The holidays that bookend the close of one year and the beginning of the next have come and gone, but not without some fanfare from the SLAGA family.

                Beginning with the Twelve Days of Cachemas on December 13, SLAGA celebrated with new caches and several events.  Twelve lucky (and persistent) geocachers obtained not only smileys but the coveted annual Cachemas ornament, created by L Frank.  The bonus cache, released on Christmas Day, was FTFed by SWASeeker.  Congratulations to all who braved the cold, venturing out before sunrise in some cases.

                In the middle of the Cachemas fever, Nan-D1955 hosted the SLAGA Christmas Party at Kirkwood Station Restaurant on December 17.  In spite of freezing temperatures and icy conditions, about thirty-five party animals showed up, bearing canned goods and toys to be donated to charity.  Nan collected ninety-one cans of food for Circle of Concern in Valley Park, while Spiritwolf922 carted out four large bags of gifts for Toys for Kids.

                On Christmas Day, for the fourth year in a row, Strider and Crowesfeat30 hosted Cachemas Day with Friends at the Hibachi Grill Supreme Buffet in Ballwin, with about eighteen cachers logging for their Attended smileys.

                Team_State brought the celebration to a close with two same-day events:  SLAGA New Years Brunch and SLAGA New Years Day Hike 2017.  The group effectively took over the Eureka Culver’s restaurant with over thirty attendees, filling the main dining area.  The hike drew a few more with nearly forty Attended logs posted.

                The hike consisted of two teams – Strider’s and L Frank’s – hiking in opposite directions on the loop trail (which wasn’t nearly as flat as advertised), picking up the few ‘resident caches’, but also collecting twenty-two temporary caches which contained two Scrabble-style letters in each, intended to spell out a secret message at the end.  L Frank’s team arrived at the parking lot first, but Spiritwolf922 made everybody wait until all the hikers had returned before she opened her gallon-sized bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies to share.

                Both New Year’s Day events were great successes, with the weather cooperating beautifully.  What was expected to be gray and chilly turned out to be sunny and upper forties, allowing many of the hikers to leave their heavier coats in their cars.

                The holidays may have come to an end, but there are still many SLAGA events yet to come in 2017, including two in January:  The Ninth Annual Slurpin’ Soup and Watchin’ Eagles (GC6XK93) in the Village of the Blue Rose, between Clarksville and Louisiana, MO; and The SLAGA Winter Potluck & Cabin Fever – 2017 (GC6X1ZQ), in The Pavilion at Lemay, in Jefferson Barracks Park, St. Louis County, MO.  Be sure to check out the upcoming events in the panel on the right side of the screen on the SLAGA.org webpage.