A country club Christmas party in black tie, with a cigar roller by the dance floor

On Saturday, December 9, 2023, the members of a country club held their Christmas party, and his table was part of the evening. The ballroom was dressed for the season: a tree hung with gold ornaments rising almost to the ceiling, gold tinsel chandeliers among the crystal ones, gold chairs at tables laid in black, red and green light washing the far walls.

The members came in black tie — tuxedos and bow ties, a plaid dinner jacket, sequined gowns.

He set up at the edge of the floor, the open boxes, the molds and a row of finished cigars on the table, so the party moved around him rather than away from him. Members came over from their tables and posed with him, a cigar in one hand and a glass in the other.

Later the night spilled out onto the stone terrace, under trees wrapped in lights, and he went with it, still in the middle of the party.

For a club’s holiday party the station asks very little of the room. The venue provides a table and a socket; he arrives before the members do, sets up while the ballroom is still empty, and at the end of the night the station is down in twenty minutes.