Christmas Countdown - 2012

[iliam]

So the decorations came down tonight really sealing the post Christmas blues! Finding this thread dashed them all away!!!!

 

[Mark Nash]

It's the new countdown WOOOOHOOOOOO

 

[Jeff Westover]

Jeff, oh, Jeff. Do you have another goal in mind for us???

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

 

[shellie12]

Good morning christmas family.
Hope all is good in your part of the world
Gonna start and take some of my outdoor decor down today. was not a really good year for then what with rain and wind. some night i could not light then. so over all was disappointed that way. but there,s always next year.
I have a lot of air blown which i figure is not good in this country. so next year it gonna be more standing things. i have made my mind up during the year am gonna look for 10, 5ft angels and make a scene like they have in new york. with a large tree
The weather is the usual over here rain and cold. dont want snow now.
Shop shut today but we start back tomorrow to the normal run of things. back to the grin mill
So you all have a good day and will catch you all later.

 

[Meceka]

Good morning, MMC!

I hope this finds everyone well!

Another restless night - I must have had too much coffee yesterday. Working at the store today - cleaning, rearranging the shelves and the stock. Should be a lot of fun! If time permits, I will head out to a few of the Goodwills in the area and browse the Christmas stock - they have a holiday section up year-round, but it should be well-stocked at this time of the year cheesy

Have a MERRY day!!!

 

[ballcoach]

Good morning, friends! Hope this finds everybody enjoying what should be a day off for most. However, back to work for me, which is fine.

Going to be another warm one here today....around 60ish, again. Weird. In March, it will end up being 10 degrees instead of what it is right now.

Have a great day!

 

[ballcoach]

CAH, I just feel a huge letdown....dang Cowboys.

 

[Maureen]

Good grief - January 2nd and there are already 33 pages to read !!!!!!

Happy New Year everybody!!!! Hope everyone had a good time and are now ready to pick up the reins to start this year's trot. To be honest, I think you've made it as far as the store on the corner already and are proceeding on down the street towards the cinema 2 blocks away!!!

I have a confession to make and I've been putting this off since last week when I discovered it. You know how I was off work for the 2 weeks before Christmas? It was great, moaned a bit (could you tell) about the work being done to the living room, but it was wonderful having all that time off. I got back to work last week and opened my locker to find my neatly addressed Christmas cards sitting in a bag, waiting to be mailed. I'm SO sorry..........I'm a useless card sender. Last year they were late, this year they never even got mailed. I should probably be blacklisted from the card exchange. I compiled the dam.n list too!!!!! Please forgive me and I'll understand if I don't get any next/this year....I'll pop a note of this in its own thread just so everybody can see how pathetic a correspondent I am!!!

In other news, my other half's front crown fell out at about 6.50pm on New Year's Eve. That was fun - I screeched to a halt outside the grocery store, tracked down a dental repair kit (you don't know this kind of thing exists until you need to find one!) and home again by 7pm (which was when the store closed!) It worked.........for all of a few hours so for New Year's Day dinner, instead of prime rib we had scrambled eggs!!!!!! It's back in place again, albeit wobbly, so we're going to attempt the beef tonight. I told him to just use his molars and he'll be fine. The look I got spoke volumes!!!

So, this afternoon, I'm going to bake some more cookies because the ones I made before are long gone. They looked incredibly weird and I got the whole timing of the sprinkles wrong but they tasted REALLY good so I suppose that's the whole point of the exercise, eh?!!!!

Okey dokey, duckies - I'm off to read a bit more on my Kindle (did I mention I got a Kindle - yay me!!!!!!!!) then attack the cookie making. Honestly, this being off work is hard going............!!!!

 

[caninemom3]

I got back to work last week and opened my locker to find my neatly addressed Christmas cards sitting in a bag, waiting to be mailed. I'm SO sorry..........I'm a useless card sender. Last year they were late, this year they never even got mailed. I should probably be blacklisted from the card exchange. I compiled the dam.n list too!!!!! Please forgive me and I'll understand if I don't get any next/this year....I'll pop a note of this in its own thread just so everybody can see how pathetic a correspondent I am!!!

Oh Mo......Don't worry !! I will ALWAYS send you a card even if you do forget xo

 

[Maureen]

Don't be nice to me - yell a bit; I'll feel better!!!!

