Melissa Bartlett

I am all about family traditions when it comes to Christmas. Everyone seems to have their own. When my daughter was growing up she wrote a letter to Santa every Christmas Eve and couldn't wait for his response the next day. She left cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.

The news came out from the top. We may be losing another place in Amarillo. Wow, has 2022 been tough? From restaurants in Amarillos to places we like to shop. It seems like we are always getting ready for changes.

Christmas is a magical time of year. Everybody loves the magic that comes with Christmas. Especially watching it all through a child's eyes. It's just great to see how much a child gets excited for Santa to arrive.

We have been hearing about Real ID for a while. This has been the talk for years. We were going to need that little yellow star on our driver's license before we would be able to travel.

We have been lucky so far. We have had cold weather but no snow. I mean, yes, we have had flurries but nothing that has really stuck to the ground. As we make our move further and further into December we know that luck will change.

One of the first things I learned when I started working in downtown Amarillo was that there were tunnels connecting different businesses in the area. They did come in handy. I would use the tunnels in my building to walk in the winter months.

So here we are getting closer and closer to Christmas. You know that most wonderful time of the year. We are hurrying to get all of our gifts bought. We are planning our Christmas dinne

It's insurance season. It seems like we are all dealing with open enrollment. Even if we get insurance through our workplace they usually want us to do something online to select something.

It seems like this time of year we start hearing about businesses closing. The end of the year seems to bring them out. This is the second business in a couple of days to hear they are closing in Canyon.

So when they started the whole parking situation in downtown Amarillo it was a mess from the beginning. The paying to park all started with the addition of the Sod Poodles in Amarillo. I get it. Make money off of parking. A lot of cities charge for parking.

I miss the good ol' days. We didn't have to worry so much about locking our front doors. Heck a lot of us didn't. We didn't all have security systems and cameras to keep our stuff safe.

Fifty years is a long time for a business to be around. It says a lot that a business is able to hold on that long. It means you know your business. It means you really get to know your customers. You get to know your community.