Steve Klein addresses current issues impacting Yelm and vicinity and provides a meeting place for anyone with an interest in this area to provide their ideas and opinions
December’s “cold” moon reaches its peak Thursday, capping the year’s supermoon cycle and coinciding with higher-than-normal tides along the Washington coast.
The final full moon of the year comes with an astronomical bonus: It is also the third and last supermoon of 2025. According to Almanac.com, “It will be higher in the sky than any other full moon until 2042.”
The full “cold” moon arrives Dec. 4 and will help usher in the final round of king tides for the year. Some of the tides are expected to be more than a foot higher than November’s peak levels.
On the coast, Westport set a record during the last round, reaching one of the top 10 water levels ever recorded at one site, according to the National Weather Service. The upcoming king tides will be visible from the coast to Puget Sound between Dec. 4 and Dec. 8.
Skywatchers won’t have to wait long for more lunar spectacles.
The new year will feature three additional supermoons, starting in January 2026. The last two will appear in November and December.
Next year will also bring a rare bonus moon: 2026 will have 13 full moons instead of the usual 12. The “blue moon” will rise on May 31, the same month as the Flower Moon on May 1. Extra full moons typically occur once every two to three years.
Yelm Lions Club’s Carlson Cabin can be located at 301 W Yelm Avenue. Courtesy photo via the NVN.
Yelm Lions Club in the news
+ NVN: Yelm Lions Club launches weekly ‘Souper Sunday’ community dining – In an effort to build stronger relationships within the local area while enjoying a hot meal, Yelm Lions Club has launched its weekly “Souper Sunday” event — where community members can visit the Carlson Cabin to enjoy soup from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
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+ NVN: Yelm Lions Club to host 14th annual Christmas Store on Dec. 6 – With the holiday season quickly approaching, an annual tradition is set to return to the Nisqually Valley community as the Yelm Lions Club’s 14th annual Christmas Store is set for Saturday, Dec. 6, at the Carlson Cabin.
From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., volunteers with the event will usher attendees inside, where children ages 12 and under are invited to pick out a free gift for the adults in their home, according to Christina Garcia, Yelm Lions Club president.
Wood-fired pizza cooks hot and fast. Find your favorite taste sensation at either La Gitana location. Both Olympia and Yelm pizzerias are celebrating with half-off a large pizza. Photo courtesy: La Gitana via Thurston Talk.
La Gitana Pizzerias Celebrate 14 and 15 Years with Pizza Parties
Enjoy half-off large pizzas at the Olympia and Yelm locations on December 1-2
Any day is a good day for pizza: Pizzeria La Gitana’s authentic, European-style pizza makes it even better. It was 15 years ago when the Yelm location opened its doors. A year later the downtown Olympia pizzeria followed. You are invited to join the anniversary celebrations with pizza parties at both locations on December 1-2, 2025. Those who dine inside at either location can feast on a large pizza for 50% off. Olympia diners will also be treated to live jazz in the evenings from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Award-Winning Wood-Fired Pizza in Olympia and Yelm
Regulars are familiar with the thin-crust pizzas baked in a hot, wood-fired oven. Your made-to-order pizza acquires unique flavors not replicated in a conventional oven. It’s the short, hot cooking time that imparts caramelization of the ingredients. Bakers keep keen attention for a perfect finish. The pizzas’ tastes and flavors are enhanced by La Gitana’s use of organic ingredients. The flour comes from Europe, and many gluten-sensitive diners are pleased to discover they can eat meals here without difficulties. La Gitana has been winner of Best Pizza in South Sound, Oly Best restaurant and most recently Best of Nisqually 2025.
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La Gitana Says, ‘Thank you, Thurston County,’ with Pizza Parties
“We are grateful to the community and excited to celebrate again,” emphasizes Licxandru. “We’ve grown the business as the people we know have grown up.”
La Gitana’s anniversary celebrations are right around the corner and a great way to get into the holiday spirit. The two-day pizza party offers 50% off your large pizza (dine in only and one per person per day). But you can come in both days! Reservations are recommended.
Happy Anniversary, La Gitana. We’re glad you are here.
Keep in mind, Christmas Tree Farms are seasonal and are usually small operations. Most farms open up the weekend following Thanksgiving, but it’s ALWAYS a good idea to CALL before you head out to the farm to make sure they’re open the hours you expect, and that they still have trees available.
Come Prepared
Most farms will provide saws and/or equipment to cut down your tree (and some farms may even cut your tree for you) but it’s always a good idea to bring equipment with you if you have it. Not sure? Refer to our first recommendation and CALL the farm for details.
Protect the Car – if you’ll be strapping your tree to the roof of your car, it’s a good idea to bring a sheet of plastic or an old blanket to protect the pain and finish. You’ll also want to bring ropes or bungee cords to secure the tree to your vehicle.
Bring the camera – we’re making memories here!
Pack for a Day Trip – if you’re making an effort to head out to the farm, make sure everyone is comfortable by dressing warmly, bringing some extra snuggly blankets, and stocking up the car with snacks and beverages. Feel like leaving the picnic basket at home? We’ve got some yummy recommendations for local libations after you’ve secured your tree.
Click here for the details of these Family-Friendly Farms.
