Get those letters mailed to Santa

BRR--If you've been in our area, you will have noticed a ton of rain, and then, a big cool down and even some flakes of snow! Actually, enough snow to make it nice and white! I heard from a classmate who lives in Everett and he said it was snowing there on Sunday, so I was afraid we might get some when I saw those clouds rolling in on Sunday afternoon and the temperatures dropping lower and lower, so I guess it was no surprise. Still, more is predicted for the latter part of this week for several days with freezing temperatures to boot, so get prepared. We can hope they're wrong, but it's best to be prepared for the worst, while hoping for the best! Beings I'm just starting to feel good after a couple of weeks of enduring one bug or another, I'd sure like it to be wrong, so I can get out and about!

As a reminder, one area can be very different than another in our neck of the woods, so while you may not have snow or icy condtions at your house, you just have to travel a few miles one way or another to find that things can be very nasty. We already had a rollover accident on KM this Monday morning, so please be extremely careful if you must be out and about!

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from Dec. 8-14 are Carol McClain, Seth Kuljis, Jai Snow, Elaine Lindsey, Tom Bosch, Kitty Speranza, Cristina Luthi, Meg Wright, Collin Parker, Ian Anderson, Tyler Johnson, Ron Hendrickson, Todd Souvenir, Julie Doumit, Amy Prestegard, Derek West, James Robinson, Kathy Hanigan, Jim Webb, Tracie Souvenir, Sam Patching, Julie Burdick, Sandy Bergseng and Joyce Cothren.

Happy Anniversary wishes to George and Judy Wilde, Mr. and Mrs. Gary Backman and Nick and Martie Vavoudis. Enjoy your celebrations everybody!

CHANGES--Speaking of birthdays and annniversaries and lists, I do hope you'll think about putting your names and special occasions on the Lions Club calendars for next year. You can probably still get a calendar for this coming year by contacting a Lions Club person, like Carol McClain or Rene Robert, which helps support the Lions Club, and they make great gifts. However, if you're not on there already, give them a jingle and ask them to put your special days on there for the following year. This is a good time to add those newly married couples, new babies or grandbabies, and remember, if any of your dates are incorrect or are no longer valid, please contact the WLC people with your request to remove or change your listings.

DEADLINE IS TODAY--You don't have much time to enter a tree into the Festival of Trees at the Bank of the Pacific, but you do have today, Dec. 8, to get one in there, so hurry and get that entry in if you want to show off your creation and get those bidders, bidding! There's a holiday decorating contest too, with a silent auction happening with centerpieces, wreaths and more. You have until Dec. 16 to bid on your favorites, so don't delay! Check at the Bank or the Chamber for the full details of this annual event.

SANTA LETTERS--One other item that parents need to check into right away, are how to get those letters from their children to Santa Claus at the North Pole and back again, so if you're interested, check out the U.S. Postal Service Letters from Santa Program. Go online or go to your local post office and they'll tell you how to make sure your kids get a note back from the North Pole! However, with lots of expected letters going up there, time is ticking away so do this ASAP.

ALSO--You can also put your Santa wishes in a letter and have them published in this paper, so contact them about how to go about getting your little one's letter included. Now, with the days flying by so fast, and you don't have time to make out or mail a bunch of Christmas cards, well, why not put an ad in The Eagle at a very reasonable price and send your Christmas wishes to everybody that way? A great way to spread some joy and help our local business at the same time. I know I have my Christmas ad ordered already, so call them today at 795-3391 and Kathi or Geri will get that all set up for you; lots of sizes and styles to choose from!

FREE FRIDAY MOVIES.--If you like animated "fish stories," you're going to love the show that's playing at the Community Center in Cathlamet this Friday night, and the kids will just love it! Actually, I liked it too, as there's nothing like bright colors and talking animals to cheer somebody up! All movies start at 7 p.m., and all children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. (At the Grays River Valley Center, there are movies on Saturdays.)

