12 Days of Christmas Blog Challenge

Each year for the past several years, my friend Pam has organized a December blog challenge.  Here's what she has to say about it (from her blog post on Christmas Day this year):

For at least the past three years, I’ve participated in a “12 Days of Christmas Blog Contest.” The rules are simple: blog every day for each of the twelve days of Christmas, and give each blog post a title based on a line from a Christmas carol or song.  Easy peasy.  The first year, several of my friends and I played the game.  The second year, less than a handful played.  And then in the third year, I may have played with just one other friend.  Nonetheless, I find that it is the only time of year that I blog, and it has been the only time of the year that I deliberately take the time to sit, think, write, and share.  I do love to write, so blogging on the 12 days of Christmas has become an exercise to which I look forward each year. I am also committed to celebrating all twelve days of Christmas — December 25 – January 5. Therefore, this year will not be a “contest” or a “game.” It will just be a period of writing and celebration.

Well, I guess I am that "one friend" from last year, and I'm in on it again this year, too.  Why?  Because it forces me, during one of the only times of the year that I'm "off" from teaching and homeschooling duties, to catch some thoughts and memories in writing.  It is a good exercise.  It is a nice discipline. And I have so many thoughts running through my head this year--and every year!--that it is good to stop and capture a few of them.

This year, things are crazy for us.  I don't know how much posting I'll get done throughout these first few days of Christmas, since we will be in the hospital all day Christmas Eve with my daughter EV's surgery.  In fact, I think I'll get a head start on the blog challenge by cheating and starting on Christmas Eve.  That way, if I miss a day, I won't technically be disqualified.  Besides, who doesn't consider Christmas Eve one of the Days of Christmas, in the purest of technical senses!

Merry Christmas 2013!