I can tell you right off the bat this Canadian does not like the cold. I’m waiting for Wednesday when we are supposed to have a short breather from this cold snap we’re experiencing. I’m just glad the football game on Saturday was not totally miserable. Everyone around me was bundled up cozy. Fortunately the wind wasn’t blowing and it wasn’t raining. This made the entire evening reasonable. We would have forty-fived them before the half, but we let someone sneak through and score; so we had to wait for the first series of downs in the third quarter. Chance Bush was chosen Defensive Player of the Game and Denim Reeves was picked for Offensive Player of the Game. Great plays were made by Gunner Mann, Tra Williams, Patrick Phillips, Ty Mann, Ben Van Cleve, Corey Bessent, Danny Tillery, Chris Munoz, Thomas Fowler and Joe Avila. Nor can we forget all the other players on the JV squad that practiced and scrimmaged all season to help our teams get better. The entire team stayed focused and determined. They proved to everyone yet again that we are the team to beat. We have an awesome record of five state championships in recent years. That is totally fantastic! Our coaches know their trade and train these boys well, but the proof has to come from the boys themselves. This Saturday proved why our town is so proud of our young men. They played like champions and brought home the trophy for proof! Congratulations Coyotes.We had another 4/10th inch of rain Saturday and supposedly more to come. Every drop is a blessing. This is the last week before our Christmas break. The kids will be out around 1:00pm. I suspect many parents will pick them up right after lunch. I hope it is a nice day, because I intend to have an extended recess! We haven’t finished watching Hatari with John Wayne yet, so I guess we could do that. We will be working on research papers until Wednesday. All Indian tribal papers are due Wednesday and our dioramas are due Thursday. We have been working on this paper for the last three weeks and I think we are all tired of it. The students have enjoyed the research; it’s the papers they don’t like too much! We have two crafts to finish up as well.The baby shower for Khalid and Callie Khatib has been postponed until January 14th at 2:00pm in the Community Center. I’m sure Rhonda Wyatt is enjoying being a grandmother to baby Maddox Wyatt Khatib. Those grandbab-ies are precious. Callie Teel has safely delivered a lovely baby with a beautiful halo of dark hair. I don‘t have all the details, but I understand that Mom and baby are doing great.We’ve had to cancel our trip to Fort Polk. It seems Scott’s plans were changed and there will be no time after the graduating ceremony to visit with parents. He has a short layover in Houston, so perhaps our relatives there can hug his neck, and send him on his way loaded down with love and good wishes. His wife and children will get to hug on him for a week before he is off to foreign and unfriendly shores. Like many other military families they will live by prayer and determination until he returns. They will need the support of family, friends and the community to get through this period. Please remember your military family and neighbors at this time of the year. I watched the Fort Hood reunion of returning troops and family. It’s enough to turn your heart inside out!Please keep Bobbi Petty, Matt Martinez, a relative of Barry Fikes, Jane Hartsel, Vicki Overstreet’s mom, Woody Carroll, Alfred Garrett, Weldon Faught, Lucille Draper, June MacPherson, and Douglas Gibson in your prayers. All are facing either surgery or recovery periods. You might see Robert Lewis around town sporting a tremendous black eye and other facial signs of battle. He assures me the other guy looks worse. It seems Robert was out walking and tripped. He says he’s doing fine, but he sure looks as if he should hurt! Get well soon Robert.Please pray for our government, our President and our legislators. As I heard in church today, Paul wrote “thank God for his indescribable gift…Jesus.” That’s why Christians give gifts at Christmas; to return in some small measure the indescribable gifts that we have been given through Jesus. Thanks be to God for mercy, grace, love, forgiveness and peace. Please God protect our troops and their precious families and bless America.I