A fabulous variety show, tree decorating, book clubs, and activities galore from Project Most.

Bill Evans, chief meteorologist at WLNG Radio and the National Weather Service, was at least honest about the likelihood of a white Christmas on the East End this year. "Eleven percent chance," he said apologetically, adding, "That's why, when Bing sings, he says, 'I'm dreaming of a white Christmas.' He's dreaming of it!"

Saint Augustine points to the early Christians’ tradition of celebrating Christmas in the winter as anything but coincidental. In the Northern Hemisphere, we have just passed the darkest day of the year and now move into a period of ever-increasing light and a new year brimming with hope and enthusiasm.

Christmas was a new experience when I married into a local family and settled in Amagansett in the early 1960s. Neither my upbringing, which was secular and Jewish, nor my college years or gad-about life in New York City as a young woman of bohemian leanings had been at all Kris Kringle-y.