New Students
A warm (since it's December) welcome to our newest students. In the adult class, we have Jason, Justin, and David. And in our kid's class, please welcome Brady and Grace.

To our regulars, please make sure to introduce yourselves.

Rank Promotions
Congratulations to Tatiana and Connor on passing their 9th kyu tests and also to Jonathan and Luis for passing their 6th kyu tests. Job well done!

Cleansing Class
Our annual Cleansing Class is scheduled for Saturday, January 8 at 4:00 p.m. We will still hold our morning classes that day, including children's class.

Everyone is invited and encouraged to attend, beginners included. And in keeping with this month's party theme, plan on socializing after class during our annual cleansing class party. It's a potluck affair, so please let us know if you will be bringing anything.

And one more thing. I have it on good authority that a high ranking guest will be in Jacksonville for the class. As in, a senior USAF practitioner. So make sure to attend!

And The Winner is...
And to close out the year, our final raffle winner: Luis!

The raffle was a great success and a lot of fun to boot. Congrats to all our winners.

Do you have any ideas to improve the dojo or for other newsletter ideas? We're always open to your feedback, so let us know!

Train For Free
Help us grow the school! When you refer a student, you train free for the month. Our student promotion also applies to family members, and can be combined with our family and quarterly discounts.

Christmas Social
What a great time. In fact, we had such a great time that we forgot to take pictures! Oh well, the memories are still there, just not in that instantly accessible form we're all accustomed to. Fear not, though: although you won't be uploading those pictures to your Flickr photostream any time soon, rest assured that the dojo satellite captured all those wonderful holiday moments, and is even now transmitting them to Aikikai World Headquarters, for inclusion in your personal files.

Merry Christmas!

New Years Gathering
And you thought the Christmas social was the only party we held this month. Au contraire, mon ami!

On New Year's Eve a group of us gathered at Gator's Dockside following open mat practice. We enjoyed a few drinks, sampled some fine cuisine, and heralded the New Year in style. We think this has the makings of a new tradition.

Richard Nardi Sensei
We were delighted that Richard Nardi, a good friend to the dojo, dropped by this month to teach a special class. Richard is an instructor at the Aikido Center of Atlanta under George Kennedy Sensei.

Nardi Sensei taught an informative and energetic class, and later graciously joined us for food and drink. Sensei would like to thank Richard for sharing his Aikido with us, and also for the comraderie following class.

We took plenty of pictures, which you can find in our dojo blog. Enjoy!

Belated Birthdays
With the rush of the holidays, we...uh...forgot to update our birthday list this month at the dojo.

Officially, we're blaming this on Santa*, who made us so merry this month that we temporarily lost sight of the other important milestones that deserved celebrating. Sensei offers her deepest apologies, and would like to wish a belated Happy Birthday to the following students: Buck, Bruce, Kevin, Topper, Ryan, and Gerry.

*Dear Santa, Jerry here. I just want you to know that it was Sensei's idea to blame you, not me. Please don't hold this against me next year. Thanks.

Tonya Passes Shodan
We are very proud of Tonya for passing her shodan examination at New York Aikikai this month.

For those that don't know Tonya, she started Aikido with us at the University of North Florida. After catching the Aikido bug, Dee introduced her to her instructor, Yamada Sensei. After a visit to New York Aikikai, she committed herself to training as an uchi deshi, or live in student, under Yamada and Sugano Sensei. To see some pictures of the celebration following the seminar, head on over to our blog. And once again, congratulations!

Upcoming Seminars
On January 15 and 16, Robert Zimmermann Shihan will teach at Palm Beach Aikikai.

On February 5 and 6, Brevard Aikikai will host Claire Keller Sensei from New York Aikikai.

On March 25 and 27, Yamada Sensei will teach at the Aikido Center of Atlanta.

We are planning to support each of these seminars, and would also encourage your participation. Seminars are an important way to improve your Aikido as well as interact with the larger Aikido world.

We welcome your feedback, comments, and questions regarding our newsletter.  You can post your thoughts on our blog.  You can also follow us on Twitter, or join our Facebook group.