Good morning and Merry Christmas to all our readers. The Vineyard Gazette will publish next week on Thursday, Dec. 31. The newspaper office in Edgartown will be closed on Christmas Day, and again on Friday, Jan. 1.

It was the whale of a tale and the tail of a whale that brought me to South Beach on a crisp winter day last week.

The tail was a bit more than two feet wide and was attached to a body; a whale’s body. The rest of the story centered around this whale and its identity, though this tale did not have a happy beginning or ending. The mission at hand was to take photographs and measurements of a dead specimen that had been found on the beach.

JOHN S. ALLEY

508-693-2950

(alleys@vineyard.net)

JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

Chilmark, on Monday, is enjoying the usual lovely day that follows a mean Northeaster ... I am writing to you early this week so that you will have the paper on Thursday. There isn’t a chance of my telling you much that is new as I am pretty much snowbound from the Sunday storm. We are being dug and plowed out as I write and I can only hope to hit the ground running and learn some exciting news for the rest of this column.

HOLLY NADLER

508-274-2329

(hollynadler@gmail.com)

It’s odd to be shocked at the death of a 101-year-old man, but once a person — particularly a cogent, articulate and fairly fully ambulatory one — makes it to advanced late age, we tend to believe he’ll live forever, or at the very least for one more year.

JUNE D. MANNING

508-645-2574

(lthslnks@gis.net)

Christmas eve candlelight service will be held at Community Baptist Church of Gay Head on Thursday evening at 5 p.m. Rev. Roger Spinney will offer the Christmas message in his worship sermon. Special music will be performed by members of the congregation, and Mrs. Kathryn B. Stewart will lead one and all in organ music for the Christmas carols.

KATHIE CASE

508-627-5349

(kathleencase@comcast.net)

I love the day after a snowstorm. The sun is shining bright, the sky is that perfect blue, and the snow is as white as can be. I looked out at the bird feeder to see the male cardinal sitting there, his red color was brighter than ever against the snow. Welcome to New England.

MARGARET KNIGHT

508-627-8894

(margaret02539@yahoo.com)

Hello, Shamere

Janice and Robert Coke of Edgartown announce the birth of a son, Shamere Rojaun Coke, born on Dec. 18, 2009, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Shamere weighed 7 pounds, 10.4 ounces at birth.

Announcing Amelia

Abril and Todd Chapman of Edgartown announce the birth of a daughter, Amelia Jay Ayon Chapman, born on Dec. 19, 2009, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Amelia weighed 6 pounds, 11 ounces at birth.