A Christmas Story

     I'm not exactly sure when it started, but I have definitely come to view this time of year as the "Season of More."

More lights.
More decorations.
More sparkly.
More frantic.
More love.
More hate.
More awesomeness.
Just basically "more" in general.

     This isn't to say that the other seasons or holidays aren't full of their own kind of energy, but there just seems to be something about this time of year that makes everything extra intense, at least to me.

    Maybe it's the way so many major religious & cultural celebrations all converge at once, or the fact that the weather around these parts (Pacific Northwest) is particularity wet & dreary (thereby forcing one to "think" more, as it's too damn crappy to go outside & frolic) but whatever the reason, it often seems that this particular time of year brings with it the ability to amplify actions & feelings to levels the other times of year just can't touch, which is both good & not-so-good.

     It's not-so-good in that few things are more heartrending than reading about a family loosing their home or a loved one just days before they were all going to go to grandma's house (or wherever) to sit down to a warm holiday dinner with family & friends.

     But it's good in that there is something about this time of year when every so often the stars aline, energy is created & something happens to turn what was initially a deep sadness into a time for unexpected joy.

I want to tell you a little Christmas story.

     Not the kind where a town council decides to outlaw Santa & group of orphans manage to change their minds. Or where a little puppy with a limp is picked out of the litter by a young boy with a lame leg of his own. Or how a reindeer with no friends & a nasal condition saves the day, or even the one where a bitter old curmudgeon learns the "true meaning" of Christmas.

     The story I am talking about is one about an English woman, a Dutch man & an American gal who found themselves faced with the terrible news that a little website they all frequented & had become good friends on was going to be closing in the New Year, as the site's owner had decided to move on to other things, as so often happens in this game we call "life." So after they had all posted their sad & shocked "good bye/good luck" posts they began to ponder what to do (and where to "go") next...& this is when the stars alined just right & that elusive holiday magic glimmered for just a moment, making the English woman send a PM (private message) to the Dutch man & the American gal saying that she had just sent a PM to the site owner asking him if he would be willing to let her take over the cost & such of running the site & if they would be interested in helping her.

     So the Dutch man & the American gal (the latter of which had been just about to ask the site owner the very same thing) both said "yes" & the English woman relayed this to the site owner & asked the Dutch man & the American gal to do the same (which they did) prompting the site owner to reply that he was not opposed to their proposal & in fact another woman (who I think may also be American but I am not certain) had contacted him about the same thing.

     So after many crossed PMs, the English woman, the Dutch man, the American gal & the other American (??) lady all got together & posted their plan "in the open" & received much advice & other help from other people who frequented the same site, included the offer to host many of the downloads from another Netherlands native. More advice followed, along with more posts of encouragement & what was once a "tragedy" was suddenly an unexpected "joy."

     In short, sometime this coming January (by the 11th unless we decided to get a month "extension" on the current server) it seems that these 4 folks will find themselves the proud "owners" of a little website about a little game that brought them all together in the first place.

     So here's another huge "thanks" to zephyerzodiac (the English woman), BoilingOil (the Dutch man), dark_author (a woman I am almost positive is from America), Leefish (the Netherlands woman) & TwoJeffs (the founder of the Simbology site) from me- Zirconia Wolf (the American gal) for making this holiday a lot less crappy than it was a few short days ago. Without you guys (& all you other Simbology fans) this holiday story would never have had the happy ending it does now.

It may not have the heart-tugging power of that puppy with a limp or that reindeer with the sinus problem, but to me it means a hell of a lot more.