DEC 2013 – President’s Article by Daney Bachiu

I was talking to Kathie last weekend.  We were discussing the Chamber Night Light Run and she happened to mention that that was the weekend we would have been doing Chamber Live Auction. Wow!  I remember when that brilliant idea came about.  I was at the beach doing my annual retreat from everything vacation.  I hadn’t heard anything about the auction, didn’t know anything about the auction, but upon my return, I already had an auction job to do.  That’s Kathie Thurston for you …….can never say no to that woman.

Now here we are two weeks out from our newest fun fundraiser, The Chamber Night Light Run, and experiencing the virginal, first time jitters that precede any large project.  So many questions racing through our minds will enough people sign up, did we anticipate all the glitches, did we order enough T-shirts  or too many?  I guess we will have all those answers on December 15. I am praying for a spectacular success. Please support this, our major fundraiser of the year, by signing up to walk and have a lot of fun. If you can’t enter the event, tell as many people as you can about it so they can enter. If you can’t do either of these things, at least come down to the race course and cheer on the glowing group of run/walkers and enjoy the sights and sounds of the light show and the start/finish line at the Redlands Mall.

Well, fellow chamber members, this is my last message as your President/Queen of the Chamber. I cannot believe how fast this year has gone.  True to Kathie’s prediction, it was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be; and now I am reassuring incoming President, Geoff Bonney that it will not be as bad as he thinks it will be.

We are at the apex of the roller coaster called Christmas Season, or Holiday Season or just The Season. Whatever you call it, we will now be flying through all the events, parties, get-togethers, services, pageants that are crammed into the last month of the year.  Next weekend is the University of Redlands Feast of Lights, the Redlands Kiwanis Christmas Parade and the YMCA Home Tour and Boutique. The following weekend is our SPECTACULAR CHAMBER NIGHT LIGHT RUN and two or three other events that I am not aware of.  In between all these goings on, there is Christmas shopping and packages to mail, cookie baking and cookie exchanges,   cards to write and send, trees to pick and decorate, presents to wrap and exchange, houses to clean and decorate,  carols to sing or listen to.  Whew! I am tired just writing about it all.

It has been an honor to serve as your President this past year. I wish you all a very Happy and Peaceful Christmas and all God’s blessings to you in 2014.