We are gathered on the porch, exchanging presents, sharing some champagne and crackers too.

An edited selection from Gazette nature editorials in the past year.

My New Year’s resolutions/Are soon forgotten delusions/About who I could be.

It was the year 1945 and I was the lighthouse keeper’s daughter at Cuttyhunk Island Lighthouse, where my father kept the light located at the western end of the island.

In 1920 the children of West Tisbury were thinking big when they wrote their letters to Santa.

On Christmas Eve when snow was thick, To Martha’s Vineyard came St. Nick, And all his reindeer wearing masks.