Well, last Tuesday afternoon the temperature was nearly 60 degrees and it was quite pleasant. However, we were expected to get high winds and rain, so we decided hastily to leave town while the getting was good. The weather did deteriorate as fast as predicted and by Friday morning it was downright cold and we received about an inch of snow in Seekonk, where we stayed during the Thanksgiving weekend.

Anna and Sam Alley and yours truly headed up to Providence to celebrate Thanksgiving with her sister Nina husband Dr. Dieter Pohl and their son Nick. Also joining us were her brother Donny and his wife Christina Thomas from New York city, and daughter Nicole and her husband Arsen Hambardzumian of East Taunton. My thanks to Charlie Kernick for pinch-hitting for me at the post office.

The major event after Thanksgiving was the christening of our youngest grandson, Henry Alexander, at Saints Sahag and Mesrob Armenian Church in Providence. Henry was dressed in a white christening suit complete with cap. He listened intently to the priest, was dipped into the water and anointed with oil — all without a peep. He seemed amused that a lot of folks showed up to watch him take a bath!

All the stores were decorated and Christmas music could be heard everywhere. A day before Thanksgiving many homes also had trees in the windows and lawn decorations in place.

Katherine Long of Panhandle Road cordially invites you to her 36th annual Winter Solstice party on Sunday, Dec. 14, from noon until 9 p.m. All ages are welcome. Her party has become one of the highlights of everyone’s holiday season. Katherine’s Texas chili is an extra special treat, and you haven’t lived until you have tasted it. She says come when you can and leave when you must, just don’t bring your dog along! She is expecting her mom and her sister Mary Fran to be there as well.

Doug Pease over at the church reports that the First Congregational Church’s annual Christmas Faire will be tomorrow from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. This is a great opportunity to pick up festive holiday decorations and gifts for friends or family. Available to purchase are custom-decorated wreathes, holiday centerpieces, jewelry and gift items. Homemade baked goodies for gifts or entertaining will also be available. Come early for the best selection of terrific holiday décor and gifts that are perfect stocking stuffers. Coffee and hot chocolate will be there for early birds. And there’s a raffle, too — an incredible Christmas gift basket. All proceeds help offset operating expenses of the church. For more information, call 508-693-2842.

Jennifer Tseng over at the library says that the work of painter Billy Hoff will be on display in the community room of the library for the month of December. The library will host a reception on Saturday, Dec. 13, from 4 to 5 p.m. Refreshments will be served. Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public. Also tomorrow at 4 p.m. Shirley Mayhew will talk about her book, Looking Back: My Long Life on Martha’s Vineyard. This event is free and open to the public. Shirley has lived in town for 67 years; she came here as the young bride of John Mayhew in 1947.

The History Channel reminds us that President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull knew a Japanese attack was imminent 72 years ago on Sunday, Dec. 7. They had received intelligence reports of intercepted coded messages from Tokyo to the Japanese ambassador in the United States about an imminent attack. However, they did not know where or when it would happen. The ambassadors were at the State Department when the White House announced the attack on Pearl Harbor to a stunned nation and people knew that this meant that we were now in a state of war.

It was quiet and chilly that fateful Sunday in this town. Frank Adams on Music street had fired up his coal furnace for the first time since March. Donaldson’s Garage was about to receive its monthly shipment of gasoline from the Mobil terminal in Vineyard Haven on Monday morning. Antone Alley was about to celebrate his 70th birthday and his daughter Lillian was busy baking him a cake. S.M. Mayhew Co. had closed at noon and Sanderson went home for dinner. The Grange was going to hold its twice-monthly meeting in the Agricultural Hall on Monday, so the stove was lit upstairs to take the chill out of the meeting space. Antone Campbell, Harry Athearn and Johnson Whiting were preparing to milk their cows at about 4 p.m. in the afternoon. The most popular song of the day was Glenn Miller’s Chattanooga Choo Choo. It was just 18 days until Christmas and the Sears & Roebuck Christmas Book in every home had seen some serious use. The attack was announced over CBS radio by John Charles Daley at about 2:30 p.m. in the afternoon. As evening fell, people kept their radios on to learn more news from Pearl Harbor. Plans were made for the President to address Congress the next day shortly after noontime to declare war on Japan. The school would hold a special assembly at noon so the students could listen to his address to the nation over the radio.

Happy birthday to Lucinda Buehler, Linda Mahoney and Joseph Capece today; Bonnie Steere, Bonnie Jackson and Beau Monast tomorrow; Robert Hennessey, Elizabeth Dowd, Sarah Vail and Grace Murphy on Sunday; Christopher Cini, Jane Sobel and Joel Anthony on Monday; Judy Sudel, Sam Mason, Ellen Pesch and Emily Smith on Tuesday; Kansas Brew, Karen Colaneri, Ginny Bardwell Jones, Galen Brew, Ellen Weiss and Dana Rezendes on Wednesday; John Sonia, Deborah Pigeon, Prudence Fisher and Kristina Fletcher on Thursday. Belated birthday wishes to Bob Bunch, Polly Renear, Avi Lev, Ronni Simon, Grace S. Batesole and Laurel Wilkinson.

Well, that is all of the social news for this week’s edition. If you have any news, please call or email me. Have a great week.

Send your West Tisbury news to: alleys@vineyard.net.