Well y’all. I did it! I managed to finish all my shopping! Wrapping is in the works, groceries are on the schedule and if you believe ANY of that you are crazy! Snowmageddon threw a wrench in the plans and the ‘Rona ain’t helping things either, and that batch of sauce that I somehow overcooked was a pain, but I’m sure I’ll get everything done…right?

I am so excited to announce the winners of the Blaise Alexander Family Dealerships Christmas Coloring Contest! It was no easy task judging all the amazing entries that were submitted this year. Once again, I have to thanks Frosty Nippymitten, Cherry Sparklepie, and Sprinkles Hollyhat for their hard work. They were all great helps in getting all the entries sorted, filed and judged. As for Tinsel Sweetkiss…I’m sure she’s around somewhere. I think she’s hanging out on Candy Cane Lane. Last I heard she was sitting on top of the Bandshell singing Christmas carols and tossing candy canes to people in Brandon Park. I just hope she makes her train back to the North Pole. The Polar Express waits for no one, and I don’t want to risk making Santa mad. My house runs on oil, so coal doesn’t do me a lot of good..

I did have to pull in some outside help in judging, just to make sure we picked the best of the best! With well over 300 entries to filter down to 30 winners, it was not an easy process. So many, were so good — it was hard to choose!

Thank you to everyone who put in such incredible effort in their coloring. Paint, glitter, cotton balls — it’s always impressive to see the creativity put into the each entry. It makes picking the winners hard, but so much fun!

I have to also thank all of the amazing local businesses that are kind enough to pony up prizes for the kiddos too! So THANK YOU to Liberty Arena, English Model Railroad, Elery Nau, Hooplas, Treasure Castle Playland, Harder Sporting Goods, AMC Theaters, Dairy Queen, Trout Pond Park and Faxon Bowling! We couldn’t do this without you!

Below are the first place winners in each age group. Congrats to Hunter Wallace (4 and under), Jace Koch (5-7), and Banjamin Werner (8-10), y’all did an amazing job! There is also a list of each little elf who entered the contest beginning on page 6.

All prizes for the winners will be mailed out ASAP!