Brumbaugh Fruit FUN Farm is now open every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sundays Noon to 7 p.m. through October 31st. Located on the west edge of Arcanum, take your family and have some fall fun on the farm. The 4th Annual Fire Prevention and Public Safety Day will be hosted by the Arcanum Fire Department on Saturday, October 6th from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. All kinds of fun activities are planned including a parade starting at 11:30, fire truck rides, demonstrations, jumpy house, battery exchange and door prizes. Snacks will be provided by the Ladies’ Auxiliary. Please note that “Wonderful Wednesdays” at Faith UMC as reported in this column last week to begin in late September has been postponed until further notice. It was also reported incorrectly about the cost and should be noted that there is a reasonable fee charged for the weekly dinner. The new school year is off to a great start per the administration and recent minutes from the school board meeting. Thank you to United Way of Darke County and our local PTO for coordinating the distribution of school supplies to local families from the “Stuff the Bus” program. The district has a total enrollment of 1097 students this year including a full capacity of preschool with 86 students and 55 fulltime students in the Virtual Academy. The new baseball and softball fields (Good Samaritan North Fields) are underway with concrete footers now complete and cement block work being laid for the new dugouts. Scoreboards have been ordered and will be installed in October. There are several new initiatives to keep families and the community informed of school functions and updates via a Facebook page (facebook.com/ArcanumElementarySchool) and a Twitter page (twitter.com/ArcanumElem and for the high school @ArcanumHS), and a revised newsletter.

Have you had your first Christmas sighting yet? Retailers are already promoting Christmas earlier again this year. According to the 2012 Retail Guide, fifteen percent of top online retailers started their Christmas campaigns on September 6th; that’s eleven percent higher over the past two years. So here we are just 90 days before Christmas and there have been two big announcements for more new, updated, high-end electronic gadgets (e-readers, I-Phones, etc.) I’ve seen quite a few blog posts recently about giving up gift giving for Christmas. These individuals feel that consumerism has taken over Christmas. I have also seen recommendations by bloggers that they intend to give a donation to charity in place of buying gifts. Consider some new ideas for Christmas 2012, give a gift of experience: things like sporting event tickets, family trips together, tickets to a play or movie. These are gifts that will be remembered long after the physical gifts are forgotten, broken or given away. Maybe you should consider giving gifts that can change the lives of people in need, select a charity and donate to it in the name of your loved ones instead of exchanging gifts. If you want to contribute locally, donate your time to a local soup kitchen, church or school youth program or homeless shelter. Plan to have an old-fashioned Christmas this year and make some new memories with your family – baking cookies and having a cookie exchange, sharing old family photographs and making memory books, bring out that old family recipe for divinity or fudge and teach your grandchildren how to make “real” candy. “Oh, for the good old days when people would stop Christmas shopping when they ran out of money.” ~Author Unknown

“It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags! …then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before…Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store, maybe Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!” ~ Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Vickie Rhodehamel is a volunteer citizen columnist, who serves Daily Advocate readers weekly with her Arcanum community column. She can be reached by calling 937-692-6188, by e-mail at krhodehamel@woh.rr.com. Viewpoints expressed in these opinion pieces are the work of the author. The Daily Advocate does not endorse these viewpoints or the independent activities of the author.