A very Co-Line Christmas

[caption id="attachment_4002" align="alignleft" width="233"] First place for the Christmas light show went to the Maintenance Department with their car and fire truck decorations[/caption] [caption id="attachment_4004" align="alignleft" width="233"] South building welders won second place in the light show contest[/caption] [caption id="attachment_4000" align="alignleft" width="256"] Press Brake group, thanks to Travis Messer, dazzled employees at a 6 a.m. start-up meeting with a fireworks light show - third place light show winners[/caption] [caption id="attachment_4001" align="alignleft" width="300"] Light show judges were third generation, future Co-Liners Carter and Abigail Brand[/caption] Co-Liners were so good this year, Christmas came early for them on December 22. Lights twinkled, good food catered by Julie Roose and Country Catering was devoured, fireworks blasted, and “pie” was served...in the face. A good time was had by all. In appreciation for everyone’s hard work, $103,950 was paid out in years of service bonus. An additional $24,485 was handed out in 10-year trips, 20-year shopping sprees, jackets, prizes, and more. Each employee was recognized for their years of service during the party. The Co-Line family keeps growing, with 40 new employees hired in 2017, who were also recognized — one of the largest number of new hires in one year in Co-Line’s history. Co-Liners stepped up to the challenge of a Christmas lighting contest in their areas. The judges were third generation, future Co-Liners Carter and Abigail Brand (photo above right). Press Brake group, thanks to Travis Messer, dazzled employees at the 6 a.m. start-up meeting with a fireworks light show while snow was falling down, a memory most will not soon forget. Some neighbors were awed by the wake-up call while others weren’t sure what was happening! The Brand kids were teased, tempted, and bribed with candy, toys, gifts, stockings as big as they were, and more! Several Santas made appearances. Lumps of coal could be found in Eric and Faye’s stockings by the flat lasers. But ultimately the Maintenance Department wowed the kids with the funny car and fire truck decorations. Bragging rights for the year went to:

1. Maintenance/CIA
2. South building welders
3. Press Brake Fireworks

Each employee received a raffle ticket for each year of service they have been at Co-Line. Random numbers were drawn by the Brand kids and the “Steal a gift” game began. The final gift was to go to the person sitting in a lucky chair, but as luck would have, no one was sitting in the chair with the Co-Line sticker. So another random raffle number was drawn and Marty Cross decided to keep the gold box instead of stealing someone else’s prize and he made the right choice, keeping a $250 Best Buy gift card. Other gift card prizes included Amazon, Texas Roadhouse, Theisen’s, Menards, Lowes, Co-Line Logo Shop, Under Armour, Nike, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and more. The Price is Right Line ‘em Up game was played by 15 volunteers. It was a relay race to put the numbers in the right order to guess how much money Co-Line was giving out in Years of Service Bonus and prizes. The winning team members each received a $20 coin. Back by popular demand, the party ended with the pie in the face game. Raffle ticket numbers were drawn and Roger Van Hal, Bryan De Jong, Don Steenhoek, Zach McClellan, and Margaret Vander Weerdt each had to name who they thought they were going to give a pie in the face too. However, there was only one pie, and at the count of three, Dale Brand, Wayne Woollums, Andy Elbert, Linda Russell, and Faye Brand were surprised by silly string instead of a pie! [caption id="attachment_4022" align="alignleft" width="270"] Faye Brand, Dale Brand, Wayne Woollums, Linda Russell, and Andy Elbert were picked for a pie in the face.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_4028" align="alignleft" width="200"] Faye and Rail covered in silly string[/caption] [caption id="attachment_4023" align="alignleft" width="270"] Roger Van Hal takes aim at Andy Elbert[/caption]