Christmas 2010 has come and gone but I have yet to wrap and deliver all my gifts.  It sometimes drives me crazy to know that I bought gifts a month or so ago that I have yet to give that are now 50 percent off the price I paid for them.  You'd think that I would, knowing I won't get around to giving my gifts until after Christmas, that I would wait and purchase these gifts at the discounted prices.  Every year I think I will do better.  Every year, the story is the same.  

Now, in all fairness to me, our grandson was born a few weeks early.  I spent the week before Christmas making trips to Bradford to see mom and baby and helping to watch Christian's older siblings.  I also had a lot of last minute phone calls to cover activities for the paper.  I'm not real fond of being tired, but I am very happy to shop, to wrap gifts, to have people visit and all the things that come with the holiday season.  Now if I could just organize  myself so I could do the things I love so much without being tired!  

I don't typically make New Year's Resolutions.  This year I am going to do so.  My resolution will be to actually mail and/or deliver all the gifts and cards I purchase throughout the year in a timely fashion.   I also decided i will give people the hundreds of dollars worth of cards that I have bought, signed, addressed and never mailed.  I've done it before...given someone a 50th birthday card when they are 54 because that's how long the card has been sitting on my desk, in a box, or in one of my hundreds of piles. That's another resolution I should make - getting rid of my "piles of stuff".  We'll see what happens.  Ask Brandon Abbott how long I've talked about getting organized.

Christian Lloyd made it home to Port Allegany on Christmas Eve...what a nice gift for his family!

We had family in from Boston (Leslie and Todd); Lockport (Aunt Lois and Uncle Bob); Los Angeles (Logan); Williamsport (Alana) and Allegany (Lance and Debbie) and Kacie is here from Florida!  It was great to see everyone...but sad to see them go.  Since I don't really like to travel, I appreciate everyone making the effort to come here!

UMC named their December Unsung Heroes Sunday.  The first to be named were the husband-wife team of Joel and Dotty Anderson.  The couple were nominated for their participation in the Moments to Remember program which raised money for the library...and also their service to the community and church.  in December, we try to honor a family of volunteers...in 2008, it was the Stehle family and in 2009, it was the Kysor family.  This year, it happened to be my family!  My husband was actually nominated last year...he and Mike Barnard were both supposed to be honored in April...but I held off until they would both have out-of town family in church in July.  The family thing worked out for Buck, but my husband was not even in church that week due to a family emergency, so we decided to honor him at a later date.  His daughters thought they were going to watch their father be honored.  Little did they know that they, too, would be recognized.    Mike, Jr. and I had both been named Unsung Heroes in the past.  It was a nice moment for me to see the rest of the family honored.  Mike, Sr. and the girls have, for years,  done a lot of work behind the scenes, so their volunteer efforts were not well-known. Congrats to the Andersons and Fischers!

We're looking for nominations for our Unsung Heroes in 2011.  It's easy to nominate the Unsung Hero in your life.  E-mail pamdfischer@gmail.com or mail to Pam Fischer, 3786 Route #155, Port Allegany, PA 16743.  We will need the name of the nominee, their address and the reason they are being nominated.

This will be the last Pam's Corner for the year 2010.  It's been quite a year for me and my family.  We'd like to wish you a very Happy and Blessed New Year.  Stay safe!