MASCOE Holiday Wishes

Let me be one of the first to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas this year. Those that know me best

know that sometimes I can be less than enthusiastic about Christmas. In fact, there may even be some (the staffs

of Lincoln and Perry Counties) that would tell you that my middle name is Scrooge. It is not because I don’t know

the true meaning of Christmas or because I don’t appreciate all of the blessings I have received. What I seem to

struggle with is all of the self imposed stress at our house this time of year. Instead of concentrating on what is

important, we stress over all of the trivial things. Do I have the same number of gifts for each grandchild, did we

spend the same amount of money on each daughter, whose house will we be at for dinner, what time will everyone

get there, and on and on and on. Oops, sorry about that, don’t let me put a damper on your holiday season. Hopefully

you all are able to avoid those types of issues and do a better job of just enjoying the season than I do.

I don’t have to tell any of you this but there has been a great deal of stress at work this year also. Improper

payments, checklists, potential office restructuring and closures, checklists, 100 % review of eligibility records,

checklists, web accessibility issues, checklists, totally wiping out the eligibility flags and before I forget to mention

them, checklists. I believe that as an agency we are better off for having gone through all of the eligibility reviews

and updating the endless number of trusts and so forth, but it wasn’t much fun while we were doing it. I guess

time and the new farm bill will determine how many of those items we will revisit next year.

But enough talking and concentrating about the stress of the past year. Instead let’s take time to be thankful

for our many blessings. I am thankful for good friends, the men and women of our military that are fighting for

us and our rights, the opportunity to work with the American agriculture producer and for being able to enjoy another

holiday season with my family. I hope that each of you have a long list of reasons to be thankful this year

and are able to really enjoy the holidays. May God bless each of you so that you may be a blessing for others.

Dennis

MASCOE President