Many events already scheduled for 2011

NOT TOO BAD--Considering that we've spent the days leading up to Christmas where we were frozen solid, like last year, and like the year before, where we saw umpteen buildings collapse, including our fairground's arena, this year's Christmas weather was a piece of cake! Just some drizzle and clouds and a bit of a breeze now and then but for the most part, it was pretty doggone mild, with temperatures between 48 and 51. Of course, I heard we may get a slight bit of snow by the time this paper goes out but they say it's not supposed to be a lengthy event. We'll hope the forecasters are right. While we may not get a lot of snow, they say we will be having some dry, freezing weather moving in.

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from December 30-January 5 are Duncan Cruickshank, Mary Gustafson, Terry Cleveland, Trynity Mendez, Bob Stewart, Greg Bain, John Hoven, Aaron Brown, Brooke Luthi, Erin Wilson and Scott McClain. Celebrating anniversaries this coming week are Mr. and Mrs. Mark Helms, Mr. and Mrs. Bob Roseberry, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bigler and Jon and Milli Elven. Here's to wonderful celebrations for everyone!

Have I missed your name recently? Give me a call and I'll update my lists, which are ever-growing and once in awhile I overlook somebody. Sorry about that!

GRANGE MEETING--The first Skamokawa Grange meeting of the year will take place on January 10 with the second meeting on January 24, which are the second and fourth Mondays of the month. We'll be installing new officers and hope to have everyone there so we can get that done right off the bat. We welcome new members, so please stop by. Our meetings begin at 7 p.m.

HOW WAS YOUR CHRISTMAS?--Many folks I talked to scaled back Christmas a bit this year which meant that many huge gatherings didn't take place, but many smaller ones did, so it was all still good and a little less stressful.

Ralph and Peggy Pedersen had a very quiet Christmas Eve and a quiet Christmas Day, but the day after was a little noisier as sons, Tim and Mark (Rhonda), came by with their sons, Jeremy, Sean and Gabe. It was quite a Pedersen gab-fest on Sunday!

Adam and Samantha Pedersen spent their first Christmas as a married couple back in Virginia and had a wonderful holiday. On Christmas Eve, they got to watch Santa and his friends ski on the Potomac River and then they went to ice skate at the National Sculpture Garden--sounds like a special first Christmas.

Pete, Katie, Kyle, Blake, Tessa and Luke Sechler spent Christmas Eve at a friend's home enjoying all the Scandanavian treats and traditions of that family in Seattle and then on Christmas Day, they had Katie's folks, Fred and Sally Nollan, over for a stuffed pork roast dinner. A new cake recipe was tried out and made by their son Blake and the truffles were made by daughter Tessa, so the whole family got involved in fixing the holiday dinner.

Joan Evenson spent her holiday with her mom and two sisters on the Oregon coast and they had a wonderful time she said. The four days were spent playing games and catching up with the goings on of the year and playing with their dogs on the beach.

John, Sharon, Abby and Sara Buennagel enjoyed a nice Christmas Eve at John and Melissa Thompson's across the creek in Oregon and then a quieter Christmas Day at home, which was nice for them as there are usually about two dozen or more people there.

Don and Kitty Speranza had family members at their home for the holidays but I could tell by the pictures on Facebook that the star of the show was their first grandchild, little Luca; he's a cutie and there's nothing like that first Christmas with a little one in the house!

Here at the Chamberlains' we had three of the five kids here; Brandon (Deb), Lisa and Brian for a turkey dinner on Christmas Eve, which included way too much food and goodies, some provided by neighbors John and Nicole, Joan E. and also neighbors Vickie and Joan and friend Betsy, so we really wouldn't have needed to make anything ourselves! We also got a special treat when the voices of many children sang Christmas carols for us in both English and Russian. What a surprise that was and so very nice of our East Valley "neighbors" to come and do that; truly a special moment for those of us who had the 11 family members come to their house that night. Christmas Day was quiet here; sort of nice from all the usual hub-bub we have and so while I missed the younger kids laughing and playing, I didn't miss the work, as my knee seemed to be in revolt this year and was happy to have a break. We hope to go gung-ho next year!

GET WELL--During this last month of 2010, a few of our local folks found themselves in the hospital for one thing or another and we hope that our little neighbors Bailey M. and Abygail K. are feeling much better by now. Our friend, Mary Gustafson found herself in the hospital as well. I'm thinking she didn't want to cook anymore and was looking for an excuse, but hey, I could be wrong! Sorry Mary, hope you feel better real soon! We were happy to see that Judy Garrison was in and out of the hospital as well and we hope she continues to feel better. Gary Huber found himself in the hospital this week, so we hope he's feeling better and out of the hospital by the time this goes to print.

There seem to have been a lot of grown ups and kids with respiratory problems, earaches, runny noses and generally not feeling good symptoms lately, so if you can possibly stay home, please do so, as we don't need to spread this "bug" around anymore than it already is. Holidays are bad for that, but now that Christmas is over, hopefully we can all stay in for a bit and keep our germs to ourselves. Of course we do have some New Year's parties going on, but if you're not feeling well, we would urge you to forego any big gatherings this year; the gift of a cold or the flu is not one anyone wants to receive as they begin the new year.

LET 2011 BEGIN-- "Happy New Year to one and all." We will count our blessings for the good things that happened in 2010 and hope that 2011 is better, as it was a pretty rough year for many folks and I can see a lot of room for improvement.

Please keep a few things in mind as this year begins; the Fair Board will host their annual Valentine Diamond dinner on February 12 at the Skamokawa Grange Hall. The Dollars for Scholars Association will have their sturgeon derby/car show at the grange and fairgrounds on June 4. The crab feeds in March are always great fun. The Hosanna Musicale will be held at the Skamokawa Methodist Church in the Spring. If you want to participate in that, let them know as more singers are always welcome. On the last weekend in June the Skamokawa Grangers will host the "Follies," a three day musical revue which involves a lot of talented folks in our area to help benefit the grange hall. If you are interested in being a performer, give a call to Sunrise Fletcher at 795-8770 or Adele Swift at 795-8043. Then we have our Bald Eagle Days in Cathlamet in mid-July, our Wahkiakum County Fair during the third week of August; volunteers are always needed there, and the Friends of Skamokawa hold their annual Wine Tasting and Auction on the second Saturday of September at the Skamokawa Grange Hall. We hope you'll remember these special events and plan accordingly for all of them. They are all terrific events and vital fund raisers for the various groups doing good works in our county.

This is but a handful of things going on, so keep your eyes open for more news about coming events and you're welcome to give me a call and tell me about whatever fund raiser or event you have coming up and we'll spread the word. We have many good people doing good works, so we hope you'll support their efforts.

Have a very happy New Year, everybody!