A little bit of everything

The days are flying by and 2018 is slowly coming to a close. In two weeks we celebrate Christmas and the following week we will welcome in 2019. It has been a whirlwind year here at the newspaper and in my life in general and I am sure many of you feel the same way.
In ways it has been a very long year as well which has reminded me that not everyone is always jolly during the holiday season. Sometimes we have things happen in our personal lives that makes it hard to put a smile on for all of the gatherings many of us are expected to attend each year. Some of us are experiencing a personal loss, others are experiencing a broken relationship and some are just at a spot financially that makes it hard to enjoy the season or are unable to make it home for the holidays.
For anyone out there struggling this holiday season I hope you find something to make you smile. Maybe it will just be the little things like hearing the laughter of children in your neighborhood over the school break or maybe you will find an unexpected treasure in the form of a "family" made up of friends if you are far from your own family this year. Whatever it is that helps bring that smile to your face I hope you hold onto it through the new year that is quickly approaching.
This week our staff would like to welcome our new part time reporter to the Mountain Home News family. Amber Simon is a transplant from Louisiana who originally came here through ties to the Air Force, but has now been here for ten years and plans to make this her families permanent home. She and her husband are raising three kids in the community and for many of you who attend town events she might already be a familiar face as they are quite active in the community. I for one, am extremely excited to have someone in the editorial world with me and am so glad it is someone who has a deep interest in what happens in our town. If you see her out and about with her camera and notebook (we are sometimes hard to miss) please feel free to say hi and welcome her to our weekly publication. Welcome to the Mountain Home News Amber, we are excited to have you.
I hope everyone enjoys this week's paper. It is our annual "Letters to Santa" issue and has always been one of my favorites. Pages eight and nine are filled with letters from local children to the big man himself. They are unedited and unfiltered just like the children themselves. Somewhat surprisingly they are not all just a list of the coolest toys and many of them are more interested in knowing more about Santa Claus himself or in making sure their loved ones receive something special. Some might even make you a little teary eyed. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoyed putting them together.
I would also like to take the time to beg and plead with our readers to send in a holiday tradition recipe. Everyone has really seemed to like the idea of featuring a recipe every week, but we have a hard time getting people to submit recipes. I don't want to give up on the idea yet, so I am really hoping that this idea will start picking up steam. There has to be something your family does during the holidays that is unique to you or to the region you are originally from, care to share those with us? Send them to editor@mountainhomenews.com.
As we all begin to make trips to family and friends houses over the next couple of weeks it looks like winter is officially coming upon us. I want to wish everyone safe travels in getting to your destinations and back home to us here in Elmore County.