While we need to be of a celebratory spirit during the Christmas season — it is about the savior of mankind after all, despite mass marketing to the contrary — it is also important to remember those around who struggle during the holiday season as it brings cause to reflect on loss.

• I suspect the memoir below is not exactly a letter to editor; however, it may be timely with the recent blizzard.

I had the opportunity to attend a performance of "It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play" at Arts on Grand, which was presented by students from Nebraska Wesleyan University, including locals Natalie Kroll and Kyle Goeken. The show was just amazing and the performances were awesome. It was so heart-warming to see young people who have such talent and passion for doing something positive for the community during their time off from school.

Years ago, who can know how many, it would have been obvious that the celebration of Christmas was the birth of Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, Deity become humanity, Savior of all mankind (Emmanuel).

Dud was awfully quiet all through the daily dissemination of anything on page one of the Valley Weekly Miracle, which wasn’t like him at all. Just sucked down caffeine and silently shook his head now and then.

“Anita OK, Dud?”

“Oh … sure, Doc.”

“You OK?”

He nodded, then looked up with a wistful, philosophical look that our guys don’t usually get until after the buttered toast. “Sometimes,” he said, “I think it’s pearls before swine, that’s all.”

As a new year enters, I find myself looking back, but also looking forward. Looking back helps me see what the future might look like, and often, what I look back at are things related to fishing. Sometimes, maybe too much of the time, we focus on things that aren’t so good. That’s OK.

The Revenue Estimating Conference, or REC met this week to give a better outlook of the state's budget.

There once was a toymaker.

But he was more than a toymaker. Call him an engineer, an architect, a designer, if you will. He created many fantastic things. He settled down to making toys, not because he couldn’t make other things, but because toys delighted him so. There were two special toys, fashioned like a boy and a girl that he designed with extra special care.

Dear Readers: The following is column written by a fellow named Bob Thompson, who was a teacher and coach in my hometown. It is reprinted with permission.

Here's the story about a young man who was engaged to be married. He was in love, and his life was infected with that special pride and that vibrant joy that is peculiar to lovers.

AMES — One year after skyrocketing 29%, the average value of an acre of Iowa farmland jumped another 17%, or $1,660, to $11,411 per acre. The nominal value of an acre of farmland is again higher this year than at any point since Iowa State University began surveying values in 1941. When adjusting for inflation, the 2022 average value surpasses the previous inflation-adjusted record value set in 2013 for the first time.

While there is consensus, even at the Fed, that they left the spigot of monetary stimulus wide open too long resulting in inflation, they did achieve their aim of restoring the economy from the COVID pandemic near collapse, avoiding that catastrophe. Most have forgotten about that now, with complaints over the problem presently being faced of inflation and what it will take to quell it.

Each year, as we approach Christmas, it seems as though some school district or city council, finds itself challenged as it attempts to celebrate the traditional Christmas with decorations and music.

No nativity in the town square. It might offend someone.

No Christmas concert — it’s a holiday concert now.

No Christian decorations in the classroom, only symbols of the holiday’s commercial aspects — Santas and big fir trees and gingerbread cookies.

The downfall of cryptocurrency company FTX and its cohort Alameda Research along with the $8 billion of customer funds that vanished in thin air is troubling.

The FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is an American product, a MIT graduate graced with a favored background. He was raised by professionals, Stanford Law professors. He attended top mathematics camps for precocious children.

The sounds of Christmas are definitely in the air. There's the FM station in the SRG family playing strictly Christmas carols and songs daily. The beautiful and inspiring rendition of the Messiah, with its local and regional musicians and singers, was enjoyed by many in the friendly confines of Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Just this past weekend, members of Grace United Methodist Church graced the community by performing the Journey to Bethlehem.

Editor's Note: Loveall's "Messy Christmas" has been republished several times since it first ran in the Dickinson County News. The Spencer Reporter would like to share it with readers this year.