February, 2014 Issue: The Christmas Times<sup><small>TM</small></sup>


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Written by Paul and Shelia Race for Family Christmas Online^TM

The Christmas Times^TM, the Official E-Mail Newsletter of Family Christmas Online^TM and Affiliated Sites

This newsletter is for people who like celebrating holidays, especially Christmas. It is produced in conjunction with the following web sites.

Family Christmas Online^TM
Cardboard Christmas^TM
Old Christmas Tree Lights^TM

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In this Issue

Welcome to the February, 2014 issue of The Christmas Times^TM.

When my mother-in-law was alive, and all the presents had been opened, she used to lean back and say, "Well, I think we all had a very nice Christmas!" I hope that can be said of each family represented on this list.

Subscribers know that we very seldom have newsletters out this time of year - we're usually recuperating from a Christmas rush that involves hundreds of e-mail questions, etc. But we have an announcement regarding our OldChristmasTreeLights.com site, and a couple other things worth sharing, so we're going ahead.

Starting about Thanksgiving, we get deluged with questions about all the things we discuss on our various sites. We try to prioritize questions that "ought" to be answered before Christmas, if possible, but we can't help but get behind eventually. In fact, this year, I finally got the last "pre-Christmas" questions answered about February 10th. Sorry about that, but we do get snowed under, pardon the pun. Here's a hint - if you need help with something that will affect your Christmas in 2014, please don't wait until Thanksgiving to ask it.

One ironic result of this is that we sometimes spend so much time answering individual questions, that we get behind on site updates, and folks who aren't in constant contact with us assume we've lost interest. Quite the reverse.

In late 2011, we attempted to solve this problem on our Cardboard Christmas "putz" house site by adding a discussion forum. Signing up takes more time than some forums, because I personally reviewing each signup request (that has kept out literally thousands of spammers. But it has turned out to be a great place for true "putz" house fans to share ideas, knowledge, and resources. Just as helpful, when someone asks me a question I don't know the answer to, I can post it in the forum and get feedback from several experts. This way instead of helping one person with that question, we're helping anyone who comes up with that question in the future.

This month we're announcing the addition of another discussion forum. Lots of folks have questions about Christmas lights. And from now on we'll be posting those questions and any answers on the OldChristmasTreeLights.com discussion forum for future readers to find.

Finally, please accept our wishes for a blessed and joyous 2013 holiday season. And especially enjoy any time you can spend with your family in the coming weeks.

Topics discussed in this update include:

Santa's Helpers: Mobilizing the Elves for a Restoration Project - A unique reader request gets a number of collectors involved and helps create a great Christmas experience for a family.
Give a Toot! - Busking for a Good Cause - Paul's account of using his saxophone to stand in for a Salvation Army bellringer last December.
OldChristmasTreeLights.com Discussion Forum Rollout - Connecting Christmas light enthusiasts.
Saint Patrick: His People, His Work and His Day

Santa's Helpers: Mobilizing the Elves for a Restoration Project

We get lots of reader questions. Fortunately we know folks who know more than we do about a lot of specific topics. In this case, two collectors came to the rescue when a reader wanted to restore a 1948 Christmas display her husband's grandparents had owned. It turned out to be a great Christmas project, and for him, a great Christms surprise.

http://familychristmasonline.com/musings/santas_helpers/santas_helpers.htm

Give a Toot! - Busking for a Good Cause

In November, 2014, I thought I would try something a friend of mine used to do years ago - sign up to play my horn for a Salvation Army kettle. I only got to actually do it once, but it was a great an experience, and hopefully did some good at the same time.

To see the report, click on the following link:

http://familychristmasonline.com/musings/give_a_toot/give_a_toot.htm

OldChristmasTreeLights.com Discussion Forum Rollout

Every so often, I get contacted by a reader who has a comment about a light set, or is looking for some particular piece, or needs to repair some family heirloom. I've been doing this long enough to know that for every person who asks a question, there are a dozen with the same question who don't bother to ask. I don't have time to go back and make changes to all the affected sites each time new information comes our way, though. By setting up a discussion group, I hope to get more people involved, and allow folks who've been contributing behind the scenes to contribute more consistently.

From this point on, when we receive a question, photo, answer, tip, or other new content, we'll post it in the discussion forums at the same time we respond to the reader directly. That way other folks will be able to see the same content as soon as it becomes available, instead of waiting for me to get around to updating the various pages. And as members sign up, they can add content, answer questions, post intersting finds, and otherwise build the hobby.

You won't have to register to see the questions and answers, but you'll need to register to post directly to the forums. We are taking extraordinary measures to make certain only well-meaning "real people" sign up, so you don't have to worry about the unpleasantness you occasionally see on other forums.

To see the OldChristmasTreeLights.com forum, click on the following link:

http://oldchristmastreelights.com/forums/

To sign up for the OldChristmasTreeLights.com forum, click on the following link:

http://oldchristmastreelights.com/octl_forum_signup.htm

Saint Patrick: His People, His Work and His Day

I love Ireland. But not as much as a certain ancient Briton who, having been kidnapped into force labor and escaping years later, returned to share the light of the Gospel (and of civilization) to his former captors. Ironically, he was later called to task by church officials for taking so much on himself. But we're glad he did. And after his passing, the Roman church had little choice but to recognize his accomplishments.

To learn more about the history behind the man and the legend, click on the following link:

http://familychristmasonline.com/other_holidays/st_patricks_day/st_patricks_day.htm

Keep in Touch

Each month, we get more interest in this newsletter, in our Christmas sites, and in the Christmas traditions, ideas, and memories we discuss. We welcome your questions and comments as indicators of what we should be working on next (also, we always try to answer reader questions quickly). In addition, if you have any photos, tips, or articles you'd like to share with your fellow Christmas enthusiasts, please let us know.

Best Wishes!

As always, our hope is that we can continue helping you and your family (as Dickens said of Scrooge):

Honor Christmas in your heart, and
"try to keep it all the year."

In the meantime, please keep in touch, and let us know what you'd like to see added or changed.

May God grant you joy and wonder every season of this year,

Paul and Shelia Race

http://FamilyChristmasOnline.com

http://CardboardChristmas.com

http://OldChristmasTreeLights.com

Click the following link to view our December, 2013 newsletter:

http://familychristmasonline.com/fco_newsletter/13_12_c_times.htm

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