Have Happy Healthy Holiday - November 2010

Thanksgiving dinner and healthy are not normally used in the same sentence, but hopefully one of the things that we here at The Edge Magazine have been able to share with you, our readers, over the past two years is how being healthy CAN be something fun and enjoyable. Being healthy can include what you serve to your friends and family during the holiday season AS WELL AS how you can proceed when you are the guest. Do you know that the average Thanksgiving dinner has over 2000 calories? It can be a real challenge if you are watching your waistline. The following are some eating tips so that you can still look good and be healthy after the Thanksgiving dinner without having to deprive yourself.

    For most of us, we will be invited to Thanksgiving dinner and here are a few tips to keep in mind when it comes to eating.

· Don't go to the Thanksgiving dinner hungry: we often eat faster and more when we are hungry - therefore eat a wholesome breakfast and lunch on the day to avoid overeating at dinner time.

· Thanksgiving dinner is not an all-you-can-eat buffet: Fill your plate half with vegetables, one quarter with a lean meat and the rest with a starch of your choice. Eat slowly and stop when you are full.

· Turkey - go skinless: choose your 4-oz turkey portion skinless to slash away some fat and cholesterol. Save your appetite for the side dishes and desserts.

· Side Dishes - watch your portion size: go for smaller portions. This way you can sample all the different foods. Moderation is always the key.

· Make a conscious choice to limit high fat items: high fat food items can be found in fried and creamy dishes as well as cheese-filled casseroles in a traditional Thanksgiving meal . For instance, mashed potatoes are usually made with butter and milk; green bean casseroles are often prepared with cream of mushroom soup, cheese and milk and topped with fried onions; candied yams are loaded with cream, sugar and marshmallows. If you cannot control the ingredients that go in to a dish, simply limit yourself to a smaller helping size. Again moderation is the key.

· Drink plenty of water: alcohol and coffee can dehydrate your body. Drink calorie-free water to help fill up your stomach and keep you hydrated

 
 

    However if you are lucky enough to be able to be the honored chef, there are several things that you can do to help make the meal you are serving much more healthy.

· Substitute high fat ingredients with lower-fat or fat-free ingredients. see substitution table

· Leftover Turkey?
Instead of turkey sandwiches, use the leftover turkey to make a pot of soup with fresh chunky vegetables.

· Experiment with new recipes: I did a search on Google and found numerous delicious yet healthy low-fat contemporary Thanksgiving recipes. Experiment, its fun!

 
 

November 2010 Calendar of Events

Every Monday

Bingo!! Come join our seniors every Monday right after lunch until about 3:00 p.m. for some fun games of Bingo, at the Crossroads Senior and Community Center.

 
 

Every Tuesday

Vernal Chamber of Commerce Meeting held at Golden Corral in Vernal at 12 PM.

 
 

Every Wednesday

Spanish & English Story Time for kids at the Uintah County Library at 2:00pm. For more info call 789-0091.

 
 

Every Friday

Golden Age Center Dance open to the public. Dances held at the Golden Age Center beginning at 3:00pm.

 
 

November 2, 2010

General Election

7:00 AM

Election for County, State and Federal positions. General Early Vote: Tuesday October 19th to Friday October 29th.

 
 

 
 

November 2, 2010

Current Topics Second Annual Election Day Turkey Dinner

Western Park

11:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Sherry Lewis, 789-9501

$10 per ticket, all proceeds go to community projects. 1,000 tickets available

 
 

November 5 - 6, 2010

HOLLY FAIR

Mark your calendar for November 5th & 6th for the Holly Fair. 3 locations: Crossroads,

USU & Strata. Great door prizes!!

 
 

November 13, 2010

St. James Catholic Church Winter Games

Western Park

St. James Catholic Church Winter Games Saturday, November 13th 7pm. Annual Fund Raiser for Charity Purposes. Food-Fun-Games....Lots of PRIZES! No children under 12, no alcoholic beverages allowed or sold. Admission $6 per person. Come join to the fun

November 19 - 20, 2010

Enchanted Forest

Crossroads Community Center

50 East 200 South Roosevelt, UT

Come to the Enchanted Forest at the Crossroads Center.

