Well it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Many residents of the community are in the spirit and have put up lights and displays. In particular the rural displays at Marvin and Linda Price's and at the Carley's at Whitkow are well worth seeing. SaskPower came and installed the street decorations along Main Street and Railway Avenue last week. The village is very Christmassy!
With the season come the many and varied Christmas suppers and parties. The Rabbit Lake Community Hall hosted the annual community supper Dec. 3. Of course this supper includes a visit from Santa Claus. Rose Gill Lodge treated the residents and guests to a Christmas supper Dec. 10 and the Rabbit Lake Senior Sunrise Circle hosted a turkey supper to a packed house Dec. 11. The Rabbit Lake Housing Board hosted a tenants' Christmas supper Dec. 15. Along with some private suppers and parties, we continue to be well fed!
Get well wishes go to Paul Kobernick and to Greg McKenzie who are both hospitalized. We hope to see them back in the community very soon.
The Board of Trade, at its Christmas supper Dec. 10 gave recognition to Shirley McKenzie who has resigned as secretary-treasurer. Shirley served in this capacity for several years. The Board of Trade works at various projects in an attempt to develop and improve both the business and general communities. Some of the highlights are: hosting the Rabbit Lake Day in August, providing candy bags at the Christmas supper and Christmas Eve service, and this year working tirelessly on the highway 378 project and the service station project.
The Highway 378 project is lobbying for improvements to the highway so that it can be considered a heavy haul corridor. It would look like by Christmas Rabbit Lake will have gas! (And that is not in any way related to all the suppers.) A year ago October Rabbit Lake lost its Petro-Can service station and since then the Board of Trade has been working on opening a new one. The tank has been installed directly east of the hotel and by Christmas should be fully operational. This will be a great help to residents and recreational guests alike. Take an opportunity to thank the Board of Trade for their work both verbally and more tangibly by pulling up to pumps and filling up!
Each year the Women in Mission of the Hoffnungsfelder Mennonite Church (Rabbit Lake) host a mission sale to raise money for their many projects, both local and internationally. This year they held a silent auction and crokinole tournament Nov. 27. In just a couple of hours they were able to raise $1,560! What a great job and what a lot of fun.
Some time ago I reported on a company who had met with local farmers to discuss the possibility of developing a wind farm west of Rabbit Lake. On Tuesday night the company once again met with farmers to discuss updates on the plan and the outlook is very encouraging.
The early winter activities have begun in the village. The Monday night dance lessons are to wind up just before Christmas. Approximately 20 dancers have been coming and enjoying Jim and Della Schira's program. Some new dancers and some people who were not able to fit this round into their agendas are hoping for a repeat in the fall of 2012.
A growing number of kids and adults have been coming to the Wednesday evening games nights at the seniors' centre. This program goes until the end of March.
A core of walkers have been taking advantage of the opportunity to walk inside at the morning walking that happens on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at the hall from 9:30 -10:30. New walkers are always welcome.
At its last meeting it was decided that the Rabbit Lake Senior Sunrise Circle would not only be open for coffee on Monday mornings but also on Monday afternoons. The center opens at 7 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Thanks to the volunteers who are working at flooding the arena so skating can begin. The weather has been less than agreeable for them but everyone else seems to like it.