This Thanksgiving Day message was first published here in 2009:
THANKSGIVING DAY has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863 & became a federal holiday in 1941. President Lincoln issued this proclamation which set the precedent for America’s national day of Thanksgiving on October 3rd, 1863, which is as pertinent today as during the Civil War to heal our nation’s wounds:
By the President of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore.
Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.
I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.
– America the Beautiful sung by Hillsdale College’s Choir (Michigan) “Written by Katharine Lee Bates and composed by Samuel A. Ward, “America the Beautiful” is one of the most well-known and beloved American patriotic songs. The song celebrates the natural beauty and the “patriot dream” of the United States.
Hillsdale College is an independent institution of higher learning founded in 1844 by men and women “grateful to God for the inestimable blessings” resulting from civil and religious liberty and “believing that the diffusion of learning is essential to the perpetuity of these blessings.” Click here for the video.
– America the Beautiful sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Click here
Christmas in the Park tree lighting ceremony The City of Yelm’s parks and recreation department will host the Christmas in the Park tree lighting ceremony at 5 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 1 at Yelm City Park. The event is free and open to the public.
Friday, Dec. 5 Free pictures with Santa The City of Yelm’s parks and recreation department will host free pictures with Santa from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 5, at the Yelm Community Center. The department will provide all participants with one printed photo with Santa.
Saturday, Dec. 6 Christmas in the Park activities Yelm’s Christmas in the Park activities will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6, at the Yelm Community Center and Yelm City Park. Following the annual Christmas in the Park Parade, attendees can enjoy free games, activities and goodies sponsored by local businesses through 2 p.m. Yelm Community Choir will perform at 11:30 a.m., and magician Jeff Evans will perform a holiday magic show at 2 p.m.
When Natalie Exum looks at luggage, she sees dirty shoes.
Exum, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said suitcase wheels are similar to soles. Both trap and transport crud from airport terminals and hotel lobbies, city streets and parking lots.
“Your luggage is going through a lot of yucky places,” Exum said, shuddering at the thought of people who set their bags on beds.
Travel gear sees more of the world than common household objects. Luggage, noise-canceling headsets, neck pillows, reusable water bottles, toothbrush holders and other mobile items are exposed to a host of pathogens and grimy particles as they move through different environments — from airport shuttle to baggage cart, airplane floor to seat-back tray, Dopp kit to hotel bathroom counter.
“You are taking these through public areas, touching things or dragging them on the floors so many people have been through,” said Jessica Ek, a spokeswoman and cleaning expert with the American Cleaning Institute. “You can pick up germs that are out in the world.”
Medical professionals say the health risk is low. If your hand touches a contaminated surface and then your mouth or eyes, you could contract a virus or bacteria.
The gross factor, however, is high.
Take, for example, this familiar scenario. You pile your luggage into the airport bathroom stall, placing your phone on top of your carry-on and your coffee on the ledge of the toilet paper dispenser. You flush the toilet, releasing a cloud of fecal matter into the air.
“You’re not going to get sick from it,” said Keith Roach, an internist at Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian. “It’s just kind of yucky.”
You can take some preliminary steps to protect your travel goods and yourself. Wash your hands with soap and water. Wipe public-use surfaces, such as airplane tray tables and airport work stations, with an antibacterial cloth. When using hotel or airport restrooms, lower the toilet lid or store loose belongings in your luggage before flushing.
You can make a lasting impact on veterans in hospice through the programs offered with Last Patrol.
We sincerely hope you will help us this year in our annual campaign to reach and honor with Christmas & Holiday Cards as many veterans in hospice care as we can. Here’s how you can help:
· Creating and writing personalized cards for veterans and sending them to us
· Helping us deliver card packages to veterans and hospices around the country
· Sending a donation to help us with postage. To accomplish this mission, our shipping and postage charges are thousands of dollars. Every donation helps!
Please get us your cards by DEC 1st to make sure we can get them distributed before Christmas.
Washington’s state land management agencies have designated 12 Discover Pass free days for 2026, meaning visitors to Washington state parks and other public land will not require payment.
On these free days, a Discover Pass is not required to park at Washington state parks or on lands managed by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Sno-Park permits are still required when visiting Sno-Parks.
Each of the Discover Pass free days celebrates an important day of the year with the opportunity to get outside and enjoy nature with friends, family or in a moment of well-deserved solitude, according to a news release from Washington State Parks.
The 2026 dates are:
• Thursday, Jan. 1 – New Year’s Day
• Monday, Jan. 19 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• Monday, March 9 – Billy Frank Jr.’s birthday
• Thursday, March 19 – State Parks’ 113th birthday
• Wednesday, April 22 – Earth Day
• Saturday and Sunday, June 6-7 – Free Fishing Weekend
• Friday, June 19 – Juneteenth
• Sunday, Aug. 9 – Smokey Bear’s birthday
• Saturday, Sept. 26 – National Public Lands Day
• Saturday, Oct. 10 – World Mental Health Day
• Wednesday, Nov. 11 – Veterans Day
New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, is the first free day of the year.
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The annual pass is $45 and provides unlimited day-use parking for everyone in the passholder’s vehicle. The pass is valid for an entire year from the month it is purchased and can be transferred between two vehicles.
The Discover Pass provides funding for State Parks, DNR and WDFW. The funds support recreation and conservation opportunities, keeping bathrooms cleaned and trails maintained, caring for the health of forests and protecting seashores.
