HolidayPost:Reasons to be Thankful

Reasons to be Thankful

It’s the same thing every year.

The mad dash at the end of December. Cookies baked, presents wrapped, parties attended. All the while, I am wondering ‘where the heck has the year gone?’

It definitely holds true for this madcap year. This time last year I was toeing in the water with the first post of my first story (12/28/2008). I had no clue how much this fandom would pull me in, teach me, and give me a new perspective.

With that said, I told the team I’d take on the Christmas Eve post. It gives me a chance to round out my first year in the fandom while channeling my inner sap. So I propped my feet up on the coffee table (which drives my mom nuts, even if I am a grown woman), with a glass of wine, staring into the fire trying to decide what to say. The peace was broken by the whistle of a train from the living room, followed by a shout of ‘Hey Mom, I tied Anakin to the tracks!’

And do you know what I immediately thought? I’m incredibly thankful I don’t have an Edward Cullen doll, because he’d be bound and gagged on the tracks faster than you can say BDSM.

Yes, even in the happy daze of Christmas bliss, we all still have Twilight on the brain. Fortunatley, it inspired me, and saves you all from the really bad ‘Twas the Twilight Before Christmas’ that I was perilously close to foisting on you.

So with further ado, I give you what we at the Ficster are thankful for this holiday season. Warning as you proceed, we are quite the motley crew. Please move the coffee mug away to prevent screen spray, and make sure your family/boss/husband/child/significant other/roommate etc is out of the room, because you don’t want to explain. Trust me.

---

AngstGoddess is Thankful for:

• Copy and paste
• Bokeh textures
• People who still make PS7 compatible brushes

• Internet piracy
• Yoga boy
• Rob gifs
• FFn's lack of word limit
• TLYDF's awesome new admins
• IP tracking
• Semi-sweet chocolate chips
• All my betas, previewers, and readers
• FanFic writers, who have the balls to put their necks out there
• Those who get their throats cut, and still post anyway
• FanFic Readers, who have the balls to brave the FFn roll
• Everyone who realizes there's a real human behind every penname, flaws and insecurities and all.
• Pickle juice
• The new clients I've made this year
• Koalas, pandas, and baby lynxes
• Jackson and his dimples
• The word "fuck"
• Acronyms
• G-Docs
• Dry humping
• Fault

• Times New Roman

• ItzMegan73

  and every time she updates
• My Twitter peeps, who always help me get a word out when necessary
• The

  FGB

  fundraiser
• Wankward
• S. Meyer
• Hand holding
• My kittehs, who warm my lap while I write
• Awkward smut
• Present tense
• The em-dash

• WA Rehab

• #FandomCuddles
• Open-minded readers

• RacketGhost

  s' angst

• LTR

  ,

  LTT

  ,

  HGE

  ,

  SOB

  , &

  TOR

• Star Trek TNG facepalm gifs
• Slash writers
• The

  Twilight Sisterhood

  ,

  LolaShoes

  ,

  Ilsuocantante

  , and everyone else who helped me get to ComicCom
• PastyP, FrenchyB, and RevyR

• YSAR

  , for buying me in

  SupportStacie

  and not shanking me while my WA fail holds up her purchase
• 

  EZrocksAngel

  and everything related to her glory: Her crazy chats, her ability to make me smile with three letters, her understanding, especially during CC and her ability to calm my batshit, and her ability to always get me, no matter what. Aw, she makes me crinkly-eyed smile like this: XD!
• Javascript browser hacks
• Angel reruns
• HP slash
• Video tutorials
• The ability to block PMs
• Super secret b-day projects
• Safe mode
• My mom for being the sweetest hippie ever
• My brother for introducing me to the internet
• My entire family for being ridiculously supportive of anything that makes me happy, even when it's TwiFF and a little humiliating
• Narcotics

• Dirty Uncle WTVOC

  for being my acronym-decoder and never mocking my ignorance (to my face)
• Everyone who asks about WA epi
• The people that don't
• My fabulous fiance, who puts up with my crazy ass
• Everyone reading this blog!
• For having so much to be thankful for, that I can't even squeeze it all in
• and Bulleted lists

---

PastichePen is Thankful for:

• For this blog and the community it floats upon.
• For my friends, for their humor and insight and honesty (whom I could try to list and qualify but can't do so without feeling like an asshat - so no hate).
• For my 10 month-old niece who looks more like me than her mother (fortunately (Wait! no! kidding!)), and for whom I have gret, diabolical schemes planned.

• Roald Dahl

  ,

  Mark Twain

  , and

  Oscar Wilde

  , because: "A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom." -Roald Dahl; "Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't." - Mark Twain; and "I am not young enough to know everything." -Oscar Wilde. How can one not wish to (metaphorically) fellate such men?
• For my 10th grade English teacher who should have been on Broadway.
• That

  Gwendolyn Brooks

  wrote poetry.
• For my boyfriend, who brings me my perfect cup of coffee every morning even as he curses the lines on my computer screen.
• For HarryxDraco, for being the lines on my computer screen.

