Well, December has gone into the record books as the fourth warmest ever recorded. The only snow was a few scattered flurries on two occasions. Last year this time we were dealing with several inches of snow that had stacked up and froze solid. We don’t have to wait for the January thaw as there isn’t any frost in the ground. The weather to begin the New Year was a lot milder than last year. I remember having to shovel snow to get to our car on New Year’s Day last year.

The trend in recent years seems to be more toward family or neighborhood gatherings to welcome in the New Year. Paul Magid and his wife Anita Botti, of Pond Road, held a New Year’s Eve dinner party for their friends.

Anna, Sam and I went up to North Attleboro to be with Nicole, Arsen and the grandchildren for Christmas. They have just moved in and are getting settled. The shopping and traffic was horrible at best before Christmas. There was a nice touch of snowflakes starting at noon on Dec. 24. On Christmas Eve there was an impromptu display of fireworks on the lake in front of their house and a great time was had by all. We returned home Wednesday evening.

Anna and I went up to Providence R.I. last Saturday to attend her brother Donnie’s 60th birthday party. His wife Christina Thomas played a part in organizing the festivities. His nephew, Nick Pohl, flew up from Washington for the occasion and Nicole Alley, her husband Arsen, and our grandchildren came up from North Attleboro. The party was held at his sister Nina Berry and brother in law Dr. Dieter Pohl’s house. Dieter prepared dinner, German goulash, from his mother’s recipe. Lots of gifts and adult beverages were the order of the day and a good time was had by all.

Warren and Marilyn Hollingshead and their grandson Warren who is in his senior year at Portland State University in Portland, Ore. were at their home for the holidays.

Sig Van Raan and his wife Susan Dickler of New York city are here for the holiday season.

Julia Katz and family spent the holiday season with her parents Fred and Jean Barron of Campbell Road. Fred reports that he had a wonderful time with the grandchildren.

Jenifer Strachan was walking on South Beach on her birthday Tuesday picking up sea glass when she met a neighbor Jane Flanders who was doing the same thing. Jenifer is famous for her mosaic work with broken glass or china. Jane’s daughter has just begun that task and the two had a lot to talk about.

Rev. Cathlin Baker reports that the community suppers began this week. The First Congregational Church will offer a community supper every Wednesday evening at 5:30 pm. Their supper runs through the end of April.

Marlan Siegelman reports that the Chilmark Library’s new Chowder and a Chat winter program begins tomorrow at noon. They will invite guests from different organizations in the community to spend the afternoon in the library meeting and greeting with Island residents. And there’s chowder! Drop in and ask questions, learn about what’s going on locally, or just come say hello.

Tomorrow meet new Dukes County Commissioner Keith Chatinover.

Janice Haynes, administrative assistant at the town hall, is requesting that she would like to add some pictures of the town to their website. Please call her at 508-696-0100 for more information and details.

On January 1, 1943 all of us were asked to contribute in some way to the war effort. In addition to rationing stamps, scrap drives and purchasing war bonds in many Island locations. Did you know that women were also asked to save just one tablespoonful of waste cooking fat each day? They were urged by the Federal government to do so as it would go a long way toward the glycerin requirements needed for the war effort. Each community was assigned a monthly quota in the Massachusetts waste fat collection campaign. The government did not ask for these fats until you’ve got the cooking good out of them. But after that is done, every spoonful is wanted. After the first four months of the campaign West Tisbury cooks had contributed about 85% of its allotted monthly quota. However they consistently met their assigned quota of making bandages for the Red Cross. Many times they helped neighboring towns complete their work on time.

Happy Birthday to: Dr. Goldfein, Mike Jacobs, Lynne White and Todd Hirchings today; Charlotte Caskey, Mary O’ Donnell, Ryan Tucker, Jeremiah Brown and Renee Bonnell tomorrow; Alexis Garcia-Holden, Lila Griswald, Sam Hiser and Ike Russell on Sunday; Marion Neuhoff, Joan Ames and Willie Whiting on Monday; Ann Burt, Sydney Blackmer, Joyce Capobianco, Davis Solon and Diane Powers on Tuesday; Sarah Whyte, David Burt, Sam Arruda, Johnny Hoy and David Gaskill on Wednesday; Sam Arruda, David Mesheau and Aja Stamp on Thursday. Belated birthday wishes to Lisa Dimitri.

Well that is all of the social news for this week’s edition. Please call or email me with your news. Trivia facts you can use at the next party: Western Union delivered its final telegram 14 years ago this month and 109 years ago Sunday the first picture from an airplane in this country was taken and Samuel Morse demonstrated his telegraph for the first time 148 years ago today. Have a good week.