Merry Christmas to you and your family, we are blessed in so many different ways

The Chamber of Commerce held its annual Christmas Gala Thursday. We try to move it around as much as possible, so this year the Gala was held at WineHaven's new entertainment venue. I (like many of you) have been by it many times and watched the construction of the beautiful building. This was the first time in the new building. Wow. Wow wow wow. What a gorgeous building the Peterson family has built. The place is amazing. It is quite large, but not huge. It is decorated beautifully with stone and detailed hard woods. The Gala was a huge success, we had almost 30 more attendees than we normally have. I think they wanted to see this place as well. We truly have a hidden gem in our area. This is just the beginning of some wonderful events held at WineHaven, I hope you get a chance to come out and see this gem.

Last week, we ran photos of the Lindstrom Lighting Festival. I was sitting in a gymnasium somewhere in middle Minnesota, so I was unable to attend. We failed to mention Bachman Photography, who supplied the wonderful photos for us. Rich and Shari Bachman have been friends of the Press as long as I can remember. They are constantly providing photos of events we can't make it to. We are so very thankful for Rich and Shari. They are a wonderful couple that runs a terrific business in Lindstrom.

As we approach Christmas, odds are the next time you will read the Press will be December 26. So I would like to take this time to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas. God has truly blessed us. If we wake up in the morning, it’s a blessing. If we encounter trouble in life, its a blessing. As much as we would like to blame someone for our trials in life, they all happen to strengthen us. Everyday that I am above ground is a good day. I thank God for everything this Christmas including you the readers. Even in times of turmoil, there is reason to rejoice.

Thank you for reading, thank you for advertising, and thank you for allowing us to put this paper out each and every week. I have had some people ask why they can’t get messages or pop-ups on their smartphones when using our app FindIt! I think I can help. If you happen to have an Iphone, you can simply go to settings, then to notifications, and then turn on notifiations for FindIt! If you have a droid phone, open the Google+ app, touch your menu button, press settings, and under account settings touch the FindIt account then touch notifications, you can choose sound or vibrate. The FindIt! app is gaining steam locally. We have many advertisers on board and many of them have reported smartphone users cashing in on FindIt! specials. I would highly recommend that you download the app on your phone. It offers specials that you won’t find anywhere else around. Look for one of our ads in this paper to scan the qr code and begin saving today!

As I write this, it appears that I did not win the lottery. I apologize but you will have to put up with me for a while longer.