Peace on earth and good will to us all

HERE COMES CHRISTMAS--ready or not! I know many of you were hoping for a white Christmas but truthfully, snow only causes accidents and delays, whether you are driving or flying, and causes moms like me to be more stressed out! I've already had my fill of holidays and snow. Thank you very much! It sounds like we're going to be quite wet around here with a bit of wind thrown in for good measure, so I'm hoping to keep the power on and all our Christmas Eve and Day dinners to be cooked without the help of the barbecue! As long as we don't have any flooding, I'll be happy!

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays between December 23 and 29 are Linda Price, Garrett McClain, Coral Linquist, Michele Smith, Kyle Gribskov, Lorraine McNally, Lee Tischer, Don Cooper, Nancy McCoy, Toby Bell, Holger Pedersen and Frank Pedersen. Happy Anniversary wishes to Mr. and Mrs. Danny Eaton, Mr. and Mrs. Orville Lindsey and Mr. and Mrs. Pat Thacker. As this holiday season is upon us, I hope you still find time to celebrate your special days!

NO LUCK--I've had a few people ask about the little pug/Chihuahua mix dog that was lost between Little Cape Horn and County Line recently, and as of yet, I've not heard a word about poor little Argus. His mom, Jaime Cooley, is a good friend of our former resident Sunny Manary, and she tells me that Jaime is still hoping he will be found and brought home to her. We hope she gets her Christmas wish. If you hear about this little 14 pounder, please give the Sheriff's office a call, or call me: 795-3425 and I'll get you connected to the owner.

NICE SURPRISE--A phone call last weekend from my cousin, Sherry had me heading into Cathlamet to meet with Ronald Rust, Ronnie to me, an old friend who moved to Alaska many, many years ago and whom I haven't seen in 30 years, if not longer! Funny, because it seemed like yesterday to me and we slipped right into an easy conversation about kids and what have you and found out he has seven kids and eight grandkids. Beats me! While in town, he was catching up with family and friends, his mom was Helen (Danielsen), sister of Arnet and our familes had been friends for years. At any rate, while he was in town, we had a nice chat and with the email and Facebook connections now, I hope we'll stay in touch a little more often.

TRAGIC--The raging fires in Astoria along their historic waterfront were awful to see and hear about last weekend and we are so sorry for all those businesses that were lost, as well as having a historic piece of Astoria gone. They are getting a lot of folks to help them re-supply the toys and things that were stored at one of the 28 businesses for the kids in need of some Christmas presents, but of course, you can always give the Astoria Chamber a call or maybe their police department and see if they still need donations.

SAD NEWS--We were saddened by the news of the death of Puget Islander, Sandra Nelson, 59, on December 8, whose services were held last Saturday, as she was much too young to leave this world behind. For those of us on Facebook, we were able to enjoy the pictures of her family and grandkids and hear of her latest escapades with the animals she loved. She had just spoken of her 35th anniversary with her husband, John, and then, just like that, she was gone; so tragic. Our deepest sympathies are extended to her family and friends.

In Cathlamet, Jack Sullivan passed away last week at the age of 86 and we send our sympathies to his wife, Lois and daughters Leslie and Lisa and stepson Stevan and sister Bonnie and numerous nieces and nephews. When I was working at the Duck Inn, Jack and Lois were regular diners there and I saw them quite often. Always a pleasure to wait on them. At his request there were no services but donations could be made in his name to the Shriner's Hospital.

We also learned of the deaths of former Skamokawa residents, Calvin and Evelyn Carroll of LaCenter late last week. Many of you may remember them due to having your taxes or book-keeping done by Evelyn's Bookkeeping Service here in town. Or maybe you remember them from the Skamokawa Store, which they operated for some time. I even worked for Evelyn for a while. The two had also been very active as members of a Gold Wing Motorcycle group that collected stuffed animals for kids every year and of course, many remember Evelyn's mom Hermina, who delivered our mail for years and years out here. I recently talked to Evelyn and she told me of Calvin's declining health and I was sure sorry to hear that; she said they were making plans to take a trip to see family members out of state, as they knew it would be Calvin's last. I told her we'd keep him in our thoughts and prayers. We want to send our sincerest condolences to the families of both Calvin and Evelyn, they will be missed. Services for the couple were held at the Dowling Funeral Home yesterday, with a gathering at the Skamokawa Methodist Church afterwards.

QUICK RECIPE--Everyone seemed to like the quick recipe last week so here's another one. It's a "Dump It Dessert."

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In lightly greased 9 by 12 pan, spread 1- 16 ounce can of crushed pineapple with juice on the bottom of the pan; next, spread 1 can of cherry pie filling over that; then take one box of yellow cake mix and sprinkle over that. Now slice 1 and 1/2 sticks of margarine into 12 pieces and dot over the top of the cake mix. Cover the entire thing with a half to a third cup of coconut. Bake one hour until golden. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream if desired, it's yummy! Quick and easy; dump it, bake it, eat it!

HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!--May the magic of the season fill your home with joy and laughter and memories that will last a lifetime.

OUT OF THE PAST--This week in 1945, the 23rd started out wet but fairly warm.While Krist and Carol Pedersen went to the show, sons, Ralph and Frank stayed the night at Grandma Everest's. The Ralph Everests got word that day that youngest son, R. Marshall Everest Jr. was stationed in Guam but was quite ill; he hoped to be home in January. Christmas Eve turned out very nice but with a lot of fog that evening. However, town was packed with people and looked real pretty all lit up. Krist and Carol Pedersen, with sons, Ralph, Frank and David, were hosts to a wonderful dinner on Puget Island, where Krist's Dad, Jonas Pedersen and wife, Helga joined them along with Krist's four siblings: Nancy, Peder, Wally and Peggy, so along with the Everests, it was quite a large group. On Christmas morning, Ralph and Elsie Everest caught the bus at 8:40 a.m. and went out to daughter Marian's house for a big breakfast and Christmas "tree" with their family. (Last house on the left going east out of town, the Bigler home now.) Upon returning home, they napped for awhile before going back over to the Krist Pedersen home where daughter Carol had fixed another delicious meal, with daughter Marian fixing a scrumptious pumpkin pie for dessert. The Everests, Healys and Pedersens had a great evening and everyone went home very tired after a couple of very busy days of cooking and cleaning and eating and visiting. It was also pouring all of Christmas Day and the next, with lots of wind and rain, and more rain the next day as well; flooding was getting to be a concern with rivers rising and flooding in Eugene was already happening. The following day at noon, the alarm was going off at the fire hall and everyone was getting quite excited as it continued to ring and ring; flooding on Puget Island was cause for worry but phone calls to residents there assured that all was ok. Alarm was just stuck, a huge relief.

In 1960 the weather scene was quite different as the Everests were in California with their son, George and his family. Christmas Eve was "snappy," a clear, nice day. A lot of shopping was going on for the dinner that evening with a snowman cake for dessert made by granddaughter, Pat. A call to daughter Marian brought some bad news, as her husband, Leon Healy, had suffered a heart attack and was in the hospital but resting comfortably. Still, not a way to spend Christmas Eve. Christmas Day in California saw a frosty morning but it cleared off and got so nice that pictures were being taken outside with no coats on. "Lovely"! Prior to a big ham dinner, the men of the group went to mine for gold earlier in the day; it was Scrabble and Pinochle for the ladies. Within two days, all the decorations and the tree came down and with sunny days after crisp mornings, it felt more like Easter than Christmas to the Everests. All this according to Elsie Everest's diaries.