Well, yes, my column was available last week but due to the stress and strains of holiday publishing, it was only viewable online, not in your old-fashioned newspaper. I didn’t even know how to find it. Unfortunately, I am used to making mistakes. Fortunately, this one wasn’t mine!

It is the end of the year and the end of an era in many ways. I’m only shopping on-Island for gifts. This is a grand opportunity to see my friends and business owners that I am too involved to see in season.

The busier the season, the flakier I get. I forgot I had an early deadline last week because of the Thanksgiving day holiday. My column made it on the internet but not in print. For those of you who missed it, it was my annual holiday wish list. I repeat it here with a few additions: Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard, Vineyard Committee on Hunger, the Red Stocking Fund, the Boys and Girls Club, Boy Scouts of America – mark the memo for use on the Island, Girl Scouts of America – same thing, Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, especially Connect to End the Violence, formerly known as women’s support services, the Animal Shelter of Martha’s Vineyard and Women Empowered.

Well, we can’t say the warm weather is coming back anytime soon, but the trees and leaves look beautiful. Get out the ice scrapers and the snow shovels, the squirrels told me it’s going to be a long, cold one.