Our Viewpoint

It's that time of year again. It feels like the big-box stores had Christmas decorations on display before Halloween. And Thanksgiving feels more and more like just a pre-game to the start of the holiday shopping season.

We love Thanksgiving. People often go away for Christmas, either on vacation since the kids have extra time off from school, or to visit family. But Thanksgiving is the perfect fall family holiday. It's the last weekend of hunting season, there are plenty of football games to watch, we get in several games of Pinochle and Scrabble and, of course, there's plenty of home-cooked food to support a weekend of grazing.

In the Question of the Week, we asked people when they start their holiday shopping. We'd like to say we're ahead of the game this year and already have a plan for gifts for our family and friends. But the reality is we're still trying to come up with a really clever Halloween costume (the best we've seen is a friend in Ohio with five kids who dressed her family as Shark Week).

As we start our holiday shopping lists, we're going make more of an effort this year to shop local. It's holiday bazaar season and we're always excited to see what local crafters have made. Local retailers are happy to do special orders to help you find just the right gift. It's also pretty appealing to skip the lines and the traffic in the big city. And the holiday bazaars are much like the Huckleberry Festival and Sanders County Fair - a great place to socialize and catch up with people you haven't seend since last year's bazaars.

In small communities, we support each other. That's what keeps us all going, during the holidays and throughout the year.