If you haven’t done so already, get out your pens and notebooks to write your annual wish list of what you hope to achieve in 2014. It is certainly time. The older I get the simpler my resolutions become. I have only one this year; I want to put all my folded laundry back in the drawers promptly. Make sure your teen drivers resolve to never text and drive. Don’t forget to pick up all your free calendars at the drugstores, insurance companies and liquor stores so that you can keep track of all your appointments this new year. I wish all of you the best in 2014 and always.

I guess with all your holiday traveling and all your holiday visitors, you have forgotten to call me with your family news. Please remember to do so more frequently in 2014. Teri and I, with she sporting her leg cast and all, had a great time last Sunday attending to some last minute shopping details. We crossed borders and went all the way to Edgartown. We began, of course, at Aboveground Records to pick up last minute bargains and say hello to all our musical friends. The countdown has begun as it closes this Sunday. The atmosphere was very party-like. We saw many old friends, and I discussed the new book I read with owner Michael Barnes. More about that later.

On we went to Edgartown Stop & Shop, which I hardly ever do because I’m loyal to Sam and his crew at the branch here in our town but we were already there. Bright lights, big city. I saw many former students, old friends, the usual suspects, and bumped into someone I have been wanting to meet for years, Mary Ann Thomas. Forgive me if I spelled your first name incorrectly; there are so many ways to do it. Mary Ann was assisting her granddaughter, my good buddy, Hunter, who is limping and has torn her ACL. It is her left leg, same as Teri’s broken kneecap. The two exchanged war stories while Mary Ann and I schmoozed. Get well to Hunter!

Confidential to Lyn K: If you are on-Island this week, call so we can arrange a meeting for our very exclusive mutual book club. This past week I read aloud to Nonna, Teri and Tamma from my Christmas collection. It included The Polar Express, The Gift of the Magi, The Christmas Trolls and, of course, on the appropriate evening, The Night Before Christmas. Now for the big library book, approximately 500 pages, that I tore through in two nights and discussed with Michael Barnes at his record store – The Soundtrack of My Life by Clive Davis. If you are interested in music and the contemporary music scene, if you remember the 1960s when Clive first began with Columbia records before he went on to found Arista, and the artists he promoted or tried to represent, you will love this book. It brought it all back home.

The birthday bandwagon pulls along Rene Moncada and Austen Ostrowsky today. Tomorrow is a party for Fred Shapiro, Carol Slocum and Pia DiTerlizzi. December 29 sees Len Morris, George Davis and Toby Danger Riseborough age gracefully. December 30 is shared by Dane Bliss and Claire Elizabeth O’Leary. December 31 goes to Gracie Carlson and Nelson Smith. New Year’s Day is for Liz Duff and Kylee Willoughby. And on Jan. 2, Anthony Masi, Joy Rogers, Sue Rabot, Brian Doherty and Madeline Noel Doup take the cake. Many happy returns.