This newsletter will be sliding into your inbox on Christmas morning, a time for being with family, opening presents and lounging around with a big cup of coffee and my favorite Blue Mountain Eagle special section of the year: Santa, You’ve Got Mail. 

Our annual compilation of letters to Santa Claus from Grant County schoolchildren checks a lot of boxes for me. It involves all of our schools. It has great participation from kids. And it engages with a slew of local businesses.

But most of all, it’s just plain heartwarming. 

I love it when the kindergartners list all the ways they have been nice (“I have helped my mom with the baby cows”; “I hug my friends when they are sad”). I also love it when they decide to come clean and take their chances  (“I have been a little bit nice and naughty”; “I think you are not real and I think it’s mom buying the presents”).

I love their wish lists (“I would like a fly fishing pole, tomahawks, throwing knives and a healthy family”‘; “This year please could I have a real pony that is rainbow colored?”; “I would like the sourest gum in the world”).

I also love the questions they ask (“Did your reindeer run over a grandma?”; “Can you come visit sometime?”; “Who is your enemy?”).

Seriously, I look forward to this thing all year. Thanks to all the teachers who got their students to write letters to Santa and collected them for us. Thanks to all the kids who entrusted us to make their wishes known to the Big Guy Up North. Thanks to all the kids who put their artistic skills to work for the Christmas ad contest (and especially a certain young gentleman who drew the Blue Mountain Eagle ad!). Thanks to all the local businesses who sponsored this 22-page special section by paying to have their ads published. Thanks to our advertising consultant, Kim Kell, for wrangling all the ads and organizing the contest judging. And thanks to our office manager, Alix Hand, for typing all those letters while preserving the charmingly creative spelling of the originals.

And to everyone reading this newsletter: Merry Christmas and happy holidays from all of us at the Blue Mountain Eagle!

———

In case you missed it, last week’s edition featured stories about the new owner of Station 62, the 13-Mile Shootout, a Christmas party at Blue Mountain Care Center, how navigation apps are getting some drivers stuck in the snow, and the headline entertainment act for next year’s Grant County Fair.

Coming up this week, look for another of my favorite things: our annual Year in Review issue. We’ll take a walk down memory lane with a month-by-month look back at the stories that made the news in the Blue Mountain Eagle in 2023. 

———

If you’ve downloaded the latest version of the Blue Mountain Eagle app, you may have noticed a few glitches: Some parts of the app have been displaying outdated stories. We think we have the problem fixed now (thanks to alert reader Greg Whipple for pointing it out!), so the app should be populating with current stories now. And if you prefer a more traditional newspaper experience on your phone, just swipe left to read our e-Edition.

———

If you haven’t done so already, please take a moment to register your subscription for digital access to the Blue Mountain Eagle. Call 800-781-3214 to talk to one of our customer service staff, who will be happy to walk you through the process. It’s easy, takes just a few moments to get set up and allows you to take advantage of our e-edition, app and website delivery along with your print subscription.

———

As always, if you have comments or questions about the Eagle, or want to pass along a story idea, send me an email at this address: editor@bmeagle.com.

———

Finally, if you’d like to help support our independent local journalism, please consider subscribing to the newspaper. And if you’re already a subscriber, please accept our heartfelt thanks — we can’t do this work without you!

— Bennett Hall, Editor