The Somerville Times staff will be taking a week off, with no publication on Wednesday, December 27. Our print edition will be back on January 3 of next year. Meanwhile, we will still be online at www.thesomervilletimes.com.

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Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a very Happy New Year in 2018 to all our readers both in print and on social media as well as on our website. We hope everyone has a great holiday with their family and friends. A very blessed New Year for 2018. The annual celebration of the raising of the first American flag will be on January 1, as usual, up at Prospect Hill.

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Union Square Sip and Stroll is this Thursday, 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., sponsored by Queen of Swords, Forestbound Bag and Luggage Co., Loyal Supply, Gracie’s Ice Cream and Janji. There are some amazing things happening in Union Sq. this season. Join your favorite local independent retailers for their first annual Sip and Stroll and get your holiday shopping done in Union Sq. – with a drink in your hand. Queen of Swords, Loyal Supply, Forestbound, Gracie’s Ice Cream and Janji will host a multi-location holiday party. Each location will be hosting special offers, holiday drinks and festive activities.

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This past week we did a story on a person who once worked for Buddy’s Truck Stop on Washington Street. One correction (thanks to Dave for letting us know), Buddy’s Truck Stop was not a train car, it was lunch car, built by the Worcester Lunch Car Company in 1929. Great people on the weekends, especially Jose as a short order cook.

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For those that might be interested in obtaining certification for firearms should look up the Lawrence Rod & Gun Club, they give an extensive class program at the end of which you receive certification for Massachusetts/NRA Certified Firearm Safety Classes. They run a class once a month which is limited to 10 people and we hear that this is the place to go to learn safety when handling guns. Email gunclub@earthlink.net for more information and or go to their website at www.lawrencerodandgunclub.org and read up about the course. We’ve been told that the course has seen a major increase in people applying for it, especially women, we can tell you first hand here that it’s a great course and through. The club has informed us that many residents of Somerville have called or gone to the club to find out about certification.

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Hopefully in 2018, the “Winter Hill Yacht Club for Criminals” – which still has convicted felons as members of the club – will become a public marina for the use of all the residents of Somerville. We can’t understand why a club that rents from the STATE that beautiful piece of land which has a huge fence around it – not to mention a gate to keep out residents, we guess – can still occupy the premises? We understood that the lease to DCR states that no criminals can be members or is that the club rules? We get confused sometimes. We also understood that over 90% of the membership doesn’t even live here in the city and we know many from the city have applied but must wait their turn. Maybe it’s because they don’t have a criminal record. That might be a reason the club won’t open its membership. Just saying. There needs to be an investigation by someone on their membership list and their applications. We raised this question before and we will keep raising it until the club cleans up its act. Again, we hope that the club will become a public marina for the residents of Somerville, especially now that 90% of the current club lives outside the city. We think the gates should be open to all here in Somerville, maybe when the lease is up that will happen. We think the DCR should take back the lease and make it a public marina for the residents of Somerville to use and enjoy for free. We ask the DCR to take down that gate at the so-called club for non-residents and those with criminal records.

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The Somerville Times Best of Somerville voting is finished (results on page 3) and congratulations to all those that won this year. To the many people who sent in their ballots and or phoned them in, we thank you for your votes.

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We hear that a certain someone is going to be getting some court orders very soon over some FAKE news they put out this past year. We all know who it is who has been downright and nasty to many here in the city.

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The Council on Aging’s Annual Toy Drive for Local Children continues through Friday, December 22. Donation boxes for new, unwrapped toys are available at all municipal buildings and will be distributed to children in Somerville families for the holiday season. The last day to drop off toys is December 22.

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President William A. White, Jr. has cancelled the Regular Meeting of the Board of Aldermen previously scheduled for Thursday, December 28, at 7:00 p.m. The next meeting of the Board of Aldermen is the Organizational Meeting scheduled for Monday, January 1, at 5:00 p.m., in the Aldermanic Chambers, City Hall. The next Regular Meeting of the Board of Aldermen is the Regular Meeting scheduled for Thursday, January 11, at 7:00 PM, in the Aldermanic Chambers, City Hall.

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In its annual tradition, the City of Somerville will kick off the New Year on Monday, January 1, 2018, with a reenactment ceremony for the 242nd anniversary of the “Grand Union” flag-raising ceremony at Prospect Hill Park. A processional led by a re-enactor portraying General George Washington on horseback will leave from the City Hall Concourse at 11:30 a.m., followed by a ceremony at Prospect Hill Park. As always, members of the public are invited to participate, and are encouraged to wear traditional colonial clothing. The annual ceremony commemorates the raising of the nation’s first official flag, featuring thirteen red and white horizontal stripes, atop Prospect Hill on New Year’s Day, 1776. At the time, Prospect Hill was a key site in a string of fortifications created by Washington and the Continental Army in their siege of British troops in Boston during the first year of the American Revolution. The afternoon’s program will include songs, and remarks by participants from the Charlestown and Rhode Island Militia, and the Ancient and Honorable Company (first chartered in 1638). His Majesty’s 10th Regiment of Foot, representing the British Army, will bring a message from King George III.  Brigadier General Richard Johnson for Massachusetts, and the American Legion Post 19 Honor Guard will lead a military salute as a commemorative flag is raised atop the Prospect Hill Tower.