Celebrate the World Café at the Vineyard Haven library with “Quiche for a Cause” on Sunday, Dec. 22, from noon to 3:30 pm. Visit vendors Carolyn Stoeber for Peace Quilts, Linda Cohen for the Olive Branch, and Dawn Moran for the Invisible World. This is your chance to purchase handcrafted items to benefit people around the world. Refreshments will include a variety of quiches.
Downtown businesses offer free hayrides with Fred Fisher on Sunday, Dec. 22, from 11 to 2 between the Tisbury Marketplace and Soft as a Grape on Main Street.
Here is a special musical treat: On Monday, Dec. 23, at 2 pm, the Vineyard Haven library will screen the Island Community Chorus in its 2018 performance of Handel’s “Messiah.” Composed in 1741, it was first performed in 1742, and now is one of the favorite choral works in music. Refreshments will be served.
The West Tisbury Congregational Church presents the Christmas Pageant on Christmas Eve at the Ag Hall. An offering is collected to help those on the Island facing eviction, hunger, or emergencies. This year the church also asks for help to cover the fixed expenses, such as Ag Hall rental and traffic officers, at bit.ly/AgHallChristmas. All can all enjoy this holiday treat.
There is another chance to enjoy a Christmas Eve Children’s Pageant. This one is at 4 pm at the Federated Church in Edgartown. “The Mysterious Animal: Christmas in the Stable” is a pageant performed by children of Federated Church. All are welcome.
The Candlelight Service on Christmas Eve at the Federated Church begins at 9 pm. The traditional service includes the Bible story and Christmas music and hymns with the church choir. The 1828 Meetinghouse is decorated with wreaths and candles in the windows, and swags on the wall lamps. The program ends with “Silent Night” while the church is lit only by candles, given to each person at the service.
Until I went away to high school, Daddy and I enjoyed the short walk past two other houses and the church. We went down our slight hill to the Fire Station, where Daddy and I would select a tree. Then we put it on my sled and pulled it back up the hill to home. My first year away meant I could not get home early enough to get the tree.
My mother decided that need not be a problem. She was then running a dining room at Lord & Taylor’s in West Hartford. That year she was delighted to bring home one of their decorations. It was a funny-looking tree with white puffy branches, featuring big pink balls for decoration.
I don’t think she ever quite understood how depressing Daddy and I found this tree. But she did agree we could bring home a tree if we could find one. We had to settle for a slightly bedraggled fresh tree, the last on the lot at the Fire Station. I remember it was a big job to try to decorate this tree, hiding its many blemishes with lots of popcorn strings and extra lights. But we did it, and we all enjoyed the lovely pine smell when we entered the house that season.
Mark your calendars. Kids can enjoy crafts and movies during the holiday break at the Vineyard Haven library at 3 pm, scheduled Thursday and Friday, Dec. 26 and 27, then again the next week on Tuesday, Dec. 31, as well as Thursday and Friday, Jan. 2 and 3. Each of those days there will be a movie, and then a craft with a theme to match the movie. That does sound like fun.
Susan Klein has a grant from M.V. Community Services for six weeks for “Keeping it Light in the Dark Months.” Beginning Thursday afternoon, Jan. 9, through Feb. 13, Susan will guide memoir conversations at the Tisbury Senior Center from 1:30 to 3:30 for six weeks. Registration is required. Call 508-693-4140 for a chance to share wisdom, family traditions, and laughter with Susan Klein, focusing on the positive, having a little coffee and cake, maybe making a new friend or two.
Big bunches of birthday balloons go out tomorrow to Mattsen and Sutton Koster, twin sons of Karen Bradbury and Joe Koster.
Yeah, it`s really cool!