Entries Tagged 'Holiday' ↓

Merry Christmas friends, loyal readers, and those just dropping by. It’s been an amazing year full of life and it’s trappings and even a couple of deaths. There have been tumor scares, shrink visits, and disease. This year found me making donations, bailing people out and falling out at a very nice Christmas bonus.  That after worrying if I’d have my job through till the end of the year.

Life has its ups and downs. It is and always has been a mixed bag. Each day a chance to win the lottery or pass onto your final resting place. This year though, all things considered, I consider myself and my family blessed.

Blessed for me has taken on a whole new meaning for me this year. In the past, I considered it a great year if no one died AND I got a big raise and a bonus. Oh, on individual days I felt blessed but just as many days I felt cursed or beat up on.  Often felt like I was ready to go to my final resting place and save the world the trouble.

Don’t ask me what brought on the change. It wasn’t a smack in the face experience. There was no come to Jesus moment or words from a friend. Can’t even blame one of those killer hangovers either.

Blessed is no longer something that’s dependent on circumstances. It’s become about realizing my life is a blessing as well as the life that awaits. Both are immense blessings. Along with that I’ve taken ownership of the fact that life isn’t supposed to be perfect, great, full of wealth, free of fear.

Life is meant to be a rough and tumble ride. Sometimes slow. Sometimes at breakneck speeds. I’m going to fall, family members will suffer, but the next day will bring joy to make my heart burst.

I’m no Peter, a master of contentment in all circumstances. Far from it, but this quote has a lot power for me these days.

At the end of my life I don’t want to pass quietly into the night. I want to slide in sideways kicking and screaming “WOW What An Awesome Ride!”

I didn’t want a boring ride anyway; do you?  Heck, I want to take it up a notch this year.  Likely that means those little bumps are going to hit harder and the dips will bottom out rougher but the highs will be shout worthy.

Hope this little Christmas rant hasn’t left you too bored or depressed. I’m happy and celebrating as this year wraps up.  I want to share a few things with you though; some Christmas links from my Twitter family.

@acummings - Merry Christmas from Portsmouth NH – Decked Out Downtown

@swbuehler – Christmas with Empty Hands

@elsicomoro – Be Kind

@RoraBorieAlice – 7 Years Ago Tonight

@stlwebdesign - 12 days of Christmas from your St Louis Web Designer

@abiteofsanity – Sisters XV

@debworks – Alone on Christmas

@SheilaS - It’s tamale time for the holidays!

@JessicaGottlieb – And a Very Merry

UPDATE: WINNER SELECTED. COMMENTS ARE CLOSED.

The holidays are here and with that is gift giving.  I’ll be receiving books of course, and buying some with gift cards. Overflowing shelves will be the result.

Planning is everything though. Giving away some of my completed novels seemed like a plan I could enjoy implementing.

The Giveaway

I’m giving away the set of the first eight books. These are slightly used but I’ve been the sole owner.

Required Entry

Tell me your favorite thing about the Sookie Stackhouse novels or about your favorite vampire series, in the comments below. Winner will be notified via email. Please make sure your email is accessible in your comment.

Extra Entrees

The following are all extra things you can do for more entries. Leave an additional comment for each thing you do to earn extra entries.

• Subscribe via email here to my feed and then leave a comment letting me know you have done so. If you are already a subscriber, let me know that in the comment instead.
• Blog about this giveaway and come back here leaving a comment with the link. This can be done once.
• Follow me on Twitter, @tojosan, and send a tweet about the giveaway. You can do this once per day. Leave a comment with a direct link to that tweet for an extra entry for each tweet. Here is a tweet you can use or make your own.

Win the first eight Sookie Stackhouse novels and sink your teeth into some vampire fun. http://wp.me/pfLxC-ph Pls RT.

Rules

Only one of each entry method listed per person/family/household. No entering on behalf of others, using extra identities or others identities, no automated program entries, etc. If I catch you cheating you will be banned from this and all of my future giveaways! This giveaway is only open to those in the USA, ages 18+ only. All entries must be received by 11:59 pm Central Time on Thursday, December 24th, 2009. I will pick the winner and email them and they have 48 hours to claim the prize. If no response, I will pick a new winner. Good luck!

About the Sookie Stackhouse Series

Charlaine Harris brought new life to the vampire mythos with her Sookie Stackhouse series. Sookie is a Southern girl with a handicap; she can read minds. It just gets more interesting from that premise, with Sookie meeting and falling in love with a vampire.

Charlaine entertains us with ever more complex plots. There’s goth of course, along with sex, humor, and fairy creatures of all types.

Buy the latest in the series, Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 9).

* Contest format inspired by Robyn of Robyn’s Online World.

PopCap Games rings in the holidays with some Mac user love.  They’re selling all Mac download games for 50% off. That’s right. 50%.

PopCap games have been making games for a long time and Christmas holidays have always been something they’ve taken to heart. Early PopCap games paid tribute to Santa and the like. That’s where I got hooked.

I’m still a fan after all these years, so I’m excited about this limited time offer of 50% sale on all Mac downloads.

PopCap Games Mac Download Sale

Sale ends December 23rd.

Love pets? Love Advent? Then this article is for you.

SuperPoke! Pets doesn’t just bring holiday themed items this year.  The team brings us a free item each day during Advent.

Each day a different day is uncovered, much like on a real world Advent Calendar.  Underneath is a special item.  They are suspiciously like something out of The 12 Days of Christmas song.

The items are fun, unique and make for great decorating. Along with these items, the SuperPoke team introduced Hanukah, generic seasonal items and of course other Christmas standards. You’ll see Christmas trees, dreidels, Santa related items and goodies from the North Pole. There are even new  plushies to be had.

You can find me on Facebook and my SuperPoke Pet.

Twitter has brought the most interesting things my way. At first it was just noise and a smattering of blog posts people shared. Then things changed.

I got introduced to truly interesting folks. Goldie Katsu is at the top of the list. She is one of the most engaging people I’ve had the pleasure to meet.

Goldie opened my eyes to being a Jew. She’s shared stories, food, pictures, and conversation with me. Most recently she sent me a gift, the dreidel.

The dreidel shown above just arrived and I can’t wait to play with it. I found some dreidel rules and have some coins, so I’m ready to spin.

Thanks Goldie,

Todd – @tojosan on Twitter

The above pictures are of my dad and his wife ice skating for their first time.  They went, took lessons, and then got out on the ice.  He told me it was a great experience and they are anxious to do it again.

What a joy for me to hear him so excited about something like this.  I’m looking forward to still having a sense of adventure even as I get older, and someone to share it with.

Cheers Dad.

(bonus – can you guess where these were taken?)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Jordan Family.

Quick Christmas morning advice.

These ladies one of the best parts of my life.  They are just part of what I’m thankful for.

I’m very blessed and I know it.  Regrettably I don’t tell folks that enough. I complain about circumstances way too often.  To help that, here’s a few of the things I’m thankful for.

• my salvation – ask me some time
• my wife – my biggest blessing on earth
• my granddaughters – shown above
• their mother/my daughter-in-law – she rocks and does a great job for the girls
• my sons – through thick and thin
• my worldly success – in spite of myself
• my online success – again, in spite of myself
• all the wonderful people I’ve met online and off this year – you all rock!
• the gift of a touch of genius/madness – the blessing I struggle the most with