People visiting the village of Edgartown this weekend may feel as if they’ve stepped through a magic portal into a world of Christmas past that is one part Charles Dickens novel and one part Frank Capra movie.

With the return of Christmas in Edgartown, a longtime tradition that had largely faded until recently, there will be children jingle-belling, marshmallows for toasting and much mistletoe-ing.

So be of good cheer — because as organizers of the holiday extravaganza will tell you, this truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

The smoke may have cleared from the controlled burn performed by the U.S. Navy last Wednesday on Noman’s Land, but questions remain this week as to whether more could have been done to alert the public and prevent the confusion that led to a barrage of calls to the Island communications center.

Officials at the Dukes County communications center last week received between 50 to 100 calls while the fire burned on Noman’s, the small uninhabited island off the southern coast of Chilmark.

Island emergency officials were inundated with
calls from concerned residents Wednesday afternoon after a haze of smoke
and ash descended on the Island from a brush fire on Noman’s Land, the small uninhabited island off the southern coast
of Chilmark.

The fire was part of a
controlled burn started by the U.S. Navy to clear away underbrush and
expose unexploded ordinances left on Noman’s during
training exercises over the past five decades. Noman’s
Land is part of the town of the town of Chilmark, but is owned by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.