Happy New Year to all. I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season. It was different, more quiet and low-key than usual, of course, but we still managed to make the best of it. One of the highlights of our Christmas was a family trivia night that my sister and her family organized for my Schock aunts, uncles and cousins on Zoom over the holidays.
While I’d much rather have been skating on the river at Sand Point and enjoying dinner with everyone it was still great to see their faces virtually. I hope . . .
by next Christmas, we can restore our normal traditions and gather once again. Congratulations to little cousin Brody Platt for winning the trivia night.
Another big holiday highlight for me came on Christmas Eve. I entered a Christmas Wine Lottery that my cousin Brandon and his wife Meghan organized which ran the whole month of December.
The final four names were drawn on Christmas Eve and I was the big winner! I still can’t believe it. Brandon and Meghan then delivered over 50 bottles of wine to my door. It was a very Merry Christmas indeed. Congratulations to all of the other winners as Stacey Kearns, Steve McKnight and Glen Leach also received wine to enjoy over the holidays. It was a fun way to connect during a month when normal parties were not permitted.
Congratulations to Morgan (Scully) and Brandon Fenton on the safe arrival of their baby boy on Dec. 28. They named him Lewis-James Urban and he is a little brother for Aurora. Best wishes to the whole family.
Belated birthday wishes are going out to another former Quyon boy, Fran Murdock as he turned 80 on Jan. 4. We also have birthday wishes going out to Kyle Stanley on Jan. 6 and to Evan Prest on Jan. 7. Happy days to everyone celebrating this week.
While we didn’t have much snow over the holidays to get out snowshoeing, skiing or sliding it was great to see that several local rinks opened just in time for the New Year. Over the past several months the Beechgrove Rink has been restored. It is so nice to see it up and running again thanks to the efforts made by Mountainview Turf and many local volunteers and donors. The rink in Quyon also opened to the delight of the kids in town. It is great for mental health to get out and enjoy some fresh air during these lockdowns.
I have a personal goal of getting out to walk and be more active this year.
Here’s to hoping for a much better year ahead for all of us. Happy 2021.
