First to the joy. For some, that word is all but put away post-Christmas, when it has been all around, in song, on wrapping paper and in our hearts.

But joy can appear year round, and it will be found at Winterfest at Wiscasset Community Center.

As we have reported over the years, sometimes there has been little to no snow for Winterfest, but, like Christmas in Whoville in Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," Winterfest came anyway. And if the forecasts hold, the snow we have gotten and will get will have plenty of cold to preserve it for Winterfest 2026 goers.

This is closest I will come to saying anything positive about cold weather, or winter at all. 

Winterfest is Jan. 24-Feb. 1. See page 4 or wiscassetnewspaper.com. Show up if you could use some joy right about now, and/or would en-joy being part of making joy for others through your participation in the events that benefit Cooper-DiPerri Scholarship Fund. The fund helps people take part in Parks and Recreation Department programs.

Which segues nicely into the thankfulness, after a week that had law enforcement agencies responding to a pair of bizarre shooting incidents and a fraud case that spanned Boothbay Register/Wiscasset Newspaper's coverage areas. We're thankful no one was home in one shooting; no one who was home got shot in the other shooting; the alleged fraud attempt was discovered; and we have local police and sheriff's departments who keep going until they have done everything possible to make residents, and their money, safe.