Photo by Betty Lee Dahms Pictured are (l-r) the Mayor of Whooville, the Grinch, Gladbrook Corn Cob Queen Jackie Stephenson, and Santa Claus, who all attended Gladbrook’s 20th Annual Tree Lighting Festivities, “Welcome to Whooville”, on Wednesday, November 30.

Thanksgiving is over and we made it to the first full week of December before we got snow. Wasn’t it pretty outside Sunday morning with fresh snow coming down. I know there are some Scrooges out there that will say Sash is crazy if he thinks that snow is pretty but I bet they all smiled when they first looked out the window Sunday morning. If not, at least the little kids liked it. With this time of the years we have a lot to be thankful for. First of all this beautiful snow is supposed to melt in the next couple of days before getting really cold and windy. Next we all got through the food at Thanksgiving and got to see family and friends. Now comes the Christmas Season with all the parties, kids programs and church services. We need to be thankful for all the volunteers who do extra this time of the year. I’m going to mention just a few. First off, all the ladies who make the big meals at our churches and at Senior Citizens dinners, especially the pies. Next the Commercial Club Committee who organized the Tree Lighting on November 30. This was the biggest crowd ever. Everyone enjoyed the night with Santa and the Grinch and with hot dogs for everyone and also a lot of prizes given out by our local merchants. Thank you to Darrell and Jeanne Paustian and Mark and Linda Goos for putting up the big tree on Main St. and thanks to Keith and Shelly Smith for donating it. Also a big thank you goes to the GR chorus for helping with the Christmas carols. I would also like to thank our local EMT’s for all the hours they put in day or night and in all kinds of weather. I know the Fire Department had four fire calls a week ago Sunday and had another this week with the Wentzien building on Main St. where they put in a lot of hours in the middle of the night and the following night as well as they were called back on that one. The Ambulance Squad had had as many or more call than that. I have talked about how great it is to hear the sirens and to know these people are on their way to help us in time of need. This last Friday night, Richard and June Klinefelter and Jo and I were working at the theatre concession stand. We had a large crowd for the movie which happened to be Trolls, a kid’s movie. We sold a lot of popcorn and candy. The movie had just gotten started and we got a chance to sit down when the smoke alarm went off. (I think maybe Richard burned the popcorn.) This makes you jump into action not knowing if you have a fire or where it is. The alarm in the lobby was making a lot of noise along with the strob lights flashing. Richard and I started looking for smoke both upstairs and around on the main floor. Seeing nothing, I grabbed a chair so I could reach the alarm and shut it off. We were both trying to find the control but with little success. Once again we were fortunate enough to have three firemen in the theatre. Jeremy Harms cane out and asked if we needed help. He quickly went to the master alarm box and shut the alarm off. Then he gave both Richard and I directions on how to handle the alarms. Our next volunteers to thank will take place Saturday, December 10 which is the Lions Club Soup Day with the proceeds going to Tate Koester’s family to help with some of his medical expenses. This will be a community wide volunteer effort and along with the Lutheran Thrivant we hope to raise a lot of money. Everyone come and enjoy good soup, hot dogs and pie. There will be a Farmers Market and 4-H Cookie Walk going on and at the same time the Kids Shopping Day will be happening at the Peace Church with another bunch of volunteers. I know I missed a lot of other volunteers who put in many hours this year in keeping Gladbrook a great place to Live and Grow. Thank you to each and every one of you. Jo and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas.

Keith Sash, Mayor PS Congratulations to Bill and Doris Tessau who celebrated their 74th wedding anniversary last week.