 
 

November 20,2010

Chamber Turkey Days

1pm-3pm Cobble Rock Park

Tickets for the drawing available from select merchants (call chamber for details 789-1352)

 
 

November 24 - 26 2010

School District

Thanksgiving break

 
 

November 26 - 28, 2010

Trees for Charity Festival

Western Park

The Value of Giving and Serving

Preparing for the Trees for Charity Gala

Western Park Convention Center will be glowing all through Thanksgiving weekend from the spirit of giving—as well as a few thousand Christmas lights. The 2010 Trees for Charity Auction Gala will be held in conjunction with The Vernal Community Holly Days Festival. These free family-orientated events, backed by the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce, are intended to give a real kick-start to a great holiday season.

 

Tree Viewing for the Public is free:

Friday 26 11:00am – 9:00pm

Saturday 27 11:00am – 8:00pm

Sunday 28 12noon – 5:00pm

Buffet and Auction: Monday 29 November Doors open at 5:00pm, Buffet Starts at 6:00pm and the Auction at 7:00pm

 
 

November 26, 2010

Vernal Community Holly Days

10:00 AM - 9:00 PM

Holly Days is a community celebration to kick off the holiday season. The annual event consists of activities that are held throughout Vernal. This year the event will be held Friday, Nov. 26, starting with a professionally carved ice sculpture at Cobble rock Park at 10am. for event details please visit www.communityhollydays.com

 
 

December 3, 2010

Bar J Wrangler's Christmas Concert

Vernal Middle School

Bar J Wrangler's Christmas Concert at the Vernal Middle School at 7pm. Tickets

available beginning Nov. 1st at Davis Jubilee in Vernal for $20 and $15. All seats are reserved. All proceeds from the concert will be used to benefit students in the Uintah School District

 
 

December 4, 2010

Cottage Industry Showcase

Western Park Convention Center

10:00 AM - 4:30 PM

Joe Evans, 435-790-9098

Local craftsmen showcase their wares for public purchase

 
 

 
 

December 4, 2010

Jarvie Fest

The annual Christmas Festival at BLM's John Jarvie Historic Site will be celebrated on Dec. 4 from 10am-4pm. Directions to John Jarvie property from Vernal, through Clay Basin Go North on U.S. Hwy 191 for 55 miles, travel east on a gravel/paved road 22 miles (2 miles as much as 17 percent grade) follow Jarvie Ranch and Browns Park signs.

 
 

 
 

If you have any information that you would like to be included in the Calendar of Events then please email us at

michelle@TheEdgeMagazine.org

OR

Mail it to us at

PO Box 287

Neola, UT 84053

 
 

Heroes - November 2010

by: Jared Jenkins

 

In war, there are lives risked and lives taken

Men and women giving their best to defend what they love

They defend their country

Their honor

Their people

 

Some call them soldiers

Others call them heroes

 

Our veterans have risked their lives for us

They have lived through hell and fought with honor

Many have killed

And regret doing so

 

For every life, there is a soul

For every soul, there is a life

For those who have died, we show great appreciation and remembrance

For those who live, along with them live the horrific memories of battle

Some, memories of defeat

Some, memories of victory

 

Our veterans were more than soldiers

They were, and still are heroes

Uinta vs. Uintah

by: Jennifer Rook

You
may live in Uintah County, but you camp, fish, hike and hunt in the Uinta National Forest. So, is it Uinta without an 'H' at the end or Uintah with an 'H'? As you can see, there are two different spellings for the word Uinta. So, how do we know when to spell Uinta with or without the letter 'H' at the end? What's the story behind that?

Western Heritage Museum director, Evan Baker, explains, "We spell Uinta without an 'H' whenever referring to a geographical feature. We live in the Uinta Basin, fish in the Uinta River, climb the Uinta Mountains, and enjoy the Uinta National Forest. If something is a natural, geographical feature, the spelling is always without the 'H'. If something is man-made; however, we put the letter 'H' at the end of the word. Such as 'Uintah County', 'Uintah School District' or other organizations/features thought up by man. If we were to create, say, a new reservoir, we could name it Uintah Reservoir and place the letter 'H' at the end of the word Uinta. That is unless we named it Uinta Basin Reservoir, in which case it would retain the correct geographical spelling without the "H' -- for the geographical feature."

 
 

Says Who?

So, who set up these rules anyway? "The federal government set up the basic rules for determining which spelling to use for the word Uinta. As the American West was expanding and names were being created the government realized they needed to standardize the naming system. It's always been an issue." reveals Baker.

