The trouble with this time of year is that there are too many holidays. Well, not really. I love this time of year as much as the next person. I'm no scrooge, honestly.

The ever-so-slight hint of chill in the air, an occasional whisper of wind and the uniformly gray skies at least created the illusion that a snow flurry might be possible last Saturday as Richardson’s 36th annual Christmas parade pulled out of the parking lot at Richardson Square Mall about 9 a.m.

The trip to Huntsville by the Lake Highlands High School girls varsity volleyball team last weekend for the UIL’s Class 5A Region II tournament didn’t end the way the squad and its supporters almost certainly hoped it would, advancement to the state championships this weekend.

But it was clear from the e-mail we received from Michael Kosarek, father of Lady Wildcats player Katie Kosarek, that the team’s supporters are very proud of the girls’ accomplishments nonetheless – and rightfully so.

For more on the LHHS volleyball squad, see my Editor's Note in the Saturday, Nov. 11, edition of neighborsgo, available in home-delivered copies of The Dallas Morning News or at area Starbucks locations.

Mark Macesich is Richardson section editor and neighborsgo assistant managing editor.

Richardson, Lake Highlands, Far North Dallas, are you ready for some football – as in fourth- and fifth-grade tackle games?

Well, we sure were after working for several weeks with the good folks at Spring Valley Athletic Association, particularly Carolyn Stewart of Far North Dallas, long-time football commissioner and board member, to pull together this Saturday's cover package in the print edition of neighborsgo for Richardson, Lake Highlands and Far North Dallas.

(Especially after enduring a Sunday afternoon of Cowboys versus New England. And, except for the Pearce Mustangs, another tough week for our RISD high school teams.)

For more, check out my Editor's Note in Saturday's neighborsgo.

Contact Mark Macesich, Richardson section editor and neighborsgo assistant managing editor, at 469-330-5670 or mmacesich@dallasnews.com.

This weeks neighborsgo cover story about a mission trip undertaken by Church of the Epiphany in Richardson provides us an opportunity to give a shout out to all those churches in the Richardson, Lake Highlands and Far North Dallas area that undertook similar projects this summer.

And especially those who share some of their experiences with our readers.

Mimi Tanner, a member of Church of the Epiphany and a regular contributor to neighborsgo, wrote the story in this edition about a group of 13 who traveled 17,000 miles to Kampala, Uganda, while Jeff Stillings provided the photos.

This weeks edition also contains a story by Donna Miller about youth mission trips from Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Far North Dallas.

Last week, Carl Youngberg wrote about a group of 40 parishioners from Episcopal Church of the Incarnation on a mission trip to Honduras, and Jeanne Spreier previously contributed a story about a Wilshire Baptist Church mission trip to help New Orleans residents still trying to recover from Hurricane Katrina.

For more, see Saturday's print edition of neighborsgo for Richardson, Lake Highlands and Far North Dallas available in home-delivered copies of The Dallas Morning News and free at local Starbucks locations.

Mark Macesich is Richardson section editor and <em>neighborsgo</em> assistant managing editor.

Now that the annual Fountain Plaza Festival, How the West Was Fun!, held last weekend outside the Richardson library and civic center, has gotten things started for the late summer, early fall season, prepare for a flurry of local events to fill your calendar the next few weeks.

You could say they show how Richardson, Lake Highlands and Far North Dallas ARE fun. And thats before we even add in weekly high school football games.

Among those events are the 20th annual Richardson Chamber of Commerce Golf Classic, the 10^th Annual Billye Meyer Golf Classic and Marathon, the first-ever Taste of Lake Highlands, the 28^thAnnual Plano Balloon Festival, The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden's ArtScape, The Dallas Childrens Theater opening show for 2007-08, the second annual Buns and Roses Romance Tea for Literacy.

See Saturday's print edition of neighborsgo for Richardson, Lake Highlands and Far North Dallas available in home-delivered copies of The Dallas Morning News and free at local Starbucks locations.

Mark Macesich is Richardson section editor and <em>neighborsgo</em> assistant managing editor.

This Monday, all things become new again.

Especially for thousands of youngsters and teens returning to classes at 55 campuses of the Richardson ISD spread across the city, Lake Highlands and Far North Dallas.

This year is extra special for the many students beginning benchmark years high school seniors on the stretch drive to graduation; freshmen such as our 14-year-old, who will be starting at J.J. Pearce High School; seventh-graders taking their first big step out of the neighborhood; first-graders and kindergarteners their first steps away from home.

Of course, the return to school is almost always special, benchmark year or not.

To help make it just so in our community, this weeks neighborsgo print edition features the inaugural Voices column by David E. Simmons, RISD superintendent.

For more, see Saturday's edition of neighborsgo for Richardson, Lake Highlands and Far North Dallas available in home-delivered copies of The Dallas Morning News and free at local Starbucks locations.

Mark Macesich is Richardson section editor and <em>neighborsgo</em> assistant managing editor.

In the spirit of newness with the start of the school year, we invite readers of neighborsgo for Richardson, Lake Highlands and Far North Dallas to blog some of their back-to-school experiences under “post to blog” on the neighborsgo.com Web site home and community pages.

Doesn’t have to be a lot to help mark the day – a funny anecdote, an observation or impression, an interesting comment overheard.

Or post a back-to-school photo or photo group at neighborsgo.com.

Readers also might check out our editors’ blog at http://neighborsgoblog.dallasnews.com/, as we reproduce the same sort of area-wide community coverage readers found during National Night Out and Tax-Free Weekend live blogs.

Of course, with the return to school and all those related classroom, school-wide, PTA, fundraising, sports and other activities, we again invite our PTA and other contributors and friends to post stories and photos at neighborsgo.com. Soon, we’ll be looking there first for material and giving the best of it priority for the print edition.

How can you tell summer is reaching it’s hotter-than-Hades climax in the Richardson, Far North Dallas, Lake Highlands area – other than the fact that temperatures are the most blistering of the year?

Well, you might have sweated out a 90-minute soccer workout with your son or daughter just after midday last Sunday as I did.

Otherwise, we have a number of ways to tell ... How about a plethora of vacation Bible school or camp stories and photos, coverage of National Night Out block parties, entries in our summer essay promotion, and the second week of informative back-to-school stories in our centerfold.

For more, see Saturday's edition of neighborsgo for Richardson, Lake Highlands and Far North Dallas available in home-delivered copies of The Dallas Morning News and free at local Starbucks locations.

Mark Macesich is Richardson section editor and neighborsgo assistant managing editor.