Christmas Countdown - 2012

[sugar142286]

Why hello all! New year new countdown thread! Boy oh boy I cant wait for Christmas 2012. Yes some may think we are crazy but what do they know eh? As Charlie Brown said. Good grief! Well I have been away for a bit. Whoops! But you all know, this time of year eh? Normally Id access the board and post away and read posts. That time was at work! lol yes at work. Now I am in training and I don't have the access to do that. Also its Christmas time. Busy busy! Weekend before Christmas I visited my Mom and we had Christmas there. Weekend of Christmas we stayed home and the in-laws came for dinner. This weekend we went to my Dads to celebrate it there. Busy time of year I tell ya! Santa, and my Wife were very good to me this year. Hope everyone had a merry Christmas. Now we can celebrate it all over again! How about that! This week the lights and tree will be coming down. For some reason I'm not sad. But I do know that in less then a year, 10 months, it will all come back again. I'm going to go watch a movie. Ill be lurking around for a little while! Also I never got my cookbook yet. I paid for it and ordered it. Still not here. Anyone else in Canada get theirs yet? Was supposed to be a gift for my Wife.

Good to hear from you! Glad you had a wonderful Christmas! Happy New Year to you and your family.

 

[nmc42088]

My mom offered to put my Christmas books in the attic with the rest of the Christmas things. I said no I would keep them down here all year...They are nice to read on the beach in July.

Tonight I am going to the mall. Hopefully the mall still has some of their decorations up, which will keep me in a good mood. It will be very chilly here in South NJ tomorrow so I'm thinking I will be listening to Christmas music. :!!

 

[sugar142286]

I've been summoned so here it is....this year's post goal for the Christmas Countdown is...

0

Huh? Let me 'splain. This has actually been on my mind alot.

The Christmas Countdown thread is a wonderful tradition. I dare say it has become the heart and soul of our Christmas together. I don't want to do anything to take away from the great things that happen here.

But I do have a responsibility to the overall community and it is in that vein that I address this issue of a post goal and the Countdown thread in general.

First of all, if we want a post goal, let's decide together what it should be. If it is a fun thing for the majority who come here then let the majority decide what it will be.

But for me, speaking on behalf of the general Christmas community overall, I say a goal is not necessary. This is a great thread already and the new year is but a day old. Can you really attach a numeric value to "special"?

For those deeply embedded in this thread and invested in the culture of the community within it this thread is very much a daily devotional. I think that's awesome.

But for new folks coming on this thread is a monster. I get messages about it all the time. It chases some folks away just because they feel like intruders or simply too late to the party to contribute.

I don't want anyone's feelings hurt by that statement. That's just the way it is perceived by some. You should know that. I believe all here, not only in this thread but overall on the site, so very welcoming. Great efforts are made to extend the warmest of welcomes.

But when you look at this thread in particular there are days when it is just too much to plow through and folks feel compelled into thinking they must try, though they really don't have to.

I understand this feeling. I made a good effort last year to immerse myself into this thread and I just failed miserably. Most conversations elude me on the forums, especially as we get closer to Christmas. It is just the nature of my duties and the dual life I lead, not anyone's fault here.

Each year, and this year is no different, we spend the month of January evaluating our efforts and planning out our new year. One of my goals for this year is to strengthen our forum areas and I can tell you now to expect some significant changes. No, not to this thread. But to the forums overall. My job is and remains to continue to work the site for what is best for the overall Christmas community and the changes we always make are made with that in mind.

So I'm asking for the good folks in this thread to give feedback. I'm not asking for change to the countdown and the fun here. I just want you to consider the impact of this thread growing like it does and how it gets there.

If you go through the 30,000+ posts of 2011 you'll notice a plethora of Christmas topics shared, explored, and linked in the countdown thread. There's a lot of the daily fun stuff that the countdown thread is beloved for but buried within those folds is lots of great Christmas information that a lot of Christmas lovers can't get to or don't get to because they either aren't invested in the thread or don't want to dig through it all to find it.

In fact, we have some folks, myself included, who double post information so that the countdown audience sees and that so that everyone else does as well.

I'm asking that for the countdown this year we carry-on, as we have always done, in the countdown activities, the sharing of daily lives and trials, hopes and wishes. But if you have Christmas specific information you consider venturing out of the countdown to the appropriate areas to share it with everyone. If you want to talk about lights or decorations, put it there and link to it in your countdown posts. If you want to talk about movies, put it in the movie area and link to is in your countdown posts. If you want to talk about coffee, music, books, Santa, or anything Christmas specific that fits in another forum area do it there and link to it here in your daily discussions.

