Last year, as we all recall, we had a white Thanksgiving, which led to a white Christmas, white New Year’s, white Groundhog Day, white Valentine’s Day, white St Patrick’s Day and quite nearly a white Easter and Fourth of July. Notwithstanding what the wishbone promised me last week, it appears that Old Man Winter may show up early for the party once again this year. At midweek, forecasters were talking about a Nor’easter by Friday evening. The only question is whether the snow will frost the tree lighting festivities in the Ram Pasture on Friday night.

A little snow on the ground, however, always pretties up the Holiday Festival, provided the sidewalks and parking lots are shoveled. There really are nothing quite like the holidays in New England.

The Carolan family knows this. They brought their turkey dinner with them when they traveled to Ireland over Thanksgiving to celebrate the holiday with their son Chris, who is studying at the University College of Dublin. Thanksgiving isn’t an Irish holiday so when the Carolans learned that turkey was a hard-to-find commodity in Ireland –– one purveyor wanted $12 a pound, unplucked –– they packed frozen birds and brought them over on American Airlines in their luggage.

“It was okay with the airlines but we weren’t sure we’d get through customs,” Doree said. “We didn’t have a problem, however.”

Dorrie and Kevin, their son Kevin Jr, and daughter Erin flew to Ireland with Chris’s friend, John Cummings. They were joined in Dublin by John Fiscella, who came from London where he is attending college. Dorrie said the dinner was a success despite the fact that there was no pumpkin pie. “We couldn’t even find a bakery,” she said.

The trip was an exciting one beyond the fact that they were in Ireland for a week. Leaving a restaurant the first evening, some members of the family were outside when they the spotted a purse-snatcher running down the street. Immediately Kevin Jr, 21, dashed across the street and tackled the culprit. Both crashed into a bank window, then fell onto the sidewalk where Kevin tried to hold the purse-snatcher down.

“It happened so fast,” Dorrie said. “I ran across the street and tried to help Kevin. I was so frightened, first because I thought they would go through the window, then because I thought he would hurt Kevin.” Within seconds two Italian tourists, who had been chasing the purse-snatcher, arrived and within three minutes the police were there as well to make the arrest.

Kevin’s actions were brave, Dorrie said, but that was more than enough excitement for her. “I told him that if we are going to be [in Ireland] for five more days, he had to stay out of trouble,” she said. “I didn’t want to spend the time in a hospital or in a police station.”

Susan Shaw’s family did a little traveling recently, too –– back in time. They visited Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Mass. Susan said her entire family found the visit educational and all-around “interesting.”

The plantation itself is the same as it was in the 17th Century, resplendent with a Pilgrim Village. Village staff portrayed colonial life. The Shaw family also enjoyed seeing a full-scale reproduction of the Mayflower and of course, Plymouth Rock! Interested families should visit www.plimothplantation.com.

Emmie Farrell was spotted sitting on his Main Street front porch on Thanksgiving Day, which was confirmation for all passers-by that the New York Giants weren’t playing football. Emmie is a die-hard Giants fan who hates to miss a single play.

The Visiting Nurse Association started its annual holiday boutique in its thrift shop at the back of Edmond Town Hall this week. The shop looks very good thanks to Jill Collins and Gloria Van Oy, who decorated it for the holidays.

Lillian Strickler, who was sworn in as a member of the Board of Assessment Appeals last Sunday, remembers that her first impressions of Newtown were good ones when she and her husband, Bill, were looking for a home in the area 30 years ago. She said they liked the look of Main Street. “But,” she said, “I thought the name of the town was Edmond. I looked up at the town hall and it said ‘Edmond Town Hall,’ so of course I thought we were in the Town of Edmond.”

As if to further confuse the issue of the town’s identity, I hear the Board of Education is now referring to the proposed “academy” it wants to build for 400 or 500 high school students as “Fairfield Academy.” What’s up with that? Let Fairfield build its own academy. It’s bad enough that we’ve got “Hills” named Fairfield, where the town has offices in “Canaan House,” and is contemplating moving the town hall to “Shelton House.”

Let me think out of the box for a moment here and proposed that we call it “Newtown Academy.” You know, there is a precedent for that. Or if we really do want to be obscure, we could always call it “Edmond Academy.”

Well, I’ll be back in next week’s edition of The Fairfield …er, The Edmond… no wait, The Newtown Bee, so be sure to…

Read me again.