---

ElleCC is Thankful for:

• Legna989

  ,

  LaViePastiche

  , and

  americnxidiot

  for being such amazing women
• AngstGoddess, Pastiche Pen, and Moon.Witche for asking H and me to be a part of this blog
• Open-minded readers
• Commas

• Everyone who judged, wrote, read, and/or voted for "

  For the Love of Jasper

  "
• My brother
• Everyone who has taken the time to read anything I've written this year
• The drabble
• Intelligent, thoughtful, and realistic Jasper characterizations
• Husbandward for tolerating my crazy
• Friday Night Lights and Veronica Mars
• Wikipedia
• Reviewers who make me feel smarter than I really am
• My RL writing group
• Gmail, Gdocs, and Gchat

• Project Team Beta

  and the service it provides to the fandom
• #jaspergasms
• 105.9 The Edge
• My stylist, even though she's moving to Houston
• Authors who step out of their comfort zones to try something new

• Painless Grammar

  by Rebecca Elliott and

  The Chicago Manual of Style

• Nami86

  for her amazing Jasper fan art (and AG for making J/B manips of it)

• "

  Someone Else's Memoirs

  " by

  a certain slant of light

• manyafandom

  ,

  Lillie Cullen

  ,

  jandco

  , and

  wtvoc

  for showing me the potential of Jasper
• The "X" in the upper corner of my browser
• AG and H for sharing the spreadsheet love

• Lake Champlain Chocolate

• All of the amazing Twilight, SVM, and HP fanfic there is, and SM, CH, and JKR for allowing it to exist
• Internet anonymity
• The FGB and Support Stacie auctions/fundraisers
li>Finally getting over my fear of LiveJournal
• Aerosmith, Guns 'n Roses, Pearl Jam, and Smashing Pumpkins
• Rigoberto for always getting my Domino's order right
• Delicious online bookmarking
• Big-name fanfic authors who are just normal people
• Starbucks VIA

• Bikeward

  for reintroducing Moleskines into my life
• Anyone who writes

  Jasper / Bella

  fic
• BlackBerry, Dell, and Apple
• Wearing contacts in which I can sleep

• FreakyHazelEyes

  and Pastiche Pen for sharing HARRYDRACO with me
• All of the authors who trust me to tend to their words
• Justin Hartley and Travis Fimmel for giving me #hairfail alternatives
• Prilosec OTC
• Everyone who realizes that above all else, what we are doing here is supposed to be fun

---

Moon.Witche is Thankful for:

• PastichePen,

  GinnyW

  , Claire,

  einfach_mich

  and all early readers of

  14 Days

  who assured me it wasn't crap
• all 61 moons of Saturn but especially Titan for having an atmosphere.

• NaNoWriMo

  and all the amazing people I met because of it.
• tlydf for basically letting me write articles about whatever I want. And, you know, the awesome people I get to work with on the blog.
• AG and her willingness to let me win a contest using her Photoshop skills.
• cdunbar, rialle, and TRE (Christine, Claire, and Danielle) for all the fun we have when we have time to

  podcast

• anyone who has ever listened to our podcast. Or been on as a guest.

• my ebook copy of Sex for Dummies and it's diagrams.
• Glee
• YA authors, especially the ones with Twitter accounts.

• michellephants

  for loving the

  vlogbrothers

  just as much as I do.
• my iPhone on which I am writing this list.

• Clive

• Little Anthony, who is so gosh darn cute.
• anyone who has read my story and laughed.
• people who don't take life seriously!

• Limona

  . For being so awesome. For hating each and evry one of my adverbs. For committing to helping even though she didn't have time to. For writing an amazing story. For seeing the potential in mine and helping me reach it.
• Snuggies.
• Cadbury's Mini Eggs (and chocolate in general)
• Extra old cheddar cheese, crackers, and a pot of earl grey tea. My usual snack while writing.
• Twitter and everyone who talks to me on twitter.
• Fanfiction. I've loved you since I was twelve and you just keep getting better.

---

Last, but not least, I (HMonster4) am Thankful for:

• The amazing people of this fandom and the good they are capable of doing

• Profmom72

  , her fabulousness, and her continued tolerance of my eternal optimism
• Lots of airplane time and long life batteries
• Red wine
• The fics that made me

  laugh

  or

  cry

• My blackberry, my netbook, and the car charger
• All the amazing women that write wonderful Emmetts, and those that are cooking more up (please please plese be cooking up more!)
• My boys (the big guy and the miniman) who tolerate this crazy addiction of mine
• The LOLs I’ve gotten from Twilight merchandising.

  Volturi Makeup

  ? A sparkly

  Edward Ken Doll

  and a real

  Bella Barbie

  (yeah, she wishes they were that big)? Oy vey!

• Being able to watch New Moon happily buzzed with my buddies. My sides still hurt for laughing so hard.

• Miztreboo

  and her Friday morning Tommett spams via Twitter
• The amazing organizers of Fandom Gives Back and Support Stacie, as well as all the authors and buyers
• Being able to sing Foo Fighters at the top of my lungs, badly

• Gustariana

  for ranting, and tolerating a hair brained idea that became

  The Indies

• Panera, Caribou and Starbucks via for fueling morning screen spews
• All the amazing people who donate their time for all the contests, awards, and challenges

• AccioBourbon

  for becoming the BourbonMonster to my MonsterBourbon and sharing my love of Em, Garrett and showing me the way of Peter

• Fresh Sugar Lip Balm

• Fleece blankets and my husbands gianormous sweatshirts
• All of the lovely people who read anything I’ve written in the past year, they humble me beyond belief
• My fellow crazy admins, who are obsessed with bulleted lists, popping my

  Emmett slash cherry

  , and snuggies (even though I am the lone voice of reason and normalcy)
• Sushi, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and warm bread

• Nike and Apple

  for Keeping me sane and semi healthy
• All the wonderful writers who take a blind leap of faith and post their stories for us to enjoy

---

Whew....that was the most OCD bulleted list ever...

But wait, we forgot one very important item - we are thankful for you, the amazing fandom that keeps this place going. We hope you have a wonderful, safe, peaceful, joyous holiday. Thanks for bringing TLYDF.com its first amazing year!

Love and highest regards,

AG, Pastiche, ElleCC, MW and HM4