LOCAL ARTIST--One of our talented glassblowers, Treasure Collupy will have a showing of his wonderful creations this coming Friday and Saturday in the lobby of the Hotel Cathlamet from 10 to 5 p.m., so you might just want to check out his things; another opportunity for a unique gift for someone special or to treat yourself to a fabulous work of art!

GOOD START--Congratulations to the Mules boys basketball team, as they started out their season with a win over Naselle last week. Good job! They will have played South Bend this past Monday night, and Winlock on Tuesday, at home, weather permitting and so I hope those games went well, but I have no way of knowing this early. They are scheduled to play Toledo at home tonight, Thursday, Dec. 8, and another game at home on Saturday, Dec. 10 against Naselle. They'll be away next Tuesday, Dec. 13 when they play at Toutle Lake and back home next Thursday, Dec. 15 against Kalama. That's seven games in 15 days. Wow, that's a lot!

The Lady Mules play their first three games away, when they play Winlock on Dec. 7, Toledo on Dec. 9 and Toutle Lake on Dec. 14. Go Mules!

LAST WEEKEND--I hope you've gotten a chance to get up to Redmen Hall to take a look at all their wonderful homemade crafts and things, as this next four days will be the last chance you get to purchase some of these unique items. The hall is open from Thursday through Sunday, noon to four, so stop by before they close for the winter. There's nothing like receiving a wonderful, hand crafted gift by a local artisan, so whether it's a picture, photograph, scarf, jam, soaps, candles, jewelry or wooden cutting board or spoon, it's all very special. There are many books by local authors as well, so for your book lover, that's a great gift too. There are many things in the Gift/Book Shop on the first floor and even more things up in the River Life Interpretive Center on the second floor, so check them out. You'll be glad you did!

REMINDER--The Grays River Grange #124 will hold their annual Christmas party this coming Tuesday, Dec. 13, and you're all invited to attend. This is a potluck affair with singing and storytelling and gift exchanges, and it's all taking place at the Grays River Grange at 6:30 pm. Don't miss it!

SYMPATHIES--I'd like to extend our condolences to the family of Terry Irving, as his daughter, Rhonda Heiner told us that he passed away on Nov. 29. If you'd like to send his wife, Juanita a note or card, you can mail it to 17115 Wilson Way in Royal Oaks, CA 95076. We have just suffered so many losses recently and we don't like to see that any time, but around the holidays, it just seems to make things even worse. Again, our sympathies to the family.

GET WELL--There are more folks who have had health issues lately, so I'm giving a shout out to Laurie Miller, and sending her some "get well" wishes as she deals with a "bug," and to Larry Fancher, who recently had to undergo some surgery, and to Ron Leingang, who has been battling with various health condtions. My grandson, Luke Sechler, also had to have some painful surgery, but he's on the mend now, so we wish him continued healing during his recuperation time. Also, I was so sorry to hear that Dolly Hartley, mother of former resident, Sharon Buennagel, took a fall at Wal-Mart on Sunday and has a severely broken arm it sounds like, so we want to send her some extra hugs and well wishes as she recovers from that.

With winter weather and icy conditions ahead, we all need to be super careful about slipping and falling, and we "old folks" need to be even more careful, so take some extra time and extra precautions and be safe my friends!

THANKFUL--I truly love small communities when it comes to folks who are so kind and generous during difficult times. Our family just experienced a great loss when my brother, Ralph Pedersen suddenly passed away, and I just really appreciated hearing from everybody and getting cards and flowers as well. My sister-in-law, Peggy and her boys, Tim and Mark, sure appreciated the food and visits too, so kudos to everyone who has been making this sad and difficult time a little easier. In case you didn't see it in my column last week, we did have a private service for Ralph already, but we will do a celebration of life service after the holidays on January 21, from 1 to 4 at the Norse Hall, so we'd love to have you come and see us all then. Some have asked where they could send a card, so if you'd like to send one to Peg now, rather than wait until then, you can mail it to P.O. Box 674 in Cathlamet, 98612. Thanks again everybody!