Well, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas and that means it’s time for the annual Times “Holidays Cash in the Hills” promotion.
This promotion has been running for the past several years. Its aim is to promote local shopping by getting people into the shops using cash prizes as an incentive to go to them.
There are five weekly prizes of $25 each and in the final week of the contest, three Grand Prizes are awarded. They are $500 for first, $300 for second and $200 for third.
All of the prizes are awarded in “Fountain Hills Times Dollars” and there are two stipulations: The money must be spent in one or more of the participating businesses and the deadline for spending the “Dollars” is Jan. 31, 2016.
The first weekly drawing will be Friday, Nov. 27. Each week we will take pictures of each winner with the operator of the business in which the person entered the contest.
The first ads appear in the back of the A section of this week’s paper. There are 36 participating businesses. Be sure to look at the ads and take advantage of the special items in each of them.
As you go to each store to fill out a coupon to enter the contest (Remember: you are permitted to fill out one coupon per visit.), take some time to look around the store for other gift ideas.
We’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t just run into the store, fill out a coupon and leave. Many of the shop owners and their employees live in the community. This is a chance to make some new friends, also.
The contest wraps up with the grand prize drawing on Dec. 17. Be a winner and join the fun. Sign up today.
-------
Remember the story on our grandson, Camden, who was born with the heart defect, Tetralogy of Fallot. He had open heart surgery at four months when doctors rebuilt his heart. During that procedure, he had a gastrostomy-tube installed in his stomach.
This tube was used to supply him with food and medications, when he did not get enough on his own.
Now 20 months old, he has no problem eating and drinking on his own.
He had the final surgery procedure on Nov. 5, so that gave Diane and l an excuse to go see him again. We drove up to Las Vegas Wednesday to see him and his mom (daughter Toni) and dad, Jason.
Boy, has he grown since the last time we saw him.
He has a rather unique way of standing. Most of the time, he does not use his hands for assistance. He just uses his leg power to stand up to an erect position without hesitation.
He then goes off (usually running) to his next destination.
He was also more attentive to me. He’d run up to me, grin and give something to me such as a bottle of water I had asked Diane for earlier.
Looking down at that grin and those big blue eyes is enough to make you want to squeeze the daylights out of him. I hadn’t held him much prior to this trip, because of my fear of holding him too tight and possibly dislodging the G-tube.
Now I have nothing to fear. And I think he likes it, too.
Diane and I can’t wait to start watching him play soccer and Little League baseball.
The first few days of his life, we didn’t know if we would ever be saying that.