The organization charged with clarifying the spelling turned out to be the USGS, or United States Board on Geographic Names. They began working in the late 1800's to unify spellings. Information on the USGS website states, "The original program of names standardization addressed the complex issues of domestic geographic feature names during the surge of exploration, mining, and settlement of western territories after the American Civil War. Inconsistencies and contradictions among many names, spellings, and applications became a serious problem to surveyors, map makers, and scientists who required uniform, non-conflicting geographic nomenclature. President Benjamin Harrison signed an Executive Order establishing the Board and giving it authority to resolve unsettled geographic names questions. Decisions of the Board were accepted as binding by all departments and agencies of the Federal Government."

After many arguments and repeated misspellings of Uinta Basin, which Mr. Baker and retired Uintah County Historian, Doris Burton take umbrage to, Baker contacted the USGS to clarify accuracy of local spellings; Uinta vs Uintah. The reply he received states, "Uintah, a variant of Uinta, is applied to political entities, whereas Uinta without the 'h' is applied to natural features and to the Uinta Utes." Baker goes on to explain that their reply reinforced the fact that "Names of other features being derived from a physical feature (such as Uinta Basin) should continue to be spelled without 'h' at the end of Uinta". For example, Uintah Basin Standard should be spelled Uinta Basin Standard without the 'h'. If it is spelled with the 'h' it goes against common naming practices" and accepted rules.

So, citizens of the Uinta Basin, we have been informed. The Uinta Basin has no 'h' in its spelling and names for geographical features also have no 'h'. Those are the facts, folks. That's the story and we're stickin' to it!

 
 

Friday Nights in a Small Town - Get Your Snuggie On! (or not) - November 2010

By: Jennifer Rook

It's early evening as darkness sets in and the November winds whip in from the North. The crisp fall air turns icy while comforting campfire smoke smells waft on the breeze as folks stoke up the fire in their homes. The nice weather of October is long gone, winter is right around the corner and folks start thinking about hibernation as a cozy alternative to having to go out into the chill air. Out come the cozy socks, sweatshirts, fleece vests and the ever increasingly popular invention that allows folks to stay warm while their arms are free; that ridiculous blanket with sleeves that not many people admit to owning; The Snuggie.

My nine year old daughter wants a Snuggie worse than anything. She sees the commercial and begs for the magical blanket with sleeves. I refuse to give in though. I'm sure we can make-do with, say, a bathrobe that you don't wear backwards, or a regular blanket or two, right? These are items that you'd find around the house anyway. They are also items that STAY in the home, because, let's admit it, hanging out in a robe isn't the most glamorous look around and you just shouldn't wear your bathrobe out in public and as far as I can tell, most folks understand this and have the decency to not even be seen wearing their bathrobe in their home, so I just do not understand the urge to wear a backwards robe in "cute and cuddly" zebra print.

Bathrobe=home attire; not a "go-out-in-public" outfit, and yet, there you see those people on the television commercial, cavorting about in public in the Snuggie. Do they KNOW how ridiculous they look high-fiving at the baseball game wearing those robes? Backwards, no less! You know, if Sunggie wanted to make it worth our while, they'd at least throw in a pointy wizard hat and a wand to complete the outfit. Then it could double as a Halloween costume as well. Freezing cold Uinta Basin Halloween Trick-Or-Treating would be a thing of the past with the super-cool Snuggie Wizard Costume Kit. (I can just picture the commercial now…)

The thing with The Snuggie is, they are quite warm and I know that if I were to buy a Snuggie for my daughter she'd surely fall in love with this warmth generating miracle blanket and its ease of use as she snacks on chips in front of the television without disturbing the blanket around her shoulders and then she'll want to take it places with us. She'll begin wearing it "just in the car" to keep warm, then she'll accidentally "forget" to take it off when we go into, say, a sporting event at the local high school. She'll end up looking like those fools on the commercial wearing their Snuggies in front of other people, cheering in the bleachers, high-fiving, and jumping around in oversize fleece dresses. The poor girl would never get a date if she wore that thing around "raising the roof" at the ball game.

