On 12 Flurries of Christmas

Welcome back! To my Christmas-celebrating friends, I hope you had a wonderful holiday. To those not celebrating, hope the day delivered joy and peace to you.

Because I encountered some unexpected flurries, these pics from an outdoor holiday lights display we visit several weeks ago will accompany the story.

Flurry #1: We decided on a cross-state drive to visit my sister for the weekend. The visit went well, but Saturday was John Erickson’s birthday, thus I was disappointed to miss the festivities.

Flurry #2: Upon returning home, I replied to the comments on John’s tribute post, and then raced through the other tributes. I enjoyed them, but a day late just wasn’t the same as being there.

Flurry #3: Besides catching up on the John tributes, Sunday was also the start of my holiday post. I published it at the planned time, which meant comments were on the way.

Flurry #4: I started Christmas Eve with replying to comments. Throughout the day, in between errands, cleaning, and cooking dinner, I tried to make holiday wishes to the blogs I frequent.

Flurry #5: I receive an honor from highly acclaimed H.E.Ellis because this Naughty Santa video from my Gifts 2012 post inspired this post by her.

Flurry #6: We just finished dinner, and I returned to blogs to answer comments on the gifts post. Through my emails, I see a Like for someone I don’t know … followed by a subscribe notice … following by a comment from Society Red in Seattle, and one I ordered not long ago to shred his citizenship papers: NOW what are you going to do? Freshly Pressed!

Flurry #7: Society Red’s comment created an oh-crap moment, so I scanned the Inbox – and there it was – the notification – and it was already live! … She (the editor) picked her favorite video (Hubble to Oh Holy Night), and included this closing statement: Sorry to have to make you remove your “never been Freshly Pressed” badge. Consider it our gift to you.

Flurry #8: I was totally surprised that post #1,082 made it, so I hastily notified a few. After all, time was short and I knew had to abdicate the throne of the country I formed. I summoned a chopper for making my escape into the dark skies to avoid the potential hysteria.

Flurry #9: From the chopper, I contacted John Erickson, who spread the news. Yet, on this Christmas Eve night, the night known for celebrating joy and peace, I looked at the sparkling lights from the people below with pride and sadness … and as the last light faded away, the a tear hits the floor.

Flurry #10: Now in a new location I realized I had get to church for the handbell choir’s final rehearsal. After participating in two services, I returned home to more messages.

Flurry #11: Christmas Day – Dealing with 800+ visitors on this day, plus comments, and maintaining a personal philosophy of interacting with visitors was a challenge. My in-laws visited in the afternoon and we had enjoyed dinner. In the evening, I finally slayed the last comment … and then I saw this tribute from rarasaur.

Flurry #12: Besides managing comments, the day after Christmas delivered a winter storm dividing Cincinnati in two – snow and wind for blizzard conditions on the west side to rain-sheet-ice-snow mix for those of us on the east side. Fortunately, I was on the good side of the storm.

I safely landed on the other side of NonFP Nation., and warmly greeted by my friends here … and those in my former homeland cheered as well. Suddenly and unexpectedly receiving the never-envisioned was interesting – but it sure made Christmas 2012 was a bit different. I weathered the storm of 2,100+ visits over 3 days – but I also look forward to returning back to my normal routine. Thanks everyone!

PS: To add the pleasure, the FP post about Santa (the one beside mine in the FP image below)  I listed in last Friday’s Interesting Reads section of Opinions in the Shorts. Yep, I noted it before WordPress.