You can’t say Newtown residents aren’t creative or have no sense of humor. I was amused while reading through a very unofficial online survey last week in which someone asked how the former police department headquarters and Town offices building at 3 Main Street should be repurposed. Local voters approved the sale of the building, also formerly known as Town Hall South, in November. We haven’t heard anything official since then, but that doesn’t mean people haven’t been thinking about the location. One person suggested turning the 10,500-square-foot building into a video rental store. “We don’t have a single one in town,” they jokingly added. A bowling alley, senior housing, fish market, cheese and specialty store, traffic monitoring station, an ax throwing and billiards center, an outdoor rink that could be used for ice skating in the winter and a roller rink in warmer months were also among the suggestions. There were multiple suggestions for teen center, and even the long-wished-for hope of hosting a Trader Joe’s in this town.

It’s good to know we at The Bee are not alone in keeping a few Christmas decorations up. Our wreaths are still welcoming visitors as they enter our building. Shannon Hicks needed to drive to Bethel on Monday morning, and said she got a kick out of seeing two neighbors who still had plenty of lights and inflatable displays in their yards. She has always been a fan of keeping her tree and decorations up through what she calls “extended Epiphany,” so she was really tickled to see the extended extended presentation Monday morning.

For those who still need a 2025 calendar (and clearly, some folks do), we found a forgotten stash of 2025 Newtown Bee calendars late last week. A few dozen calendars are now on the front counter just inside our front door. Stop in weekdays when you see our lights on (generally 8 am-5 pm, earlier and later by chance).

The calendars were left in the back seat of someone’s vehicle while they went on vacation in the Dominican Republic, suffered food poisoning severe enough to spend 24 hours in an emergency clinic, and then returned to work recently. Reporter Sam Cross said she meant to turn the calendars in well before she went on her big adventure a few weeks ago, but something tells me she was mentally in the Caribbean well before she and her friend left town. We’re glad Sam is safely home, and recovered.

Three readers identified the people in last week’s Way We Were photo. I feel confident the four people shown in the photo from the 1984 Newtown United Methodist Church groundbreaking event are Boyd Saxton, Effie Berglund, Malcolm Reventlow and Edith Berglund Tenney. That’s the order those people are standing, left to right, if you go back and look at the picture. Thank you very much to Pat Tenney, Gail Charney Bresson and Sandra Brown, who all reached out with those names. We’ll add those names to the photo before it’s put back into our archives.

I’m offering a Good Egg Award this week to the anonymous person(s) who left some lovely decorations at The Pleasance during the holiday season. When the lights and bows were recently removed from the gazebo and fountain at 1 Main Street, it was decided that these gifts would also be removed from the elements. A pair of battery-operated lanterns are now safely inside our office at 5 Church Hill Road. We aren’t sure if they were meant to be a permanent gift or a holiday loan. If the owner is reading this and would like the lanterns returned, please visit our office within the next few weeks. We loved the gift. We’d like to return them if that was the intent. If not, we’ll put them away with the rest of the office decorations and have them for the holidays later this year.

It’s Girl Scout Cookie Season 2025! The annual campaign began January 24, with Girl Scouts across the country fanning out with order forms and details about returning and new cookie flavors. If you already know a Girl Scout and you’re ready to place an order, you’re in luck. Cookies are $6/box this year. If not, you still have a few options to purchase the seasonal confections. Booth sales in Connecticut begin March 22, which I will of course keep tabs on even though they have still not responded favorably to my request for catnip flavored cookies. If you can wait until mid-March, we’ll see Girl Scouts of all ages setting up their tables and booths around town then. As the schedule is posted, I’ll keep you informed on the when and where you can find the girls, their leaders, and the cookie sales. Believe it or not, if you really need an earlier delivery of Girl Scout cookies, you can order them online! Visit GSofCT.org and then click on the cookie (a Samoa) along the top of the page, where you’ll see the digital option and can order any combination of cookies that you’d like. You should note, however — just in case it’s important to you — online sales will not benefit any of the Newtown troops.

Valentine’s Day is just a few weeks away, as evidenced by the growing displays of reds and pinks, hearts, candies, flowers and other items that represent love and February 14. Hearts of Hope-Newtown and American Legion Post 202 held its final pre-Valentine’s Day Paint With A Purpose on Wednesday, when all ages painted their palm-sized ceramic hearts with positive images and/or simple messages. Those gifts will be sent to multiple military locations for timely distribution as part of this year’s local Valentines For Troops effort, and we’ll have some nice photos from the event in next week’s paper.

Whether you were at Wednesday’s Hearts of Hope event or not, there is still time to participate in the 2025 Valentines For Troops effort. Newtown Youth & Family Services continues to work with the local American Legion Post, and organizers are hoping to surpass last year’s 200 valentines collected. Valentines were received from individuals, as well as from BrightPath Newtown Child Care Center, Christ the King Church Sunday School, New Milford Junior Girl Scout Troop 40037, Sarah Noble Intermediate School, St Rose School and Wesley Learning Center. If you’d like to participate, you can create or purchase a valentine and write a nice note in that card. Then deliver it to NYFS at 15 Berkshire Road by 5 pm Friday, February 7, and your effort will be part of the growing collection.

Regardless of what Punxsutawney Phil or Beardsley Bart predict when they temporarily emerge from hibernation Sunday morning, I feel comfortable with this projection: I’ll be here next week, when you too can come back and … read me again.