All right, everybody, listen up! Tonight is the night of all nights—Christmas Eve. All over the valley, people are gathered together with their friends and families to celebrate the blessings of the past year. Even the animals in the forest realize that this night of all nights is a little different than other nights as they huddle together to ward off the cold. Children all over the Wood River Valley are praying fiercely that Santa will bring them that gift they have to have in order to go on.
Now, this area has really been hit by poor economic times. Many locals have been unemployed for a long while and the bills just keep on coming. You people are lucky. You have jobs. You get a paycheck every two weeks and there's always plenty of work to keep you and your families going. So, tonight, I want you to thank your lucky stars and appreciate how much you have to be thankful for.
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Now, I don't care what your religion is or where you go to worship on the weekends—this is the time we all have to pull together and make sure you're all doing everything correctly. We got a lot of letters last year that weren't very complimentary and, frankly, I don't want to have to go through that again. You'd think they would appreciate us for all that we do, but, I'm telling you from experience, you make one slipup and it seems like the whole world is against you.
OK, you all have your assignments. You all know what to look for and you better know that we're all depending on you and what you accomplish tonight. Now, get out there, stay in touch and go be the best you can be. We have the experience. We have the know-how. We have the power to make this Christmas Eve work! We are Idaho Power! Merry Christmas!
(And, for the rest of you, I wish you the happiest of holidays. I don't want to run into any of you buying candles, matches and papier-mâché logs at the convenience store at 2 a.m.)
Nice talking to you.
