Christmas season is here – and it seems that election season is upon us as well with the water board election which will culminate on January 15 with an in-person vote if you haven’t requested an absentee ballot. We wrote all about that last week in the paper – and it is online if you need to know how to vote when you get to the end of this column.

I think it was a nice gesture for Trump to give Federal and Government workers the day off as a day of mourning for President George H.W. Bush – but now we have set a precedent and there will be more impromptu closings in the future. Pragmatically – it won’t happen very often, but when it does happen it will not be predictable. Take for instance, this week it falls on a Wednesday and it wasn’t announced until Monday afternoon. Since we mail our papers, we have to have them to the Post Office on Wednesday to be delivered on Thursday. We work around known holidays – like Thanksgiving and get them done early. However, we could not do that this week because it was not predictable. Our post office is under a lot of scrutiny and stress to make sure you receive your mail in a timely manner. We recently wrote an article about the addition of entire routes due to the growth of Navarre. I spoke with a representative at the Post Office regarding our Thursday delivery dilemma and found out that HBTS receives 500-600 packages a day. That is a lot of packages – and that doesn’t include the regular mail. They have had carriers out until after 7 p.m. trying to get all the mail delivered and now they will have twice as much mail on Thursday – during the holiday rush. We are just one example – I’m sure they are many more. One team member here wanted to know if they got the day off and I said, “if you want to take a day off to mourn President George H.W. Bush” that is your prerogative, but it will be on your own time. Apparently, that was funny because it got a lot of laughs. Bottomline, please be patient with our postal service. They have a job to do…rain, sleet, snow….except during the day we thought Michael was coming this way, or that time we had ice on the roads, and now, when a former president dies.

This weekend is full of fun times in Navarre. It begins with the Navarre Beach Area Chamber Foundation Jingle Bell run at 8 a.m. on Saturday Morning at the Fire Station behind McDonalds. This is a fun family run and pet-friendly as well. There are more participants registered this year than in any year past – but there is still room for you. You can show up at packet pickup at the fire station Friday afternoon or at the fire station at 7 a.m. – 7:45 a.m. Saturday morning. You will get an awesome long-sleeved T-shirt. If they run out of this year’s shirts – they may have previous year’s shirts to share. The Navarre Beach Area Chamber’s Christmas in the Park brought to you by Walmart and Walmart Neighborhood store begins at 10 a.m. with Merry Market – with local arts and crafts vendors.  At 11 a.m. the reindeer games begin – where the children play for prizes.  School choirs will begin singing at 11 a.m. and continue singing until the 5 p.m. lighting of the tree. The Christmas Parade begins at 2 p.m. from the Navarre Library and Navarre Senior Center Parking lots and ends at Navarre Park where you will find Mrs. Claus’s bakery, the lighting of the tree and more. You are sure to see Santa and Mrs. Claus and the Grinch if you go to the park after the Christmas Parade.