Happy Hanukkah to our friends who celebrate the Festival of Light. As we conclude the eight-day observance we wish each of you Hanukkah sameach.

The members and friends of Hawleyville Volunteer Fire Company may have canceled the public Hawleyville tree lighting event last weekend, but I give credit to the HVFC members who wouldn’t give up completely. While organizers concluded on Saturday afternoon that weather was not going to be in their favor for late Sunday afternoon, bravo to those who persevered. A Facebook Live video popped up around 5 — right when the event would have been getting underway had Mother Nature cooperated — and there was Hawleyville’s ladder truck outlined in lights. Within a few minutes, viewers watching from the warm, dry location of their choice then watched as the tree outside the firehouse was indeed lit for the season. Right there in front of it was Santa, who still arrived in good cheer.

Happy baby news continues this week with congratulations to retired Newtown Bee Editor Nancy K. Crevier, who is a grandmother again. Nancy and husband Phil welcomed their second grandchild, a boy, born earlier this month to their daughter and son-in-law. I’ll let the Creviers share the details with you if you bump into them. I’m sure they’d be happy to pull up photos and show off the new member of the family.

Baby news will be big just after the new year, when we will be awarding a basket loaded with goodies to the parents of the First Baby of Newtown 2024. Keep us in mind if you’re expecting, or share the news with others who are due around that time. Managing Editor Shannon Hicks (shannon@thebee.com) will need to hear from parents by noon Tuesday, January 2, to be considered. We’ll roll that deadline over, of course, if we don’t hear from anyone immediately.

A car was wrapped last year during the NHS Band and Guard Holiday Gift Wrapping Fundraiser. It’ll be interesting to find out what this year’s biggest challenge turns out to be, and if you’d like to help the student musicians with their event head toward the high school this weekend. Wrapping will be underway Saturday and Sunday, 12-3 pm both days, in the Old Café at 12 Berkshire Road. Suggested donation is $2 for a small gift, $3 medium, $4 large, and $5 extra large. Appointments are not necessary. Proceeds will benefit the NHS Band & Guard operating budget, which supports both fall and winter programs.

Belated birthday wishes to Newtown Lions Club. According to this week’s Way We Were, 75 years ago November 30 an organizational meeting was held at The Hawley Manor for the purpose of establishing a local Lions chapter here in town. A special representative of Lions International, the District Governor, and two officers of the already-established Danbury Lions were all helpful during that meeting, which also included the first election of officers for the local club.

Newtown artist Doug Calderone continues to heal following a stroke earlier this year. Despite losing the use of his right hand, the self-taught carpenter has now taught himself how to paint with his left hand. If his name sounds familiar, you may remember reading about him when he had an art exhibition at C.H. Booth Library earlier this season. The library is now hosting some of his painted wood ornaments, as is the recently-opened Sentimenti on Queen Street. Rumor has it we’ll have another opportunity in the early new year to see more of his work at the library.

Norah Kolb has always had an affinity for competing in the water. A longtime swimmer and former Newtown High School standout, Norah continues to make quite a splash at the collegiate level. She picked up rowing upon arrival at Vanderbilt University this fall, and has been having a phenomenal season. As covered in a recent profile by Sports Editor Andy Hutchison, Norah had already picked up four team records by the end of November. We heard from her at the beginning of the week and she’s done it again! On December 8, Norah picked up the record for Overall 6000 on the ergometer. She now holds all five records for Vanderbilt Women’s Rowing. I think the Commodores are still celebrating this one down on the campus in Nashville.

The Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Christmas Trees Sale wrapped up again in just a few weekends this year. Firefighters finished this year’s fundraiser last Saturday afternoon — after just 2½ weekends of sales — so if you didn’t get to their main station by now, you’ll need to find your tree elsewhere this holiday season.

Bravo Todd Ingersoll, whose Ingersoll Auto of Danbury is sponsoring all six screenings of Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie later this month at Edmond Town Hall. Todd and his company have been doing free screenings every month since January 2013, but what makes these ones additionally special is the timing. The animated comedy-adventure is being presented at 45 Main Street Tuesday through Thursday, December 26-28 — the heart of winter break. Visit our online calendar (newtownbee.com/calendar) for times and other information, including the link to reserve tickets now.

A special collection for FAITH Food Pantry by Newtown Senior Center continues to Christmas Eve, with a different item requested each day. Remaining items are as follows: December 15, package of rice; December 16, package of oatmeal; December 17, package of pasta; December 18, spaghetti sauce; December 19, chicken noodle soup; December 20, tomato soup; December 21, can of corn; December 22, can of mixed vegetables; December 23, can of carrots; and December 24, can of green beans. Items can be dropped off at the senior center, 8 Simpson Street, weekdays between 9 am and 4 pm. Requests can be dropped off any time the center is open (including weekend items). Readers may also want to make note that the center will be closing at noon on Friday, December 22. It will then be closed until Tuesday, December 26, so you may want to plan ahead too. This cat thanks you for your generosity.

The Newtown High School basketball Nighthawks are also collecting for FAITH Food Pantry, this weekend. The NHS girls’ and boys’ basketball programs will host a canned food drive for the nondenominational pantry during their home games on Saturday, December 16. Games will be played throughout the day at 12 Berkshire Road, with girls varsity in action at 11 am, followed by junior varsity at 1 pm, boys JV at 2:30, and the boys’ varsity at 4 pm, ending around 5:30 pm. Guests are asked to consider bringing a donation with them. NHS students who show their student ID and offer a canned good will gain free entry to games throughout the day. The players themselves are also being encouraged to lead by example, by also donating a canned good and/or nonperishable as well.

Speaking of generosity and other good things, Camping World says our home state ranks in the top three for Christmas spirit! According to new research by the outdoor and camping gear retailer (hey, they need something to do in the off season!), New England reigns supreme, with Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut ranking in the top three, respectively. Further, Connecticut really loves Christmas trees, with 33,100 Google searches monthly for “Christmas tree shop”; the term “Christmas movies” accounts for 27,100 Google searches, and Constitution State residents have done 14,800 “Elf on the Shelf idea” searches during the same time frame. The study delved into Google search data analyzing over 100 Christmas and holiday-related terms, ranging from festive songs and movies to gift ideas and decoration inspirations in each state. Rankings were determined by cross-referencing these figures against state populations to provide an index score out of 100. Connecticut’s score was 88, New Hampshire reached 94, and Massachusetts set the bar at 100. (Which are the grinchiest states? Alaska, Mississippi and Arkansas residents have the hearts that need to grow three sizes, say the researchers.)

I’m going to wrap up here for the week and head toward the high school. The NHS Marching Band & Color Guard members must have some extra ribbon I can play with while they’re wrapping all those presents. Don’t get too wrapped up in everything and forget to come back next week, though. I will be here waiting for you to … read me again.