Then, the next thing you know, she'd be wearing it to church, running to the bus in it with her backside exposed like a bad-fitting hospital gown, or hanging out at the movie theater with her boyfriend in his and hers matching leopard and camel print Snuggies. It has all the makings of a Fad Gone Terribly Wrong! It'll be a bad fashion nightmare trend that will never end, almost as bad as those saggy, baggy, butt-crack showing jeans! No good can come of this.

    So, as the weather cools off considerably this month and our surroundings turn into a frozen wonderland again, folks will be throwing more wood on the fire on Friday nights, staying in and getting cozy. I'm sure they'll be pulling out blankets and hanging out with loved ones and plenty of you will be "raising the roof" together, high-fiving, and sipping hot cocoa, or reading The Edge Magazine while wearing your ultra-cool Snuggie. And I guess I'm ok with it, you do whatever you need to do to keep warm but I don't want to see you in your Snuggie. Keep 'em at home, kids…keep 'em at home.

 
 

The Basin's Dirtiest Jobs - DWR Technicians and Specialists - November 2010

By: Jennifer Rook

    We are happy to debut this latest feature; "The Basin's Dirtiest Jobs". We hope to highlight some of the dirtiest jobs in the Basin and introduce you to some of the hard working folks from our community who get dirty every day or have to deal with undesirable substances, perform nasty tasks or deal with all manner of muck, slime, dirt, guts, oil; you name it. If it's a Dirty Job, we want to tell you all about it.

 
 

DWR Technicians, Specialists & Officers

 
 

Managing big game, whether it is alive, dead, dying, injured, or a safety issue, can be a very nasty job. Not every task associated with the job is "nasty" or "dirty" in the literal sense of the word, but wrangling big game, humanely dispatching injured animals, scraping up road kill, and removing problem animals has plenty of "nasty" and "dirty" associated with it. It's all in a day's work for Conservation Officers, Depredation Technicians, and Landowner Specialists who work for the Division of Wildlife Resources.

    Motorists account for a large number of big and small game deaths each year. Ron Stewart, Outreach Manager for the DWR Northeastern Region in Vernal says that even though our main highways are found on the benches, which are typically winter and/or transitional ranges, road kill can occur year round and depending on the road it's on, the job of removing road kill can and does fall upon the shoulders of the DWR technicians, officers and specialists.

Stewart says it's never a fun job, but winter road kill is much more pleasant to pick up than summer road kill. "Winter is better than summer as the animal will likely freeze overnight. Summer temperatures can cause an animal to rot and melt down before someone can get to it to pick it up." he relates with a grimace. Generally, road kills are picked up and hauled to a land fill, but sometimes further testing may be necessary to check for diseases, parasites or Chronic Wasting Disease.

Dealing with dead animals is all part of the job for DWR employees. Anytime an officer or biologist discovers a dead animal, he or she looks for signs of how that animal died. Sometimes a technician or officer will have to dig a bullet out of a carcass or maybe run a metal detector over the rotting animal to find the bullet. Other tests to determine cause of death may include cracking some of the larger bones open to look at bone marrow. Other parts of animals that get checked over include the eyes, ears, neck and internal organs. Also, every deer hunting season DWR employees stop hunters at checkpoints to take lymph node samples from the neck to check for CWD.

Often times DWR workers are put to the task of humanely dispatching injured or problem animals. Animals get caught in fences quite frequently, are mortally wounded during hunting season or by poachers, don't always die instantly when struck by vehicles, or fall into water holes and drown. Anything can happen, but the task of putting the animal down is usually handed off to a DWR employee. "Putting animals out of their misery is actually a kindness we can do for them, but it about breaks my heart every time I see an animal suffering." says one retired Depredation Technician. "I never liked having to kill animals, but I couldn't see them suffer either. That about killed ME."

    Removing problem animals is pretty tricky business that can turn nasty and dirty for a DWR worker in an instant. Bears in traps can be angry, dangerous animals. Bears in trees often have to be darted and sometimes tracking problem animals down is a major task. Stewart recalls a particular wiley bruin. "We had a call of a bear in town, over by Wal-Mart. It actually ran down the middle of the road and eventually made its way out to Maesar. We had half the Division out looking for it, a lot of law enforcement officers and other volunteers. Eventually the bear went up a tree and we were able to dart him, but it took us a good 4 or 5 hours chasing him through thick brush and undergrowth and tricky places before we found him." Luckily for that bear he wasn't a problem and was merely passing through town. He was successfully released in the Book Cliffs, south of Vernal and lived to tell the tale.