;-)

 

[Snow-in-Texas]

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 Jeff. I can tell you as an occasional visitor to this thread, I don't even try to keep up with everything that goes on. When I come on here, I do go to the first new post to see if anyone responded to something I posted and scan through the post as I go from page to page. If there is something that deserves more attention I will give that attention. Otherwise it becomes white noise, and after a while I get bogged down and just say the heck with it, and skip to the last page. Of course I can count on my wife to keep me up to date since she is much more active on here than me.

 

[sugar142286]

Hi all! Hope you're all doing well this am. Just got home from work and crawled into to bed. Today is my day off...yah! I am going to get up around 12:00 and watch the Penn State game. DH, the kids, and I have to do some running around then too.

Well, nothing new to report here. Hope you all have a great day.

Still thinking about you Snowflake!

 

[Crown 84]

Good Morning, Fellow Travelers on the good ship Countdown.
The voyage is under way for our destination: Christmas Season 2012!

And it's nice to be running a dual countdown once again.

Days to the Season: 316
Days to Christmas Day: 358

Is it too soon to talk about our first milestone?
Why, not at all!
(Remember -- the countdown to Christmas Season 2012 started back on Nov 13 when Christmas Season 2011 began and has been running now for over a month an a half!)
As such, is it really surprising to hear that our first Milestone, the 300-day Window, is just 2 weeks from the day after tomorrow!!

(Now, aren't you glad we have a Season count as well as a Christmas Day count?)

The rain began falling last night and it is cool and still a bit damp here this morning in the capital city where our thermometer reads 42 degrees.
Shouldn't get much warmer today and it will be quite chilly tonight, then downright cold by tomorrow night, where we could see the upper teens!
BRRRR!
Well, Folks, Carl is about ready for the 'Pines first open house of 2012 the day after tomorrow with the theme of "Welcome in the new year right".
(Wonder what the decor will look like?)

Anyway, you all have a Marvelous Monday!

 

[nmc42088]

Good morning everyone! Last night, I went with my parents to pick my brother up from his friend's house. There were a lot of houses still decorated and lit, which made me sad because my house is undercoated minus the outside lights (parents wont light them).


I watched Holiday Engagement on Hallmark last night and was very sad to miss the end of it. Does anyone know how it ends?

 

[Crown 84]

I read Jeff's post this morning with interest.

It is not difficult to see where he is coming from.
In the excitement to set new records, this thread has become a bit unweildy in the minds of newcomers and I myself often find myself sighing a bit while trying to skim the many, many posts.

If the interest here in general grows and a record is set, that's wonderful. But I'm inclined to agree we that should not post solely for the sake of building a record.

One suggestion I would make is for folks to not break the same thought/message up into separate posts, but just place your ideas cohesively and briefly as possible into one.

And I also agree, to the best extent possible, to place topic specific references (for example, recipies) into a separate dedicated thread for that.
It was along that line that I started the Blossoms thread for photos so they did not clutter up this thread and get lost.

Let me also, however, echo Jeff's disclaimer that in no way are we trying to dampen anyone's fun.
(That takes precedence over other concerns, of course!)
Let's just try to be as logical about it as we can, OK?

 

[made582]

Good Morning MMC!!!!!! It is a windy cold day here in central Indy with a high of 28 degrees at midnight. The wind chill right now is only 8 degrees. My plan for today is make some waffles with my new waffle maker and then I'll start packing all of my Santa's while I watch the rose parade. It will be sad to see them go but it will be nice to have all of the boxes and totes out of my bedroom. I hope everyone is having a GREAT DAY!!!!!!!!!

 

[Christmas-A-Holic]

So the decorations came down tonight really sealing the post Christmas blues! Finding this thread dashed them all away!!!!

Welcome to the countdown!

I watched Holiday Engagement on Hallmark last night and was very sad to miss the end of it. Does anyone know how it ends?

I just happened to turn it on at the end. She married the guy she loved. (if you know who that is?) =)

 

[nmc42088]

I just happened to turn it on at the end. She married the guy she loved. (if you know who that is?) =)

I saw up until the last half hour...i was kicking myself this am when i realized i missed the ending and it wouldnt be on again until november.

Yes, it is the guy she took home to her family. Thank you Christmas-A-Holic

 

[Christmasstar]

Good Morning MMC!

Quite the wind and snow last night, more on the way. Going to take my daughter back to London before the next wave hits....I hope.

 

[xmas365]

On the Ninth Day of Christmas...

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!