.co/
On top of Secret Santa, we also had a Mortal Kombat(?) tournament, masterfully won by Atahalni, who I guarantee you, is such a smily person in real life. Still got that trophy? 
At Sunday noon we first met up at a restaurant for lunch, and then ventured into some fun stores.
With great force, the meetup was drawing to a close.
After the meetup, an in-game photoshoot was organized. Unfortunately it was difficult to find a date that would’ve worked for everyone. Great so many could make it though!
You can spot Acrona next to the goblin Snooki, whose player I clicked so well with that we became fast friends to this day, despite us never roleplaying on WoW together.
I was attacked. How could they.
More tales yet await unwrapping, and next in line is a gang of ADers whisking themselves to London in summer 2017.
Wishing everyone a wonderful Midsummer celebration, and if you can, please consider donating blood because from what I heard donating today, there’s often a drop in the reserves right after the solstice weekend. Party safely!