I’d like to take a moment to say, “Welcome to Newtown!” to the group of visiting high-profile dignitaries from the Chinese Ministry of Education. The group had Newtown as one of its stops on Thursday, December 9, while visiting the state, and toured Newtown High School. The high school was offered as a point of interest by the state of Connecticut’s Department of Education, according to Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson. As I understand it, the delegation also toured Yale University in New Haven, so we were in good company. I have no doubt that it was an enjoyable tour and that the delegation will take back some good observations on our educational facilities in the state.

The gala celebration of Newtown’s first literary magazine, The Newtowner, takes place at the C.H. Booth Library this Saturday evening, December 11, beginning at 6 pm. It will be a great opportunity to meet all of the local people who have helped pull this new venture together, and the artists who have contributed to the first edition. If you haven’t already registered for the kick-off event, be sure to sign up at the library events page at www.chboothlibrary.org.

(The Newtowner editor, Georgia Monaghan, reminds me, too, that the magazine is now soliciting works for the second issue of the magazine, which will come out March 1. Deadline is January 1.. If you write, paint, draw, or dabble in photography, check out the guidelines at thenewtownermagazine.com.)

I know it’s going to be hard for you to pick, but also on Saturday evening, beginning at 7:30 pm, is the annual Newtown Choral Society concert, at the Meeting House on Main Street. Tickets are just $10 and available at the door for this program that is sure to put you in the holiday spirit. The local singers have been working diligently, under the direction of Mary Andreotta, to present new and familiar carols, as well as Matthew Harris’s score for A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas.

Adding to the conundrum, St Rose of Lima parishioners invite everyone to join them for their Living Nativity, which will return to the stable just off the west side of the church’s parking lot on Saturday. The outdoor program will begin around 6:30 pm, after the 5:30 Mass, and will include live animals (surely there was a cat in that stable) and church members playing the roles of angels, shepherds, kings, Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus. Caroling follows the presentation, which is always quite enjoyable. Hot chocolate and cookies will then be served in the Gathering Hall. Snow date would be Sunday, December 12, around 1, following noon Mass.

Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company has sold just over half of the 300 Christmas trees it had available for its annual Christmas Tree Sale, but there is still time to bag one for your living room. Vermont-grown balsam and Fraser firs are available, starting at $45 for one about five feet tall. Cathedral-size trees are also available, as are all sizes in between. Kissing balls, cemetery boxes, pine roping, and three sizes of wreaths can be purchased at the firehouse, as well. Company members staff the sale Monday through Friday, from 6 to 9 pm, and each Saturday and Sunday, from 9 am until 9 pm. The event, which is a fundraiser for the company, began on November 27, and will continue until Christmas Eve, or until the stock is sold out.

Our new intern, NHS junior Emily Ashbolt, was pretty excited to see her first story in print, last week, in The Newtown Bee. Emily covered the awards given to our Reed Intermediate and Head O’ Meadow School health instructors, Michelle Failla and Steven Dreger. We are pretty excited to have Emily on our staff, too. Look for more of her stories in upcoming issues of the paper. Welcome, Emily!

Lots of our local book clubs have contributed to a story in this week’s Enjoy section, sharing what they are reading. Be sure to read it there, or check it out on The Bee’s Facebook page this week, too, where you can comment and share your favorite good reads. And if you are as curious as a cat about what our teachers at the high school are reading, I noticed that there is a new addition to the school’s library media site, as announced by Principal Chip Dumais. “Teacher’s Pick” will feature a weekly book recommendation from teachers and staff of the high school.

The shimmering fish with scales made out of CDs, created by Hannah Fitzgerald and Jesse Sailer for the NMS annual Scarecrow contest this fall, has swum upstream to a new home. “Blue Fish, Blue Fish, What Do You Scare?” is now on display in the Hartford Children’s Museum on Trout Brook Drive in West Hartford, I’m told by Hannah’s dad, Kevin. First it was fortune — the $528 collected through votes that the girls donated to CAN and to FAITH Food Pantry — and now it’s fame.

Jeanette Lasher has her own claim to fame. She single-handedly improved the balance of payments to the country of Vietnam, since her hiking and walking tour there a few weeks ago. Their local Economic Policy Board recently sent her a “Thank You” note and a “Welcome Back Next Year” invitation. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that her baggage was 100 pounds overweight on her return trip, making the purchase of a second suitcase necessary….

Hawleyville “Talking Post Office Blues” songwriter Tom Dwyer is singing a new tune next Friday, December 17, according to my secret source. He’ll be belting out “Happy Birthday To Me” that day, celebrating eight decades of good living. Happy birthday, Tom!

I’m not the songwriter that Tom is, but I’ll be singing my own “Meowing Columnist Blues” next week, unless I know that I can count on you to…. Read me again.