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JESSICA FINCH Associate Editor

• THE SPIRIT NEVER FAILS TO SHOW UP - After Monday's Amherst Town Board meeting, I had trouble sleeping, thinking about the fast-approaching holidays. It started a few hours earlier, when promptly at midnight I pulled onto my unplowed road - more than 24 hours after the weekend's storm stopped - and realized that in exactly one week it would be Christmas. My mind raced with the things I still wanted to do. I hadn't watched any of my favorite movies, I hadn't finished shopping and I still was scanning past the Christmas songs on the radio. But after the initial shock, I realized it would all come together. I knew the Christmas feeling would snap into place when my family sits in church on Christmas Eve, singing "Silent Night" with just the candlelight and then the next morning when my nieces arrive, frantically trying to explain to me what Santa had brought them. It's there when my cousin safely arrives from Wisconsin and when my grandma takes as many pictures as the roll will allow. It's there when my parents still get excited as we open the gifts from them, and it's there when we watch "The Christmas Story," for the 10th time.

I hope you all take time to slow down and appreciate the small things that make the holidays what they are. Have a wonderful Christmas.

• MOHAN FIRES BACK - Who would have thought Supervisor Satish Mohan had a bit of stand-up comedian in him? When Council Member Dan Ward presented a resolution titled "Renaming of So-Called Muir Woods Project," the members became a bit undone. In the resolution, which failed 5-2, he recommended renaming the project because its namesake, John Muir, was an environmentalist and using the name for a multiuse development was almost mocking. He suggested "The Lame Duck Barrens," or "Mohan's Mere Woods." Unfortunately for Ward, the town has no authority in regard to naming, except streets. It was after the town attorney informed the board of this and then after Council Member Deborah Bruch Bucki explained why she supported the resolution that Mohan attempted to explain, with an analogy, why it couldn't be done. "You have no right to tell a neighbor what the name of their baby will be," he said. At least the few attendees in the late hour got some comedy among the usual fighting. One person said after the meeting that the "show" was worth the admission price - I don't happen to agree. Even Mohan's quick-witted response to Ward's comparison of the supervisor to the late U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy isn't worth the five-hour ticket to sit in the drafty town hall. To those who missed it, Mohan said it didn't bother him that Ward included literature about McCarthy, who was infamous for his crude remarks and attempts at dictatorship. The supervisor simply stated, "You see in others what you see in yourself."

• REUNION - In honor of the Erie 1 BOCES 50th anniversary, the organization has launched a campaign to reconnect with alumni. Program graduates from the Harkness, Kenton and Potter career and technical centers and the Northtowns and Southtowns academies, adult workforce development and special education students are encouraged to visit the organization's Web site at www.e1b.org to register. By registering, alumni can share their stories and learn about the latest news and events.