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When we put our Gift Guide out a week ago or so, we failed to realize something.  Those of you who get the Press do not get the Search.  Thus eliminating a good amount of you whose children enter our coloring contest. We apologize and would like to announce that on the following page we have included the same coloring page for all of those who missed it a week ago.  We hope your children get enjoyment out of coloring and hope you submit it to the Press before December 20.  There will be prizes awarded and if chosen, your child will get their picture taken and it will run in the following week’s edition of the Chisago County Press.

Speaking of the Press and Search:  if you are a fan of Brink’s Market and let’s be honest, who isn’t, we have some news about the upcoming flyer.  Brink’s ad (the one in this Press and the upcoming Search) will be a two week ad.  That means they will not be putting another ad out before Christmas.  The sales in this ad will be valid for two weeks. So hold onto your ad because it’s good for two weeks.

Another local business that deserves a little space is our local Winehaven.  They just won five — yes five — gold medals in the International Wine Competition in San Fransisco last week.  Their strawberry rhubarb wine won a double gold — and it happens to be our favorite.  We will have a nice story along with a picture in next week’s Press.  Congratulations Peterson’s!

This Press features our winter sports preview.  Our sports editor Jeff Norton and Chuck Fitzer have compiled articles about your local high school sports teams and their upcoming seasons.  We have some great athletes coming through school right now with some interesting stories.  We hope you enjoy the section and really hope you get out this winter and support our local teams.

The Chisago Lakes Tourism Bureau along with the Chisago Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and the Friends of the Karl Oskar House invite you on December 12 to a showing of The Emigrants.  It is a movie about our beloved Karl and Kristina Oskar.  After finally arriving at the town of Stillwater, the group  finds their way to Anders' farm in what is now known as the Chisago Lakes area. He just lives in a wooden shack, but the land is fertile, and Danjel and Jonas Petter choose fine tracts of farmland nearby. Karl Oskar, however, heads deep into the woods to explore the lands along the shore of Lake Ki Chi Saga that he hears are even better.

Upon his arrival, he finds the topsoil to be of excellent quality and stakes a claim to the land for himself and Kristina and their family by carving his name into a tree overlooking the lake.

The film is being shown at the PAC Center at the high school from 2-5pm.  Keep in mind this is part one of a two part showing of the film.  Part two showing dates will be presented soon.  The movie is free but donations are welcome.

Now that most of the tree lighting festivals are over and done with, I would like to thank those towns and people who worked so hard to make them enjoyable for us all.  I had the pleasure of attending three of them and had a fabulous time at all of them. I love our community and the people who make it tick.

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