Home stretch to the holidays

Just 37 days until Christmas! As holiday shopping soon begins in ernest, step away from the computer and support our local businesses who are here for the community throughout the year, with generous support for so many causes and nonprofits.

Be kind and patient with those front line people at stores and restaurants, too. Ho! Ho! Ho!

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American Legion Post 143 in Post Falls gratefully hosts its annual free Community Thanksgiving dinner Saturday, Dec. 22.

Everyone is invited. Pro tip: Volunteers prepare voluminous amounts of turkey with all the fixings, enough to feed many. There's no need to come right at 1 p.m. when the line is long. Any time between 1 and before 4 p.m. is a good time to share a meal with family, friends and neighbors. 1138 E. Poleline Ave.

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Tis the season for our beautiful migrating bald eagles return to Lake Coeur d’Alene to feast on spawning kokanee salmon. From mid-November until very early January, depending upon the availability of the food source, the public can quite easily see and admire 100+ of these incredible birds. For years Higgens Point has been my personal favorite viewing area.

We do have eagles that make their home here full time but it’s the sheer numbers of the visiting eagles this time of year that makes it so spectacular.

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Here's a forward that I'm thinking many can relate to ... "Thanksgiving is around the corner and so many people are beginning to feel anxious about it. They aren’t thinking about the people they're looking forward to seeing or the delicious food they’ll get to enjoy or the reminder to pause and be grateful for their lives.

They’re thinking about that difficult family member who will ruin everything. 

And this is only because our brains are designed to do this. 

If there's a fire in the corner, then we need to focus on that and not on how lovely the paint color in the room is. But that difficult person in your family isn’t really dangerous after all. They are no fire. 

They're just a person who views their own world as mostly dangerous and then does the best they can to survive it.  

Their best is pretty bad sometimes, but it’s genuinely not dangerous for you. 

And if you want to, you can redirect your brain to all the things you love about this holiday. 

You can know that they get to be who they want and you get to be who you want be. You don’t have to feel terrible just because they do. 

Who do you want to be this Thanksgiving?"

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Happy birthday today to Nathan Ziegler and Debbi Thostenson. Tomorrow, Kim Jacklin, Kristina Jacklin, Sandi Bloem, Dave Oliveria, Dr. Bob West, Michael King, Brian Smith, Kristin Hoppe, Linda Alby, Pat Thyssen, Chase Blakley, Rob Clark and Kayla Pleger turn the page on another year. On Friday, Maureen Dolan, Chrissy Kaye, Britt Thurman, Noel Adam, Kaci Medlock, Bill Storlie Sr., Susan Martin (80!), Barbara Bryan (80!), Gary Schwalbach and Vonnie Satchwell put on their birthday hats. Dustin Ainsworth, TJ Barnhart, Sam Inman, Kim Anderson, Rodney Duncan, Noel Adam, Tyeson Bennett, Brenda Hanson and Leland Johnson celebrate on Saturday. Ageless Dee Dee Morris, David Eachon, his daughter Dana Ortega, Dennis Hall, Julia Hopkins, Ronda Mitchell, Stephanie Morrison, Tim Williams and Carol Daniels take another trip around the sun Sunday. Jeff Morrison, Lisa Black, Jesse Gunderson, Debbie Magnuson, Mike Lindquist and Eric Knudtsen blow out the candles on Monday. Aniyah Colbert, John Cocoran, Sue Thilo, Nelda House, Sue Servick, Kelly Westover and Buck Wilhelm blow out the candles Nov. 25.

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Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email [email protected].