Afternoon Update: 12:30 p.m.

Snow!

The snowstorm has closed, cancelled or delayed most everything in town today – except our police, fire and Public Works Dept. 

Lexington Police Capt. Joseph O' Leary suggests residents stay off the roads unless it's absolutely necessary – and if driving is necessary, use common sense. "Give the DPW time to clean the roads," he said.

O'Leary said police are patrolling and officers are at the station, so call if you need a police officer.

Lock Your Car

I asked Capt. O'Leary about the recent car break-ins.

"They were all over," he said of the Dec. 23 incidents that hit Webb, Lowell, Fourth, Cottage, Maple, Woburn, Young and Locust streets; Highland Ave.; Buckman and Winchester drives; and a host of other streets on both sides of Mass Avenue.

"Most appear to be crimes of opportunity," he said. The perpetrators are walking through the neighborhood at night and opening unlocked car doors and taking laptops, loose change, iPods, cells phones and GPS devices.

O'Leary's advice: "Lock your car."

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Morning Post: 5:45 a.m.

Hanukkah, Christmas and all the fairs and festivals that accompanied the holidays are over for another year. (We do still have Lexington Symphony's New Year's Eve Gala at Cary Hall.) This week we walk toward the promise of a new year and, for some, new beginnings.

It's fitting we'd edge to 2011 with a blizzard forecasting more than 20 inches of snow, enough to keep many of us inside near a cozy fireplace or bundled under a blanket watching as the icy white flakes drift by our windows. (I'm praying the winds don't take down the tree behind my house – or yours.)

Keeping with that thought, I foraged through my favorite  Edwin B. Worthen book looking for January occurrences. There are only a few. I suspect, without central heating, our ancestors stayed inside to keep warm.

On Jan. 6, 1840, officials voted to fence the "Common" or Battle Green with stone posts and rails. The projected cost was a whopping $350. Of course, we know how that goes. I have to wonder if the cost, as with our other projects, didn't creep beyond original estimates.

On Jan. 15 that year, Lexington was blessed and hit with a tragedy. The newly built Follen Church was dedicated that day – but it's namesake, the Rev. Charles Follen, perished when the steamer, aptly named Lexington, burned off Long Island Sound. Although he died, Follen church still stands in his memory.

The Follen story seemed an apt lesson for the coming year – for me anyway. May we rejoice in all that is great in this incredible town, accept our difficulties (yes, we have them) and learn our lessons wherever possible.