So there’s just a month before Christmas, but you would think it was next week the way national retailers have been flogging the airways with commercials. I get the impression that if it weren’t for the national election and all the political commercials this fall, the Christmas marketers would have been grinding out Christmas carols in September this year.

Floating along in this tidal wash of winter wonderland whoop-dee-doo this year is Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays. I’ve got plenty to be thankful for this year, but I think having Thanksgiving Day as a quiet oasis in the growing retail roar is what I’m most grateful for.

I’m not the only one out looking for a little peace in this busy world. While traveling through the Fairfield Hills core campus this week, I noted the large number of people who are using that area for walking, dog-walking, and general recreation. It’s getting more and more parklike all the time.

Not everything in nature is peaceful, however. Bette and Peter MacCarthy still get chills when they remember their sudden encounter with a low-flying owl on Sunday night while driving over the Mt Pleasant Road hilltop.

“We were heading home to Newtown from Danbury on Route 6 about 8 pm, and it was very dark and misty. Just as we reached the top of the hill, this huge bird flew out of nowhere from across the road and slammed right into Peter’s window. All we could see were huge white wings. It hit the car so hard the rear view mirror on the driver’s side was collapsed.” Though the MacCarthys were not injured, the owl was killed instantly, which Bette feels very bad about. “We had no way of knowing it was coming,” she said, and the owl, too, had no way of knowing they were coming. It was probably in the midst of its diving descent toward dinner and could not have stopped or swerved in time to avoid their car. Just one more example of why driving on Newtown’s semirural roads can be hazardous. If it’s not the deer or the turkeys crossing, it’s the owls swooping down in pursuit of prey.

It was 1979 — the year of Three Mile Island, Ayatollah Khomeini, and Margaret Thatcher. It was also the year John and JoAnne Klopfenstein were married. The Klopfensteins celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary last Saturday, and, no, John didn’t forget. In fact, Joanne now has a beautiful diamond pendant that will always help her remember that John remembered.

Sergeant John Cole of the Newtown Police Department was a man on a mission on Tuesday. The sergeant was carrying a large case of equipment and said that he would be doing some radar-based speed control work that day. Errant speeders beware, Sgt Cole seemed determined to find some violators.

The rear parking lot behind Edmond Town Hall seems like a different place these days. The large lot, which probably could hold about 75 vehicles, for many years was largely vacant. But now that the Newtown Savings Bank expansion project is underway, bank workers who had formerly parked behind the bank now park in the town hall’s rear lot. On some days there are about 50 vehicles parked there.

An inflatable turkey has taken the place of Jeffrey the giraffe in a barn window on Obtuse Road. A new Jeffrey, which replaced one that disappeared shortly after being featured on a front page of The Newtown Bee this past summer, now peeks out of an adjacent window.

Just so I don’t come off like a complete Scrooge, I have to admit there are many things that come with the Christmas season that I await with great anticipation. This year I am looking forward to hearing the Newtown Choral Society sing carols on Main Street during the Family Counseling Center’s Holiday Festival December 5. The society’s president, Laura Lerman, has invited all former members to join in the caroling. Call Laura at 426-3769 if you would like to participate.

There are 29 more days until Christmas, but just seven more days until we can meet back here again, so be sure to…

Read me again.