A Vineyard tradition during the darkest and coldest months of the year, churches from around the Island take turns providing community suppers at which all are always welcome, and the food is free.

At 4:30 a.m. on Saturday the day's newspapers arrived on the Quickwater, better known as the Patriot Boat. So did boxes of bagels bound for Espresso Love and Mocha Motts after being boiled to perfection at Cape Cod Bagel in Falmouth.

This weekend, at the annual alumni hockey games, it was once again time for the old (and not so old) guard to dust off their skates and once again hit the ice at the Martha's Vineyard Arena.

It was a year punctuated by visits from a president and right whales, the arrival of a roundabout and a reality television crew. Pieces of the past were restored and given new life while other parts of the Island changed irrevocably.

The year in weather saw average temperatures and rainfall, but heavy snowfall.

The Vineyard received a total of 36 inches of snow this year, almost a foot above average. A huge blizzard impacted most of the northeast corridor back in February. Boston received 25 inches of drifting snow, but only five inches fell in Edgartown. This remains the worst storm of the year, and on the mainland it approached the worst blizzard of the decade.