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There is an unbelievable charitable drive happening right now in our back yard. The Masons who are part of the Hiram Lodge #287, have partnered with the Minnesota Masonic Charities to help raise finds for the local food shelf.

From now until March 1, for every dollar donated to the Family Pathways Food Shelf, through the Hiram Lodge, the Minnesota Masons will match that dollar with two of their own. That's right, they are doubling your donation. Seems too good to be true right? It's not.

The best part is it's so simple to do. All you have to do is write a check payable to Family Pathways-Lindstrom Food Shelf with MN Masonic Charities Match in the memo. Send the check to Hiram Lodge #287 Attn: Matching Funds, PO Box 681, Lindstrom, MN 55045. We have the opportunity to raise an awful lot of money without breaking our own bank at the same time. It is a really great opportunity here folks.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas this year. At the Silver house, as many of you do, we decided to not have the adults exchange presents. Let me first say, wow. What a relief to your pocketbook to not have to purchase 10 Christmas gifts. Christmas was a snap this year. We had our two children, and two nieces to buy for and that was it. I wasn't sure how it would feel not opening presents myself, but you know what? It was great. I had so much fun watching the kids' faces as they opened theirs that I never even thought about presents for me. I wish we would have done this sooner.

This weekend is New Year's Eve. That means people will be out enjoying the night with friends and family. If you are like us, you would rather have a nice dinner out and then head to the safe confines of home to play games and wait for the ball to drop. I will be honest with you, I am old. I haven't seen that crystal ball drop in probably nine years. I'm usually two hours into a restful night's sleep by then. Although as the kids get older, they want to stay up later and later.

If you are looking for a great night out, please look no further than our area. We have some amazing restaurants that would love nothing more than to treat you and your family and friends to a great night out. Most restaurants are offering a New Year's Special, so you know your dinner will be great.

Parties will be a plenty this weekend, and with that comes alcohol. I am not saying everyone parties it up on New Year's Eve, but come on, you know the majority do. If you are planning on attending a New Year's party, please have a plan. Make sure you have a designated driver or at the very least, have somewhere you can stay. You have to ask yourself, is it worth getting a DWI just to have a little fun with your friends?  Is it worth being in the obituary section of this paper just for a night of partying? Please have fun, but be safe.

If you have yet to check out our new Search Shopper website, I would encourage you to look into it. It is simple, just go onto our website chisagocountypress.com and click on "This week's Search Shopper" tile. There you will find a full version of our latest Search Shopper. The really neat thing about the site is if you were to click on an individual ad, it would pop up and you could print just that ad. Another really cool feature is when you are clicked on an individual advertisement, and you would like to visit their website, all you have to do is click on the website and poof it will bring you to their website.

I for one am ready for a real winter. Okay, I will concede that below zero temps are the pits, but no snow and in the forties? Come on. There are a lot of businesses that rely on snow for their livelyhood. I say bring on the white stuff.

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