“I will always thank the Lord; I will never stop praising Him.” Psalm 34: 1

There were family Thanksgiving dinners in many homes last week. Some folks made reservations to dine at Prairie Pines. Friday, when we went to the 2:00 p.m. coffee hour at the Pines, there were some tasty pies and candies for the guests to enjoy while they visited. Teri Simmons-Castle had painted and decorated several exquisite pumpkins in pretty colors and messages topped with bows, lace, and on a glittery stem.

When I was sitting by Bobbi Wroblewski Thanksgiving Day, she had a phone call from her daughters who are in Australia. Linda’s job takes her all around the world to sports events where she prepares statistics such as the speed and direction of a golf ball or race cars which is televised. Cari flew from Phoenix, Arizona, where the sisters have homes and jobs. Cari is recovering from four major surgeries this year but is now doing fairly well, for which we are all so thankful. 

Lena Bohyer was feted with a birthday party at Prairie Pines last Tuesday where her three sons, all wearing black cowboy hats, seemed to really enjoy the multiple-choice questions about their mother. Cindy (Kelley) Newman wrote a story about this quiet little lady, formerly from Haswell, but mostly the Las Animas area, where she raised her sons and daughter, Nita Hess, now of Eads. Lena spent much of her life cleaning homes and working wherever she lived in southern Colorado.

Eads Middle School Students have been having many basketball games lately. The first high school basketball games will be in Eads Friday November 29.

During the Macy’s Parade, I saw an advertisement about the new trend of having “Friendsgiving” meals or recognition. What a good idea! It seems that this is especially meaningful to people in cities who do not have family near or cannot go home for holidays. So they “get together” for that family feeling. “Friendsgiving” reminded me of my two friends, Robin Musgrave and Mike Arth, who are such a blessing to me especially as helpers. 

Thursday, November 29 will be a busy evening with two important happenings at the same hour, 6:00 p.m. The FFA (Future Farmers of America) chapter will host a dinner in the gym and Hired Hand Auction, and at the Plains Theatre, the Sand Creek National Historic Site staff will have the third in a series of six events. This week, the program will be recalling the 154^th anniversary of the massacre. The speakers have been excellent. The leaders of the CLCEC group noted that there are many more people from the community who are attending these programs. 

A number of relatives of Ruthanna Jacobs went to the Weisbrod Extended Care Unit to her 89^th birthday party last Friday. Her niece, Karen Krueger, brought her mother, Hazel Krueger, and Whitley Specht. Ruthanna’s niece, Debi and Fred Derby and grandson, Gabe came to visit as well as Lougene Jacobs. Her nephew, James and Yoshi Jacobs, from California also sat around the big square of tables that Tanya Lane had arranged for guests and residents to have chocolate cake and chocolate chip ice cream. Several of James’ classmates and friends also came for the party. 

Thursday evening was the time for drawing the winning names of people who won in the Prairie Pines fundraiser. Next Friday, the Chamber of Commerce will announce the first of four drawings on the coming Fridays before Christmas of $75.00. People who buy $5.00 or more of merchandise at the Chamber member stores can put a ticket in the Chamber Christmas can. Another drawing next month will be for the huge Santa stocking in the window given by the Pepsi Company in the Crow’s Stop and Shop store. Jennifer says that when a person buys $30.00 or more of merchandise, they can put a ticket in the drawing.

Small Business Saturday just keeps getting better and better in our town. A lot of people were out walking or driving to the stores. We liked those good foods offered to eat and drink in Crow’s store. When we went to the HealthMart, there were lots of shoppers filling their baskets to get 10 percent discounts. If you shopped on Friday, they gave shoppers a Black Friday discount of 25 percent. Charlie and Mary Vasquez had lines of people waiting to buy a variety of Mexican foods for carry outs. I saw some rancher’s wives who drove all the way into town for carry out meals to their ranch crew who were weaning calves. One of those wives was Dawn James, who told me that her husband was doing well after a mishap with a horse. But you know Louis: he is back in the saddle again.

We learned more about the wonderful radio device called, “Alexa” at Plains Network Services, where Jeannie Sorensen has lots of electronics for sale, as well as office supplies. The NAPA store had discounts and good popcorn also. We went to the matinee, “Indivisible” movie which was heart touching and brought tears to me because this faith-based movie deals with the present war. We didn’t get to the Home Town Grill or JJ’s restaurant for their food specials. In Demitasse one could see Chelsea and her baby girl. This day was such a pleasure. Let us remember to “shop local” everyday!