Just My Opinion - By Mary Kilen
Merry Christmas!
As I write my column on Sunday, Christmas is just a few days away and I have successfully gotten the first week of early turnaround done for the paper. The pressure of holiday deadlines has had me feeling like there’s more on my plate than usual.
With Christmas and New Year’s Day falling on Wednesdays, we set our holiday deadlines. We will upload the papers on Mondays both weeks, so we are scrambling a bit.
I love Wednesday holidays said no weekly newspaper editor ever. I’m not going to lie, I’m looking forward to Friday holidays next year. A friend of mine pointed out how many holidays will be falling on Friday this coming year. That will be great for families. Midweek holidays make it a challenge for most people as they try to figure out their schedules to celebrate with family and friends.
This old Facebook post remains true. It read, “That space between Christmas and New Years where you don’t know what day it is, who you are or what you’re supposed to be doing. Yeah, I’m there.” I’m pretty sure that is how it will be for me for the next week and a half.
The challenge is one I’ve faced multiple times before. Turning a paper around in shorter time puts a lot of pressure on us, but we always seem to find a way to get it done. I think it is because I’m blessed with great staff and cooperative advertisers, columnists and all of the other people that send or bring us things to put in the paper. They not only work hard to make sure they meet the deadlines. They are also very understanding if things come in too late to go in the paper.
Next week will be more of a challenge for me because we will celebrate Christmas over the weekend with Amanda, Zach and the kids. That means I’m going to try and get things done even quicker at the office.
This week, I spent time writing on Saturday and Sunday and put the pages together on Sunday afternoon. I’m hoping I can get things done a little quicker this week, but with the holiday on Wednesday, I guess we’ll see how that works for me. The bright point is that I can use most of Monday and part of Tuesday to try and get a chunk of my work done.
All copy and advertising for the January 1 issue will need to be in our office no later than Friday, Dec. 27 as we run the quick turnaround again.
Meanwhile, it is almost Christmas. I love this time of year. My house looks so festive outside thanks to Dale’s hard work. The tree is decorated. Presents are wrapped and under the tree.
As we prepare for the holidays, the food and the celebration, I wish all of our readers a very Merry Christmas. May your hearts be full of the true reason for the season. May you be surrounded by love and happiness. May the peace of this joyous season envelope you and grant you joy.
Here’s One To Make You Smile
As I was looking at Facebook on Saturday, one of my friends shared the following and it made my laugh.
The post shows an officer beside a car door and read as follows:
A state trooper had a perfect spot to watch for speeders, but wasn’t getting any. Then he discovered the problem. A 12 year old boy was standing up the road with a hand printed sign which read “Radar Trap Ahead”. The officer also found the boy’s friend down the road with a sign that read “TIPS” and a bucket full of money. (And we used to sell lemonade.)