Some Albany churches have planned special services for Christmas, and they have invited everyone to come and join them in celebrating the birth of God’s only son and our Savior.

First Baptist Church

First Baptist Church will hold a Christmas service on Sunday, Dec. 23 at 10:45 a.m.

First Christian 

A choir will sing the Christmas cantata: On Christmas Day during the 11:00 a.m. worship service on Sunday, Dec. 23 at First Christian Church.

Stock show season is already underway for a few local exhibitors, including AHS sophomore Carli Edgar who placed well with her barrows at the Lone Star Classic jackpot pig show in Abilene and at the Red River Rivalry in Wichita Falls recently, and seven year old Luke Smith who exhibited a gilt at the Best of the Best Coleman County Stock Show in November and at the Abilene show this past Sunday.

Edgar won the middle weight Berkshire class with one of her barrows and topped out the middle weight cross class with another barrow at the Red River Rivalry in Wichita Falls on Nov. 23.

The Shackelford County 4-H Club met in the courtroom of the local Courthouse at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 11 to elect officers for the upcoming year.

Selected to leadership positions for 2019 are Johnnie Hise - president, Laithe Leech - vice president, Hannah Snyder - secretary, and Connor Smith - treasurer. 

Attending the meeting were Shackelford County extension agent Michaela Bradford, club manager Kristie Smith, and around 15 local 4-H members.

Fandangle board president Steve Waller announced last Wednesday, Dec. 12, at the association’s regular meeting that he was stepping down from both the office and the board.

“We went through the director transition, we have selected a new marketing director, and we have several young, new board members that have joined the experienced directors,” said Waller. “I feel good about the direction the Fandangle is going, so it was a good time to step down.”

The last Albany Chamber of Commerce weekly lunch meeting of 2018 will be held at the Icehouse at 12:00 noon on Friday, Dec. 21. 

There will not be a Chamber luncheon on Dec. 28 because of the holidays. 

The weekly meetings of the Chamber will resume at 12:00 noon Friday, Jan. 4, 2019 at the Beehive.

The Chamber office will be closed for the holidays on Dec. 25 and Jan. 1.

The monthly meetings of both the Albany Merchants and the Chamber board of directors have been moved from Tuesday, Jan. 1 to Tuesday, Jan. 8.

All ads and news articles should be submitted by this Friday, Dec. 21 at 5:00 p.m. for the Dec. 27 issue of the Albany News.

Typically, the deadline is at 12:00 noon on Tuesdays, but because Christmas Day falls on Tuesday, the staff plans to start working on that issue earlier in order to be off for a few days.

“Our printing schedule is not an issue this year,” said News editor Melinda Lucas. “But because we usually work on the paper on Monday and Tuesday, we need to get a jump on it so we won’t have to come in on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.” 

Moran students have made it to the end of the fall semester with A+Academic University Interscholastic League meets, basketball games, and a visit from Santa all crowded into the end of the third six-weeks period.

Santa arrived at MISD for an early morning breakfast and visited with children on Friday, Dec. 14, in time to hear their wish lists and check with their teachers to see if they qualify for the “nice” list.

Holiday Break

Moran students will be released for the Christmas holidays at 12:30 p.m. this Thursday, Dec. 20.

New Albany ISD superintendent Jonathan Scott, who has been transitioning to his new duties over the past two weeks, was given authority to hire an interim principal for the elementary campus at the end of Monday’s December school board meeting.

AISD trustees approved Scott’s contract in a special meeting the previous week, giving the new superintendent a commitment until August 2021 at an annual salary of $115,000, prorated for this year.

The real reason for the Christmas season will be dramatized at two live performances of the Robert Nail play Albany Nativity offered free of charge at the Aztec Theater this Friday and Saturday, December 14 and 15, starting at 7:30 p.m. each evening. 

Albany thespians traditionally present the play every second year during December as a gift for their fellow citizens, neighbors, families, and friends.

Members of the Albany Ministerial Alliance make a special effort each year to insure that every family in the local community has enough food to prepare a traditional meal over the holiday season, and the annual delivery of the Christmas food baskets will take place this Sunday, Dec. 16.

Assisting the Alliance this year were sixth grade students from Nancy Smith Elementary School. The youngsters spent part of this Thursday morning picking up the canned goods and other staples at Brookshire’s, and then sorting the items into the Christmas food boxes at The Feed Store.