I hope the holiday season is starting off well for you.  I want to help with crossing “pictures with Santa” off your to-do list.  This next Monday on December 8 from 4-6 p.m. Santa and Buddy the Elf will be in our building just for the kids.  There will also be fun activities and food.  And for you – there will be a chance to win a $500 gift card to Wal-Mart!  For every canned-good you bring to our food drive, you will receive one entry ticket into the drawing.  This party is for everyone!  I won’t be there in person, but Buddy the Elf will resemble yours truly. 🙂

Now for the boring part of my email (except that it really is great news). The U.S. saw 321,000 new jobs created last month, the highest since 2008.  This number is almost 50% higher than expectations and marks the 10th consecutive month of 200,000+ new jobs created.  Additionally, Average Earnings rose 0.4%, which doubled expectations.  The Labor Force Participation and Unemployment rates stayed put at 62.8% and 5.8% respectively.