2018 A Christmas Forum Year In Review

Loughc

So another busy year is done and dusted here in the Christmas forum. And a busy day in work for me means I've recycling a lot of last years thread on this but everything I said last year still rings through this year.

Ye are all amazing!

This has been our busiest year EVER for the Christmas forum completely smashing our previous busiest year 2015 by 1,431 posts. We also broke the 8,000 posts mark for the first time ever and we weren't too far off hitting 9k, maybe this year haha

This level of posting is a testament to all of our wonderful elves who post here both at Christmas time and all year round and the wonderful community feel ye have made here. Ye guys truly make this forum what it is and without ye Boards would be a much gloomier place. And a massive thank you to my wonderful Co-Mod Posy who keeps this place in tip top condition all year around and is a pleasure to mod with.

Looking ahead to 2019 we will be continue to build on a more community feel during the off-season so hopefully ye guys will stick around even if ye are all Christmas out at the moment.

Old favorites will return, the Countdown, Out of Season, etc and I'll be creating more threads like Christmas funnies/memes, the exercise/weight loss thread, that give us more of a chance to chat about things not just Christmas.

And of course our chat thread is there for everything and anything and of course we are always here for whenever you have a bad day or need an ear to listen or a place to vent, our Christmas lights are always on no matter the time of the day or night.

So what were your highlights from 2018 either in or out of the forum?

Loughc

A highlight this year on the Forum had to be the excitement we had when ChristmasFM came back for one day only during the snow storm.

The excitement was brilliant and it felt so festive!!

DvB

Best decision I ever made on Boards was to hang around this forum for the whole year, as I have said on many an occasion its easily the friendliest & most welcoming section on boards & I loved being around for the full year & seeing the increase in posts & posters after the summer had ended. Can see no reason as to why I'd change that so here's to the next 12 months on the Christmas forum!!

Thanks again to LoughC & Posy for their excellent modding, the atmosphere in here is hugely down to you two & I for one am extremely grateful that we have this little haven of joy to come to when we're not feeling our best or most positive or even if we simply fancy checking in.
Well done guys!

I just hope January doesnt drag its heels as much as last year.... compared to the other 11 months it seemed so much longer!!

My personal highlight was the adverts thread, I love when that starts up on Nov.1st, dont think i added many of the 2018 crop to my playlist but its always great to see what new & wonderful ideas of Christmas are presented to us, good or bad.

Loughc

DvB wrote: »

Best decision I ever made on Boards was to hang around this forum for the whole year, as I have said on many an occasion its easily the friendliest & most welcoming section on boards & I loved being around for the full year & seeing the increase in posts & posters after the summer had ended. Can see no reason as to why I'd change that so here's to the next 12 months on the Christmas forum!!

Thanks again to LoughC & Posy for their excellent modding, the atmosphere in here is hugely down to you two & I for one am extremely grateful that we have this little haven of joy to come to when we're not feeling our best or most positive or even if we simply fancy checking in.
Well done guys!

I just hope January doesnt drag its heels as much as last year.... compared to the other 11 months it seemed so much longer!!

My personal highlight was the adverts thread, I love when that starts up on Nov.1st, dont think i added many of the 2018 crop to my playlist but its always great to see what new & wonderful ideas of Christmas are presented to us, good or bad.

Thank you for hanging around, it really was the best decision

OMG January last year felt like 3 months rolled into one, I'm hoping this one will be quicker and I'm feeling positive it will be.

January is the Monday of the year for me...
Feb-May is Tuesday...
Jun-Aug is Wednesday...
Sept-Oct is Thursday...
November - Dec 23rd is Friday...
Christmas Eve is Saturday...
Christmas Day - NYE is Sunday...

And just like a working week once you get through Wednesday the rest of the week flies in as does the year from Sept on!

Loughc

On a personal note, 2018 was an extremely busy year for me, from buying a house for the first time, getting all the paperwork done to moving in to the house in November that I really didn't get much time to appreciate the build up of the last 2 months which is usually the best part.

This year I'll be more settled thankfully so I'll defo will make the most of the build up this year.

I love the concept of Rudolph day, but when it falls during the week it's hard to squeeze in Christmas time.