Trapping animals for relocation is common practice for DWR employees, but the intended target is not always the one who gets caught in the trap. Skunks and other small game may be in the traps and sometimes an even meaner adversary is discovered; raccoons. "Raccoons, when cornered, are very mean, especially the big males." says Stewart. "They are really nasty. They have a vicious bite and they're quite agile. Fortunately we're not really trying to capture and release those animals so we don't have to deal with them on a daily basis, but there are times we come across them and it isn't pleasant."

Whether it's lifting a 1,000lb moose for relocation, capturing an injured hawk, digging through a rotting elk carcass, or dealing with an angry coon, DWR employees definitely have one of the Basin's Dirtiest Jobs. These people are also vital to the success of our big game herds, small game populations, habitat and the health of the wildlife we enjoy. Hopefully we can also gain a new understanding and appreciation for all the often-unpleasant functions these people also shoulder to make our everyday life more enjoyable, safer and often cleaner. Thank you, DWR employees for all the dirty work and the awesome "clean" work you do too. We salute you and officially crown your job as one of the Basin's Dirtiest.
If you have ideas for "Dirtiest Jobs" please send them to jennifer@theedgemagazine.org with contact information if you've got it.

 
 

A New Resting Place - November 2010

By: Cecilia Mitchell, NPS

Dinosaur National Monument is well-known for ancient dinosaur bones. Protected by a magnificent quarry hall for half a century, visitors delighted in the site of over 1500 dinosaur bones. However, some visitors also noticed ominous cracks in the visitor center walls. Because the original building sat on unstable ground, the park's most famous ancient resource has been off limits for almost five years. This will soon change. Two buildings—the quarry exhibit hall and a new visitor center—are under construction. When the project is completed the public will again be able to view the dinosaur bones. The $13 million project is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Construction began in March 2010 and both buildings are expected to be completed and opened to the public in fall 2011.

 
 

The Quarry

    The quarry exhibit hall has a headline-grabbing history. Built in 1957, it houses the 150 foot-long quarry rock face, where more than 1,500 ancient dinosaur bones are exposed. The quarry provides one of the best windows onto what dinosaur life was like 149 million years ago. The building gained renown for its modernist architecture and, with its pink butterfly roof and walls of windows, became an icon of Dinosaur National Monument. The quarry exhibit hall protects the exposed fossils and provides shelter for visitors. The glass walls flood the rock face with natural light that highlights the bones and allows visitors to see the rock face outside the hall where more fossils may yet hide.

    But the ground beneath the building is—literally—moving. The exhibit hall sits on the Morrison Formation which is made mostly of moisture-loving bentonitic shale. Bentonite expands when it gets wet. Just as a dry sponge will puff up when dipped in water then shrink as it dries, bentonite stretches and contracts with as weather changes. In the 1950s, with an imperfect understanding of the dynamic geology at the fossil site, architects and planners did not fully appreciate the structural stresses that bentonite would put on their new building. Over the years the building moved up and down ever so slightly with the weather. Cracks in the quarry visitor center walls appeared, foreshadowing the inevitable. In July 2006, park management closed the quarry exhibit hall for the safety of visitors and park staff.

    Correcting these safety issues is the primary purpose of the current rehabilitation. To accomplish this, construction crews will install specially engineered columns called micropiles that extend deep to a layer of bedrock. Bentonite at the quarry site will continue to expand and contract but the building will no longer be affected.

    To preserve the character of the original structure, the iconic butterfly roof, steel support columns, and walls of glass remain. Efficient, low emissivity (low-e) glass will help to moderate the temperature in the quarry, keeping heat in during the winter and out during the summer.

    Protecting the fossils in the quarry face during the rehabilitation was critical. A worker's hammer falling from above could spell disaster for the multi-million year old specimens. To shield the bones, a scaffold and truss system was built. Inside the scaffold are several layers of protective material—a fire blanket, two layers of plywood, a layer of steel, a two-inch layer of foam, and a mesh net. The entire structure is covered with a plastic moisture barrier. This should protect the park's most famous resource until construction is complete.