This is real Christmas sharing. And I think it might make the countdown more accessible to folks who are new to it and wondering how to become a part of it.

Please don't be offended by these comments as they are not criticism in any way. I love what happens here and want to make this more accessible to the community at large. But I think it would be awesome to see some of you in other areas of the forums, sharing what you know on specific things about Christmas that have shared here exclusively in the past.

I will, once again, pledge to do my best to keep up with this thread in 2012. It is perhaps the only New Year's resolution I ever feel fully convicted of. And this year I really mean it!

Jeff

Thank you for this powerful statement. You couldn't have said it better. I will try my very best to give you feedback when needed and to whatever I can to make this countdown better. Looking foward to seeing you in this thread more in 2012, Jeff!

 

[Christmas-A-Holic]

:celebrate:

Keep smiling! We love you, Seawaters!! :!!

Of course we do!!!!!!!!!!!!!! cheesy

 

[sugar142286]

Welcome to the countdown, iliam! :celebrate:

 

[sugar142286]

Good morning,

I believe I now have an ear infection, I can hear my pulse in it, and there is a little pain. I will be heading back to work Wednesday morning, so one more day off tomorrow, but I have to go visit the dentist. Taking the kids out to a playground for the final day of vacation. My wife was watching that show Sister Wives, and she said don't get any ideas, I told her having one wife is hard enough why would I want anymore. She had a pretty good laugh at that one.

Have a great day!

Hope you feel better!

That joke about the Sister Wives thing made me LOL! :-D

 

[sugar142286]

My dad just broke my favorite ornament on our tree :-(

Aww...sorry to hear that!

 

[made582]

Well it took a week to put it all up and 2 and a half hours to take it all down. Now who wants to come over and help me clean everything before I get my normal decorations back out?

 

[Christmas-A-Holic]

Sorry I forgot to say but I hope you get well Xmas365!

 

[sugar142286]

Good Monday afternoon, my Christmas friends!

We steamed oysters at Bernie's last night, and they were great! I haven't had oysters in the shell all season. Now I think I'm ready for another pot full of oyster stew. Have I mentioned that I love oyster season?

We're going out to lunch right now. It's my last day of holiday, and the kids' last day out of school. Nancy took off work today, even though she's an accountant, and it's tax season (I HATE that phrase!).

I hope y'all have a great day! cheesy

Enjoy your last day off and REALLY enjoy your day with your family! :!!

 

[xmas365]

Time for the Winter Classic, hockey outdoors as it is meant to be. Too bad I hate both the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers, but this game is such a spectacle, I will watch some of it.

 

[sugar142286]

Funny, I just wrote about reading my Christmas books in my last post before I read this one. cheesy Great minds think alike!

Yes they do!

 

[made582]

My dad just broke my favorite ornament on our tree :-(

I'm sorry to hear that.

 

[sugar142286]

Well it took a week to put it all up and 2 and a half hours to take it all down. Now who wants to come over and help me clean everything before I get my normal decorations back out?

I will come help you, if you will come help me. I am going to start Friday, the 6th since the Epiphany is that evening. DH works daylight that day, so I am going to get a head start myself! Deal?

 

[sugar142286]

Time for the Winter Classic, hockey outdoors as it is meant to be. Too bad I hate both the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers, but this game is such a spectacle, I will watch some of it.

The Winter Classic is always such a neat game to watch.

 

[Christmas-A-Holic]

Well it took a week to put it all up and 2 and a half hours to take it all down. Now who wants to come over and help me clean everything before I get my normal decorations back out?

I suppose you want me to wash the dishes AGAIN?

By the way "normal" is overrated! I vote we go back to the chaos of Christmas! :wink:

 

[made582]

Nancy took off work today, even though she's an accountant, and it's tax season (I HATE that phrase!).

Yep It's that time again. I'll be hearing a lot more from my cousin between now and April since his wife will be at work.

 

[sugar142286]

I suppose you want me to wash the dishes AGAIN?

By the way "normal" is overrated! I vote we go back to the chaos of Christmas! :wink:

Made is totally turning you into a slave! :smile:

 

[xmas365]

?

By the way "normal" is overrated! I vote we go back to the chaos of Christmas! :wink:

I agree with going back to all that chaos, it is so much more joyous!

 

[made582]

I will come help you, if you will come help me. I am going to start Friday, the 6th since the Epiphany is that evening. DH works daylight that day, so I am going to get a head start myself! Deal?

I'll be there!!!!!!

I suppose you want me to wash the dishes AGAIN?

I'll handle the dishes if you run the vacuum!!!!