This year I'm going to use my Sundays to do something Christmassy if only for a moment or two. Sundays to me remind me of the period from Christmas to New Years, it's relaxing and a great time to reflect. So this year I'll be using my Sundays for Christmassy stuff and the beauty is there's 52 of them

CheerLouth

Like DvB, sticking around all year was the best idea for me! Love this forum - it's the best place on Boards imo!

For me, the highlights were Christmas in March & the Christmas Ads thread! Love a good ad I do!

chuckles30

I think I was around more this year than previous years and I was definitely here more outside of December than in December due to work issues :(

Thank you to all the elves who keep this forum going throughout the year. I'll be around again in 2019 to keep my Christmas spirit alive

Jude13

Ditto I was around this year a lot more than previously. It was a crutch when traveling to keep the spirits up. Christmas reminds me of home. I love the no BS aspect of the place. Thanks to all the elves for making it so special.

I am already thinking of ways to make our trip to Ireland in Dec 19 special, it will be the first Christmas in Ireland for our coming baby.

DvB

Jude13 wrote: »

I am already thinking of ways to make our trip to Ireland in Dec 19 special, it will be the first christmas in Ireland for our coming baby.

I'm already looking forward to reading your posts about this Jude, your excitement around coming home for christmas is infectious at the best of times & with a baby added to the mix I can only imagine the new levels of excitment

Jude13

DvB wrote: »

I'm already looking forward to reading your posts about this Jude, your excitement around coming home for christmas is infectious at the best of times & with a baby added to the mix I can only imagine the new levels of excitment

Cheers, I will try and keep everyone updated. I am sure it will be a mess but a lovely one. Traveling with a new born again on an 8.5 hour flight should be great craic.

I just need to be walking down Grafton Street on the 23rd for it to feel like Christmas. That and some snow would be nice.

We need an elf on the toy show this year.

Loughc

Jude13 wrote: »

I just need to be walking down Grafton Street on the 23rd for it to feel like Christmas. That and some snow would be nice.

We need an elf on the toy show this year.

Seems to be no sign of snow at all this winter over here

I was hoping for another snow event like last Feb/Mar, it was so magical and definitely brought a bit of Christmas out of season for most folks. Popped over to the weather forum and the outlook is not good for the same this year.

I have no idea how we can get someone onto the Toy Show from here again... I have no shame when applying and I even mentioned boards.ie Christmas forum in my application last year but it made no difference. :P :pac:

Sundew

Jude13 wrote: »

Cheers, I will try and keep everyone updated. I am sure it will be a mess but a lovely one. Traveling with a new born again on an 8.5 hour flight should be great craic.

I just need to be walking down Grafton Street on the 23rd for it to feel like Christmas. That and some snow would be nice.

We need an elf on the toy show this year.

Just make sure to bring a travel size bottle of calpol with you and you’ll be grand!:D

otnomart

I was definitely around more this year, expecially since I bought the flight home (used to be around Sept, but it is getting earlier and earlier).
Christmas means Home for me, I still get homesick after years of "expatting" and this Forum is like a fluffy cuddly blanket
Expecially enjoyed the ads and movies threads and also the seminal debates about trees, lights, songs.
Thanks Mods (Head Elves ?) and Elves !
I plan to stick around expecially for the Winter !

Caranica

I've loved this forum. Started following it when I opened a new account (long story but all within the rules) and ditched almost all the fora I'd previously followed.

Such a lovely sense of community in here. I'm not a fan of chat threads but there's been plenty going on around the forum that I love dipping in.

Loughc

Is there anything as posters ye guys would like to see in 2019?

As the Christmas hangover slowly fades we tend to go into the Abyss in terms of post count, etc, so I would love to know what else we can do to keep ye guys coming back in the off-season.

otnomart

Loughc wrote: »

Is there anything as posters ye guys would like to see in 2019?

As the Christmas hangover slowly fades we tend to go into the Abyss in terms of post count, etc, so I would love to know what else we can do to keep ye guys coming back in the off-season.

Loughc I really really liked what you wrote about Sundays:

Loughc wrote: »

So this year I'll be using my Sundays for Christmassy stuff and the beauty is there's 52 of them

I liked the idea of Sundays being a little special, instead of just another day of chores and rushing around.


We could have a thread about Sundays ?

Loughc

A little graph showing the number of posts for 2018.

I was bored. :P

Posy

Do a pie chart next. I like those.

Loughc

Posy wrote: »

Do a pie chart next. I like those.

Challenge Accepted :P

Posy

I love it!!

