Dressed in their Christmas best of red T-shirts, jeans and sneakers, the student improvisational comedy group IMP walked out from behind the curtains last Friday night, ready to stake their claim.

“This is our space,” Mariah Mac-Kenzie said. She and her fellow IMPers have been waiting to say that for 10 years. They’ve used stage space and classrooms in schools across the Island, but now they have a place to call home.

What’s a body to do between Christmas and New Year’s? How about visiting Renaissance Vienna and a time when sexual debauchery rolled common as Vineyard winter potlucks.

Good Tidings of Great Joy

Tonight the Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury takes the form of both a barn and a community center. The animals will not be, well, real animals, but rather small children performing the annual Christmas Eve pageant. There will be donkeys, cattle, sheep and of course shepherds, wisemen, Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus. The kids are members of the West Tisbury Congregational Church which each year creates this tableau for the community.

Kwanzaa Celebration

Kwanzaa was started in 1966 by an African-American professor who wanted to give black Americans a unique way to celebrate their African roots, family life and community. This year the Martha’s Vineyard branch of the NAACP is hosting a Kwanzaa celebration at the Trinity United Methodist Parish Hall in the Oak Bluffs Campground on Wednesday, Dec. 29 from 4 to 6 p.m.

There will be music, food, games and activities for all ages.

South Mountain Company's high-performance building engineer Marc Rosenbaum gave a presentation on Innovative Mechanical Systems for Low Heating Load Buildings at the fifth annual North American Passive House conference in Portland, Ore. Passive House is a German standard that was designed to make the world's most energy efficient buildings.

His case studies included a recent South Mountain deep-energy retrofit of a century-old carriage house for the Woods Hole Research Center.

YMCA Day Camps

The holidays are coming and the kids are out of school. What fun! Except that just because school’s out doesn’t mean Ma and Pa don’t have to punch a clock.

Well, help is on the way. The Martha’s Vineyard YMCA is offering full and half day camps on Dec. 28, 29, and 30.

Full day camp runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The cost is $185 for members and $199 for nonmembers

Half-day camp runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The cost is $150 for members and $170 for nonmembers.

Martha’s Vineyard Tile

Vineyard Stories has just published its sixteenth book about the Vineyard.

Last summer the press featured Schooner: Building a Wooden Boat on Martha’s Vineyard and The Bike Ride. Both books received great reviews and recognition. Schooner was named one of the 100 best photo books of 2010 by Snapshot magazine. The Bike Ride, a book for children, was endorsed by the Nature Conservancy for its contributions in the area of conservation.

Winter Lobster Rolls

Put down the eggnog and dive into a lobster roll. That’s right, lobster isn’t just some summer fling, at least not according to the folks at Grace Church.

On Sunday, Jan. 2 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. they will be serving their standard: lobster roll, chips, and beverage for $15, plus $4 for a slice of pie. Finally, a chance to take part in one of summer’s most popular events, and therefore most crowded, without waiting in line.

Lunchtime at the Chilmark School and the requests were piling up fast and furious.

“Could I have more kale, please?” “Can I have more wheat berry?” “My favorite was the beet chips!”

Beet chips?

It’s true and thanks to the Island Grown Schools’ Chilmark Community Lunch initiative, students could see beet chips replacing generic potato chips more often in the months ahead.

Oak Bluffs Association

Names Holiday Winners

The Oak Bluffs Association (OBA) has named Crossland Nurseries, for the second year in a row, as the best decorated business in Oak Bluffs. Once again, Mark and Bernie Crossland have outdone themselves in creating a magical holiday setting for all of Oak Bluffs. Their business, Crossland Nurseries, is located on Dukes County avenue in Oak Bluffs.