One major holiday down, the rest of the season to go.

Christmas will actually seem like a minor event to me this year. Not only did our Thanksgiving weekend include two full dinners with various families, but we also pulled the equipment trailer for the Astoria High School Band to Hillsboro Friday so we could play the Fishermen on to victory in the state football semifinals. Then we had our son’s Eagle Scout Court of Honor on Saturday, and after the ceremony, we had the extended family over to watch the Ducks win the Civil War.

(How do you make Oregon State cookies? Beat them for three hours and then take them out of the bowl.)

All the planning and arranging and setting up for the Eagle Court and the party afterwards had dominated our lives for the past couple of months. Now that the medals are pinned on and the balloons have lost their float, the rest of the holiday season looks like a cakewalk.

But things are getting busy at Coast Weekend. The end of the year always brings our Photo Contest, and you’ll find the entry information on Page 19 of this issue. It’s also time to mark your ballot for the Readers’ Choice Awards, which you can clip from Page 18 and mail in or enter online at www.coastweekend.com

The issues where we reveal the results are a couple of my favorites. So pick up a pen, or a camera – or both – and let’s see what you’ve got for us.