I really wanted to run the Virtual Advent Tour again this year, but I wasn’t able to garner the number of participants we’d need to make a go of it. I sincerely apologize, and will give organizing it a shot again next year.

In the meantime, may I offer you a Christmas cookie? My mother made them and I decorated them today.

Seeing Tasha pop up in my comments yesterday reminded me that I’d like to give some thought to the Virtual Advent Tour:

For five years, I took part in a Virtual Advent Tour, where bloggers, predominantly of the bookish variety, composed posts about their holiday season and, throughout December, we’d go to their blogs to read about favorite holiday customs, foods, songs, celebrations, movies, books, memories, and traditions (from the past, as well as current ones).

After a year of there being no tour, last year I decided rather at the last minute (like, on December 1) to run a version myself, and some people — like Mikaiya, raidergirl3, Tasha, and others — were kind enough to pitch in to help me out. But, I started late and didn’t get the word out enough and there were neither enough people to really help with the writing nor with the reading of the posts to make it feel like a success. What I discovered is that while it’s challenging to come up with the topic for one day, it’s exhausting coming up with 18 or so. And, by the end, I’d put out six or so good quality posts, republished all my previous holiday posts, and thrown together six crappy ones that I felt bad about publishing.

So, I’m going to put out feelers now to see if we can get a bigger pool of people interested in participating this year so that it’s fun for everyone. My hope is that other bloggers and vloggers (bookish, knitterly, personal, etc.) would like to take part and that you will be willing to share your own winter holiday post one day next month. You’d know the date ahead of time (and can request one if you’d like), your post can be as simple or as complex as you’d like, and there’s no need to tell me what you’re going to write about in advance. (In case you’re wondering what one might share, during the first five years I took part, I wrote about an annual tuba concert, a Christmassy book, a weird Canadian cartoon from the ’70s, a cookie recipe, making a Christmas mix, and D.C.’s Christmas scene.) Also, despite the name and the associated tradition, this isn’t restricted to those who celebrate Christmas: if you celebrate a different winter holiday or have a another December festivity you’d like to share, you’re welcome to participate, too. I love reading about others’ celebrations.

If this sounds like a fun thing you think you’d like to take part in, please leave me a comment below letting me know. I’m going to see what sort of response we get between now and November 15 November 18. and will make a call at that point. If we have enough interest, I’ll go forward with organizing it in the latter half of the month. Also, if you like the idea of the Virtual Advent Tour, even if you don’t want to commit to writing a post yourself, please circulate a link to this post to your social networks over the next 10 days to help spread the word. I hope to have good news for everyone later this month. Thanks in advance!

Happy Christmas Eve! I hope you’re all ready for Christmas if you celebrate it and the weekend (possibly a long one?) if you don’t.

Today’s Virtual Advent Tour host is Teri of Henningsen Happenings. She shares some thoughts on making a difference this holiday season.

A few final holiday favorites for you:

Dar Williams’ “The Christians and the Pagans”:

Christmas Eve on Sesame Street:

Neil Gaiman reads from Charles Dickens’ performance copy of A Christmas Carol:

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Today’s Virtual Advent Tour host is Deb Nance of Readerbuzz. She’s got a post about a neat 40-year-old tradition in her town called Walk-a-Mile.

In the meantime, I’m heading to bed for a few hours. I’ll leave you with this musical interlude, The Dollyrots’ Take on “Run Run Rudolph”:

Carole’s Ten on Tuesday Topic today was 10 Things I Am Looking Forward to Doing after the Holiday Rush:

1. Sleep. I really don’t think I can emphasize this enough.
2. Take a few days off from the blog. Between NaBloPoMo and the Virtual Advent Tour, I’ve posted every day but one since November 1st, and I need a couple days off. That said, though, I also really want to get caught up on book reviews so I can actually share my top ten list for the year (as opposed to leaving it stuck in the draft folder, which is what I think has happened for the last three years running). So I’m not positive when the days off will come. We’ll see how I feel over the weekend.
3. Visit with friends. I’ll see Karen and her kids on Saturday, and hope to get together with Laura on Sunday. If we can catch Eric at home on our drive to or from Connecticut, that would be a bonus.
4. Veg in front of the fire at my folks’ place. Doze. Read. Knit. Watch Christmas movies. Any of those are fair game.
5. Bake with my parents. Scones, probably, with dad and cookies, maybe, with Mum, unless she’s baked out by the time I arrive.
6. Figure out our New Year’s Eve movie marathon plans. Anyone seen any movies they particularly recommend? (We saw and liked the new Star Wars film on Friday.)
7. Read. I’ve still got several days before the end of the year and I have a bunch of books out of the library. Plus, there may be new books under the Christmas tree.
8. Admire the Christmas lights of New Jersey. Residents who live along the Garden State Parkway seem to realize that road-weary travelers need a boost and whole blocks erect displays.
9. Finish my lightning shawl. It’s been on the needles for a couple years and it’s time to complete the last bit and start wearing it.
10. Forgive myself for the sad Christmas season I’ve had. Recognize that sometimes the whole season lists, not just the tree. Finish the uncompleted things that I can after the holiday. Let go of the things that I can’t or that really don’t matter. Attempt to figure out the difference.

How about you? What are you looking forward to doing?

Today’s Virtual Advent Tour host is Carl of Stainless Steel Droppings. You may know Carl from his reading challenges: the Once upon a Time Challenge in the spring and the R.I.P. (Reader’s Imbibing Peril) Challenge in the days leading up to Halloween. He’s currently running the Sci-Fi Experience, a low-key reading event celebrating science fiction, through the end of next month. I’ll stop back here tomorrow after Carl’s had a chance to publish his post and update the link.

In Carl’s honor, I’m sharing a Christmas special I remember seeing once when I was a little kid. A Cosmic Christmas was, in 1977, the first tv special from Nelvana, a Canadian company known to this day for its four decades of work in children’s animation, from the Care Bears and Ewoks cartoons of the 1980s (and the animated segment of that appalling Star Wars Holiday Special that first introduced Boba Fett) to the more recent Fairly OddParents, Jane and the Dragon, and The Magic School Bus. A Cosmic Christmas tells the story of a boy named Peter and his pet goose, Lucy, who, on Christmas Eve, attempt to share the meaning of Christmas to a trio of aliens who have landed outside their town.