November is here and the holiday season is upon us.  During the month of October we were busy at the Chamber office with Great Texas Scholars student interviews.  Thank you to those who volunteered to interview students with us.  You have touched the lives of these students in a way that you may not have realized.  The staff of the Chamber went to Traders Village and took "Pumpkin Patch" pictures and had a lot of fun.  They are going to go back for four weeks beginning November 28th and will be taking pictures with Santa at Traders Village.  Be sure to go and have your holiday picture made.
 
On November 13th the Chamber Board Planning Retreat will be taking place and Clayton Fisher, the 2010 Chamber Board Chair, along with his 2010 Board and the Chamber Staff will be making plans for next year.  Please feel free to contact the Chamber Staff or any of the Board members with any input that you would like to be considered for next year.
 
The monthly Chamber Luncheon will be at the Ruthe Jackson Center on November 18th.  Please remember to bring books for the reading room at DFW for our troops.  Our guest speakers will be Kevin Smith and Sherry Allen with the USO.  The USO at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport has a program found in only a few areas "United Through Reading" where they record soldiers reading, books to their children, both with video and audio.  The new book, along with a CD of the reading is mailed home to the soldier's children.  This is a wonderful way for the soldiers to stay connected to their children.
 
Make plans to come to the Christmas Open House at the Chamber office on December 10th, 5-8pm, which is hosted by Prudential Lone Star Realtors, Pat Watson and her staff.
 
Be watching for the weekly e-newsletter which is sent to you each Friday so you can stay up to date with Chamber events.  Please join us at as many of those as you can.  Also, the Chamber now has a Facebook page with lots of pictures from many of those events.  
 
Thank you all for supporting the Chamber, remember it is your Chamber so get involved and make it special.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
 
                                                                   Don