DvB

I know you love a stat challenge Loughc so is there a way to see who had the most posts in the forum last year? Or is that a stat too far?

On a dide note, surprised to see posts for Jan 2019 down so much from last year. I appreciate we still have 7 days left but its looking unlikely we'll match 2018 in that regard.

Loughc

DvB wrote: »

I know you love a stat challenge Loughc so is there a way to see who had the most posts in the forum last year? Or is that a stat too far?

On a dide note, surprised to see posts for Jan 2019 down so much from last year. I appreciate we still have 7 days left but its looking unlikely we'll match 2018 in that regard.

I be afraid to run that stat as I think I spam this forum the most

Jan 2019 is down year on year, we did have alot of posts to the Christmas Games thread this time last year... then it dropped off.

I'm confident once we get past January we can surpass the other middle months of Feb-Oct.

November 18 will be hard to beat though! :eek:

DvB

Loughc wrote: »

I be afraid to run that stat as I think I spam this forum the most

Jan 2019 is down year on year, we did have alot of posts to the Christmas Games thread this time last year... then it dropped off.

I'm confident once we get past January we can surpass the other middle months of Feb-Oct.

November 18 will be hard to beat though! :eek:

Yeah, for whatever reason (I think people just really wanted christmas to start ASAP last year) November was a whopper, as was the whole year on here to be fair.

DvB

Loughc wrote: »

Is there anything as posters ye guys would like to see in 2019?

Here's an idea... back in the day (before I posted regularly here) there was the know your elves threads, however these were always specific to your christmas favourites etc. What about doing something similar only in a more 'get to know your elves' kind of way?

Got to thinking about how I know nobody on here other than their username & online persona & talk of a potential meet up in Dublin gave me the idea that maybe theres more to us all than just christmas!? Or maybe not:D

CheerLouth

DvB wrote: »

Here's an idea... back in the day (before I posted regularly here) there was the know your elves threads, however these were always specific to your christmas favourites etc. What about doing something similar only in a more 'get to know your elves' kind of way?

Got to thinking about how I know nobody on here other than their username & online persona & talk of a potential meet up in Dublin gave me the idea that maybe theres more to us all than just christmas!? Or maybe not:D

I like that idea!

Loughc

DvB wrote: »

Here's an idea... back in the day (before I posted regularly here) there was the know your elves threads, however these were always specific to your christmas favourites etc. What about doing something similar only in a more 'get to know your elves' kind of way?

Got to thinking about how I know nobody on here other than their username & online persona & talk of a potential meet up in Dublin gave me the idea that maybe theres more to us all than just christmas!? Or maybe not:D

I really like the idea, but I think it's important to note that boards and the internet in general offers a level of anonymity some people might not want to give too much away on fear of having their RL persona outted, and that's fine, that's why the original "Know Your Elves" was kept at a high level/Christmas themed.

Naturally if there is a demand for it, I'll be well up for it!

DvB

Loughc wrote: »

I really like the idea, but I think it's important to note that boards and the internet in general offers a level of anonymity some people might not want to give too much away on fear of having their RL persona outted, and that's fine, that's why the original "Know Your Elves" was kept at a high level/Christmas themed.

Naturally if there is a demand for it, I'll be well up for it!

Agree 100% & FTR I'd be one of those kind of people.
Howeve what i meant was more akin to a similar level of questions but for elements outside of christmas, i.e. favourite song (non crimbo), film, food, places to visit etc.

Then again, maybe we're better off keeping the outside world out & leave this as simply a haven for our shared love of christmas?

Loughc

DvB wrote: »

Agree 100% & FTR I'd be one of those kind of people.
Howeve what i meant was more akin to a similar level of questions but for elements outside of christmas, i.e. favourite song (non crimbo), film, food, places to visit etc.

Then again, maybe we're better off keeping the outside world out & leave this as simply a haven for our shared love of christmas?

No I think that level of questions is fine, I'll setup a signup thread so if anyone wants to sign up they can, no pressure

Jude13

Sounds like a good idea, I do like my anonymity though, don't want people to find out I'm actually Santa Clause, dohhhhh!!

The figures are pretty good for Christmas 2018 though. I think I posted a lot more last year. This and the motor / aviation form are the only ones I post on, and those two only when I have a car issue or a query on a flight I am taking. Without the Christmas forum I would not be on boards.