To Clara Thompson.

We were charmed and humbled when we read about this 6-year-old girl in our Friday edition. After Thanksgiving Day, this Albert Lea girl decided she wanted to give the toys she was going to receive for Christmas to the annual Toys for Tots campaign. Wow! Parents Jake and Shannon Thompson are doing a great job raising that child. Instead, they gave her the equivalent in money, and she purchased 30 toys that through a co-worker of her father at Vasco Rink Systems ended up at the Toys for Tots campaign in Mitchell County, Iowa.

Thank you, Clara, for being such a good girl this Christmas.

 

To relatives who take their children sledding.

Some of the best memories made over the holiday weekends near the end of December are from moms and dads, aunts and uncles, grandmas and grandpas and even older siblings and cousins taking kids to local sledding hills. The best ones in Albert Lea are found at Lakeview Elementary School, the hill between Academy Park and Frank Hall Park, Southwest Middle School and Hayek Park. There is a sledding hill north of Clarks Grove on 770th Ave. Another popular spot is Popcorn Hill in Lake Mills.

 

To acceptance letters.

Many high school seniors are receiving acceptance letters to their colleges. We hope all of them get to attend the colleges they desire, and we congratulate them on their hard work paying off. That said, we remind them to keep up the good grades. Many acceptance letters are dependant on the students keeping up the grade levels. And trust us when we say that the hard work never really stops. High school and college only prepare people for the hard work of the adult world. Enjoy the breaks you get during your youth, such as the Christmas break this coming week. Many adults don’t get such luxuries. Good luck in all your endeavors.