 
 

The Visitor Center

    With a name like 'Dinosaur,' the monument's main attraction is obvious—but that name obscures the many other resources that the monument offers: deep river canyons, whitewater rafting, wildlife, colorful geology, brilliant night skies, and 10,000 years of human history. Exhibits will introduce visitors to these lesser known dimensions of Dinosaur National Monument. The visitor center will offer expansive views, a bookstore, and a multipurpose room where visitors can watch an orientation film. Just outside the center, visitors will board a shuttle to the quarry exhibit hall or access the Fossil Discovery Trail.

    Both the quarry exhibit hall and the visitor center were designed to achieve a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating. In addition to the low-e glass, many recycled materials were used. Exterior stonework, salvaged from the demolition of the old visitor center, is reused at the new visitor center. Wood from the quarry exhibit hall was also salvaged. A recycled train car platform will serve as the bridge connecting the parking area to the new visitor center.

    In 1958, shortly after the quarry exhibit hall opened to the public, Dinosaur's then-superintendent, Jess Lombard, reported that public reaction to the building had been "most favorable" and the park staff were "justly proud" of the new building. Perhaps in 2011, the rehabilitated quarry exhibit hall and new visitor center will merit similar sentiments.

 
 

To follow the progress of the construction, visit

http://www.nps.gov/dino/quarry-visitor-center-update.htm

 
 

Embracing New Traditions - November 2010

By: Cheryl Mecham

Out with the old and in with the new –

so easy to say but so hard to do.

 
 

Sometimes old, familiar holiday traditions don't fit into today's lifestyle. Don't be afraid to make adjustments. Neither my husband's family nor mine had particular traditions other than a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving Day, putting up a Christmas tree and giving everyone you loved at least one gift

A few years ago our sons decided they'd bring their shot guns and clays to the house and shoot before we sat down for Thanksgiving dinner. About the same time our daughter's determined that they wanted to do a craft after dinner was cleaned up and the men had retired to watch football. We've made bracelets, decorated clay pots to look like Santas and crafted Christmas ornaments.

That's how a few of our family traditions have evolved. If we embark on an activity and it went pretty well – we'll probably do it again, but nothing is ever carved in stone at the Mecham House. We do what we can when we can. Just getting together somewhere at the same time can present difficulty, so we don't knock ourselves out with extra fluff.

With holiday traditions it's important to decide which activities or events are most valuable and set out to enjoy them. Often we can still find the comfort and value in a tradition even though we scale it back to suit current circumstances.

Experts in human psychology recommend that individuals don't give up traditions, but modify them to work in their particular situation, for instance, if circumstances prevent family getting together, have a couple of close friends over to share a festive meal. And if you're alone for the holidays, don't turn down invitations – accept them. Being around others, even though they're not family is beneficial.

New traditions can be adopted as well. I've heard of a couple of activities I'd like to try. I love the idea of giving away frozen-prepared casseroles to families in December rather than a plate of cookies or candy. With the busy schedules of today's families a home-cooked meal that can be heated in the microwave or oven during the holidays can bring a lot of comfort and joy.

The second idea resolves the influx of Christmas cards, letters and photos. One family has a large bright green binder holding page protectors. As the cards come in they are opened, enjoyed, then slipped into a page protector for safe keeping. The book is always on display and when it fills up the family gets another Christmas Card Book and begins again. Can you say simple? And it's a wonderful way to hold memories.

The third and final tradition is something that people have done for centuries on Christmas Eve, but I'm just thinking of doing – which is to decorate a tree out of doors for the birds and wildlife.

Ornaments can be simple; apple and orange slices suspended from pipe cleaners, and pine cones made sticky with peanut butter and rolled in bird seed as ornaments complimented with popcorn or cranberry garlands. After the family makes the simple food-decorations they go out and decorate a tree. Some families follow up with a holiday dinner or if it's early in the day a hot beverage and snack.

As it is in most cases – we can't always get what we want. I have begged for a dozen years or more to have outdoor Christmas lights trimming the roof lines, windows and doors. My husband flat out refuses. And that's ok, because the work and expense would be his, however, I can have something else – equally as wonderful – our yearly December date where we go out for a nice meal and drive around to look at the Christmas lights.

    I look forward to this event every single year. It's a must-do tradition, one high on my priority list that we never fail to do. It seems the simplest traditions are always the ones we keep, the more extravagant fall by the wayside over time.