The last day of the year wanted to make sure we did not forget 2009, it seems, with a somewhat surprising morning snowfall December 31 that left streets slick and lots of cars struggling to stay on their own sides of the road. That ushered in a very chilly New Year that is promising to make us remember that this is winter in New England.

 I’m cozying up to the fireplace, that’s for sure, except for next Monday, January 11, when I’ll head over to the Newtown Congregational Church for the blood drive. This is the 40th year that January has been recognized as National Blood Donor Month. With one out of ten patients admitted to the hospital needing blood, every donation is important. Walk-ins are welcome at the January 11 blood drive, or make an appointment by calling 800-GIVE-LIFE, or visit GiveLife.org. For more information about this event, call the church office at 203-426-9024.

Here’s something to warm you up from the inside out: the pasta dinner organizers at UMC decided that the New Year’s weekend would be too hectic for most folks to attend the monthly dinner. January’s pasta dinner will take place this coming Saturday, January 9, downstairs of the United Methodist Church, instead. The same great meatballs, sauces, salads, and desserts as are usually served the first weekend of the month will be on the menu, and you can look forward to some great folk music following dinner. Doors open at 5 pm, and the whole dinner is just $9 for adults, $8 for senior citizens, and $3.50 for children.

This Saturday also, NHS students will be collecting new and gently used books to support a sister school in Uganda through the Invisible Children Organization. The book drive will take place from 10 am to 3 pm, in the St Rose parking lot on Church Hill Road. Invisible Children partners US and Ugandan schools and supports effort to reverse the hardships of the long-lasting Ugandan war. I’m sure that all of the snowy days and vacation days have given you time to power through those piles of books you wanted to read. Wouldn’t it be nice to share them with others now?

This week’s Board of Selectmen’s meeting provided a little more insight into the operations and drawbacks of the new integrated microphone system in the council chambers at Newtown’s Municipal Center. While the “chairman’s” microphone can apparently be activated, and will remain live until it is turned off, it seems several other microphones are on tight timers that abruptly turn off after a minute or two. This was particularly frustrating when Selectmen Will Rodgers and Bill Furrier were trying to make involved technical points about the local capital improvement (CIP) bonding process. The mics kept shutting them off midsentence, forcing the selectmen to stop and reactivate the system every few moments. At one point Mr Rodgers solicited a few chuckles from the audience after he exclaimed, “I hate this thing...the microphone, not the CIP. But give me time!”

Cindy and Joe Vacaro are bidding farewell to Newtown High School in a very special way this year. With their third and final child in his senior year there, these Newtown parents have committed to attending one of each athletic event this year in support of the Nighthawks family, which they have been a part of for so many years. So far, I’ve spotted Joe and/or Cindy at son Tony’s soccer games this fall (of course), basketball, football, and most recently, a swim meet where they enthusiastically cheered on several of Tony’s classmates. Hip, hip, hooray for these NHS parents!

For the past several years, former NHS swim coach Brian Rieff, now coach at Brookfield High School, and Newtown High School swim coach Matt Childs have dedicated the annual highly charged Brookfield/Newtown swim meet to the late NHS swimmer Greg Chion, whom Coach Rieff mentored. Donations are accepted at the door to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in memory Greg, who passed away from leukemia in 2000, during his senior year. At the January 5 meet, Coach Rieff emotionally announced that to date, the meets have raised more than $8,000.

I understand that 2005 NHS graduate Jessica Gaddis’s art exhibit will have an extended stay at the Blue Z Coffee House on South Main Street, just in case you haven’t had a chance yet to stop by and view her work.

If Jessica’s work inspires the artist in you, senior citizens looking to make good use of spare time might want to consider lending a creative hand at the Newtown Senior Center, Tuesday mornings, at 10 am. That’s when Cards For Our Troops meets, and the regulars at the center are looking for some additional help making special valentine cards to be mailed out early next month to troops overseas. Call 203-270-4310 for more information, or just stop by.

I’m feeling a chill. Time to steal someone’s Snuggie and curl up in front of a good movie — by the way, if you want to know which movies this past decade your neighbors think were in the Top Ten, visit The Newtown Bee Facebook page this week. Then next week, don’t forget to…. Read me again.