Wear your best PJs to bed this Friday night, and remember to set your alarm on the bright and early setting (a.k.a. 5 a.m.) because the 36th Early Bird Sale & Pajama Party is this Saturday, Nov. 23. And you know what that means ...  you have an excuse to stay in your jammies most of the day and go shopping! Early Bird really is a beautiful thing.

Some shop owners will be open at 6 a.m. and others an hour or two later. Check out the listings in this section of the paper to find out who's doing what and when. And, whatever you do, don't forget to sign up for the door prizes at each of your favorite stops.

Early Bird newcomers this year are Waves and Three Buoys Gifts & Souvenirs; Newcastle Realty joins as a new supporting business. Check out the list of participating businesses and their special discounts in this special section of the Boothbay Register / Wiscasset Newspaper.

Walking around town in-between stops to shop is tops for fun, isn't it? Sometimes we see friends and neighbors like we've not seen them before: in holiday or favorite nightgowns, dressing gowns, onesies, robes, and the slippers! Who knew critters and holiday characters would look so cool on a slipper?

Many families and groups of friends don matching PJs, and you can bet all of them will be taking photos in front of the Pot Buoy tree.

Holiday hats: From the traditional Santa and elf varieties (including those with poor old St. Nick with his head down a chimney and his black-booted feet waving in the air with no chance of rescue by one of his eight reindeer). Rudolph generally stays in the North Pole (unless weather conditions are poor, as you well know), teaching younger reindeer to embrace the things that make them different.

Occasionally over all these years, sometimes the older, er, veteran shoppers, just don't have the time to remove rollers and cold cream! It's all in good fun and a laugh.

Moving on ... shopping can be tiring. And local restaurant owners know this and are are offering breakfast for those who didn't have time to eat before flying to their cars.  

At press time, these are the tasty options offered: Brady's, at 25 Union St., is offering a Pancake Palooza from 8 to 10:30 a.m. There's a requested $10 donation for this breakfast fundraiser for the Class of 2026. Down the road a piece from Brady's, at number 50 is Mama D's Mercantile where Mama D (aka Lorie Demers) and company are serving up waffle specials all day and Early Bird breakfasts will be cooked up 7 a.m. - 1 p.m., and what a selection: waffle breakfast sandwiches, plain or strawberry waffles with cream. Toast and celebrate the day, this place we call home, and delicious food with $6 mimosas. Cheers!

Other local businesses offering breakfast this year are Waves on Commercial Street, downtown Boothbay Harbor, opening at 7 a.m.; and Woodsong on Townsend Avenue.

Farm 23 on Route 96/Ocean Point Road in Boothay Harbor is taking $1 off large coffees all day. Now that's fuel for shopping!

Here is the complete list (at press time): A Silver Lining, Ae Ceramics and Ae Home, The Barn, Black River Gallery, Boathouse Bistro Tapas Bar & Restaurant,  Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library, Boothbay Railway Village Museum, Calypso, The Cannery, Coastal Maine Popcorn, Eventide Specialties, Farm 23, Gimbel's Country Store, Harborside 1901 Bar & Grille, House of Logan, The Hutch, Janson's, Mama D's, Meadow Skincare & Esthetics, Mung Bean, Nathan's Pharmacy & Apothecary, Pedego Electric Bikes, Pier 1 Pizza, St. Andrews Thrift Shop, Sea Glass Spa, Sherman's, Slick's, Smiling Cow, Southport General Store, sweet bay, Tugboat/# Buoys, and Waves.

So, finish those lists and check them twice because before you know it you'll be up with the robins making for the front door because you're an early bird.