Merry Christmas to one and all

BEEN DRY--While we have been cold, had some drizzle and quite a bit of fog, we haven't had the pouring rains that have plagued us in the past during the month of December and that has been great! While I was a bit concerned about freezing up, at least I haven't worried about flooding as much, so it's made the holiday season a little less stressful when you don't have to have all those concerns. As I wrap this up on this Tuesday morning, we've got some showers, but so far nothing to make me think I'm going to be cancelling Christmas Eve dinner, so hoorah for the weather. We've finally caught a break!

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from December 22-28 are Christina Helms, Garrett McClain, John Hoven Jr., Coral Linquist, Michele Smith, Kyla Gribskov, Lorraine McNally, Lee Tischer, Don Cooper, Nancy McCoy, Linda Price, Ron Clement and Toby Bell. Happy Anniversary wishes go out to Mr. and Mrs. Danny Eaton, Mr. and Mrs. Orville Lindsey, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Stanley and Mr. and Mrs. Pat Thacker. Enjoy your special days everybody!

POST OFFICE UPDATE--For now we have a little stay in the decision to close our post office, but don't think we can sit idly by and do nothing. We need to be sure and see to it that our Washington senators know we are not happy about this and make them do like the Oregon senators are doing and press to keep these rural post offices here. So, as soon as all the holiday hoopla is over, be ready to go round two to save our post office!

DOES GOOD--Keith Lawrence, a former Cathlamet resident and WA-KI-HI alumni and fellow '67'er, was the recipient of the Larry H. Fehr Director of the Year Award for Pioneer Human Services, a huge honor. So, we offer him our congratulations for all his good works. Keith's wife Karen was just bursting at the seams with pride as she spread the word of Keith's achievement and we don't blame her, as Keith is a great guy who truly deserves this recognition.

MARINE--Donna (Healy) and Glenn Palmer are the grandparents of Kevin Palmer, who is the son of Larri and Sally Palmer and they all just received the good news, that Kevin was chosen as the Marine of the Quarter, Headquarters Co., Marine Corps Security Force Regiment. This is quite an honor out of all those marines, so naturally his parents and grandparents and the rest of his relatives, are very proud of him!

GREAT PERFORMANCE--Skamokawa musician, Greg Parke was well received at his recent Christmas concert at the Pioneer Church in Cathlamet and thoroughly enjoyed seeing a lot of people that he hadn't seen in a long time. Greg is a multi-talented performer and his fans were happy to have him entertain them this past weekend, as his music was sure to put everyone in the holiday spirit.

BAD FALL--Former Puget Island resident and also 67'er, Greg Lloyd, told me that his sister Sharon Lloyd Ackerman recently took a very bad fall and broke her leg in three places! He says it will be 16 weeks before she can put any weight on it and then be in rehab facility for probably eight weeks. Needless to say, we are sending our best get well wishes and lots of prayers in her behalf.

NOT MUCH TIME--If you've still got some Christmas cards at your house, I hope you'll think about signing them and taking them up to the Columbia View Nursing Home in the next day or two, as those folks would surely appreciate it and you'd get that smile in your heart feeling for doing it. Like I said, the count down is on, so you'll have to hurry a bit, but it would be worth it.

FIREWORKS--Starting December 28, the Wahkiakum Lions Club will be selling fireworks to celebrate the ringing in of the New Year, so contact Mike Backman for further information about that. 360-431-4421.

NEW YEAR'S BASH--The Wahkiakum 4-H Club and the Lions Club will be sponsoring a fun New Year's Eve bash up at the multi-purpose room at the grade school and they'll have all kinds of games and hope you'll bring your own board/card games too, and take part in the fun. This is an event for all ages and you're all encouraged to come and join in from 6 p.m. to midnight. The evening starts off with a spaghetti feed and the fun goes on from there. Admission is $5 but for every can of food you bring, you get a dollar off, so that's a good deal and all the food will go to a local food bank, so a win, win situation there! Help is always needed at these type of things, from food servers to game coordinators to snack makers or providers, so contact Carrie or Mike Backman and let them know how you can help out! 431-4421.

GRANGE RENTAL--The Skamokawa Grange Hall is available for rent and is handicap accessible with a nice ramp alongside the building. If you'd like to rent the building, then you should contact Kitty Speranza at 795-0585 at the Inn at Crippen Creek, or you can call Jessica Fletcher, 795-8770 at the Inn at Lucky Mud.

VALENTINE DINNER--Ah, there's nothing like filet mignon and diamonds to bring people together! The Wahkiakum Fair Board is having their annual Valentine Diamond Dinner at the Skamokawa Grange Hall on February 11 and tickets are $25, same as last year, so we hope you'll come out and show your support for the fair once again, and just maybe win yourself a diamond necklace. Your dinner ticket also comes with one ticket for the necklace and then you can purchase more. Having been the winner of one of those necklaces, I can tell you, they are very nice! There will be other items to win as well and live music for your entertainment, so this will be another fun filled evening at the hall. We hope to see you there. If you'd like to donate a basket or gift of some kind to the fair to give away as a gift, or maybe help serve, please contact Becky Ledtke, who can be reached by leaving a message on the fair phone at 795-3480.

PEDERSEN/EVEREST--While the Skamokawa Grange Hall was decked out in all its holiday glory, the Pedersen/Everest families opted to get together for a little holiday gathering, and for a change, the party didn't have to be cancelled due to freezing or flooding, so that was a huge relief to hosts Kay and Bill Chamberlain. As the food kept pouring in, along with more bodies, it was a good thing that they used the hall, as six tables were covered with food and nine tables had people seated at them, so there was no way all that was going to fit in the Chamberlain house! It was great to have cousin Gene Healy take over the carving duties and in no time he had a turkey and ham sliced up for folks to eat, and his sister Donna Palmer had come early and helped get things ready to go for the group and they all helped clean up, so they were a huge help. All six of Kay's grandkids were there, which was the first time in two years that they'd all been under one roof, so that was nice and as half of them had grown a foot, it was another reason to use the grange hall! Twenty-seven people is just too many for one small house!

Representing the Krist and Carol (Everest) Pedersen family were Frank and Carolyn Pedersen and their daughter Cindi and Jeff Nicol, and Kay (Pedersen) and Bill Chamberlain and sons Brandon, Pete (Katie) and children Kyle, Blake, Tessa and Luke Sechler and Brian (Kelly) and Austin and Bryce Good. The Peder Pedersen family was represented by Art Pedersen and daughter, Naomi with Patrick and Tylor, and Sherry Stewart and daughter, Andrea. The Everest family was also represented by Gene (Karen) Healy and Donna (Glenn) Palmer, whose mother was Marian (Everest, Healy) Vik. The hours went by quickly and it wasn't long before everyone headed out to more holiday parties, birthday parties and home. As Grandma Elsie Everest would say, "And a good time was had by all!"

THIS IS IT--Yes, indeed, the year has gone by very quickly and we find ourselves consumed with Christmas activities right now, and I do hope you have been able to meet up with your friends and loved ones over this time like I did and enjoy these special times that make for terrific memories later on. It's Christmas Eve this Saturday and Christmas Day on Sunday, so whichever you celebrate, and whatever you do, we hope you have a very Merry Christmas!