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Wassail!

I'm a little bit later posting than usual, just due to life, and sorry it's Monday and not the weekend, but here we are finally - and I am extra pleased this year, to present to you the twentieth Pros December-Christmas-Winter-Solstice-festival-of-light-of-all-kinds challenge! That's right, we have been doing this for twenty years!

Happy twentieth anniversay, Pros December-Christmas-Winter-Solstice-festival-of-light-of-all-kinds challenge!

This year's theme is courtesy of

tinturtle, who thought Discovered in the Wassail Bowl might be fun, and since that also fits very nicely with the twentieth-anniversary tradition being pottery/china/porcelein, I ran with it. Thank you

tinturtle!

The twentieth-anniversary traditional colour is - rather fittingly - ~~Professionals~~ emerald green!

What is wassail? Like the Pros December-Christmas-Winter-Solstice-festival-of-light-of-all-kinds challenge (*g*), it's an English tradition - and an even older one. To go wassailing is to go from door to door on Twelfth Night, singing to the householders and offering a drink from the wassail bowl in exchange for gifts. It's a bit like carol singing, but with more alcohol and rowdiness, and something that probably ended up in a pub somewhere. It's more of a revival now than anything else, but I reckon it's something our lads might have been likely to join in... *g* The wassail bowl itself was a very big cup with multiple handles so that it could be easily passed from one person to another, for sharing the warming beverage inside - which was not tea!

(In fact there are two types of wassailing. These days most people probably think first of the old south-west English tradition of wassailing among the apple orchards, with offerings of toast and cider, to ensure a good harvest in the new year when the apple trees awake again in spring.)

And what does wassail actually mean? Well it's a toast - good health! Or as more commonly said these days - Cheers!

So - I think we all know the drill after twenty years... *g* Would anyone like to come and join in with our Pros December-Christmas-Winter-Solstice-festival-of-light-of-all-kinds challenge? You simply need to choose a free date from the calendar and let me know in the comments. That day is then yours to post something Pros-y and somehow seasonal to the comm. It doesn't have to be Christmas-y, it could just be winter-ish, or it could be related to another seasonal celebration or festival - Divali or Hanukkah, or ~~Bodie~~ Bodhi Day, or even to celebrate the long summer (cos you're in the southern half of the world...) It might even be completely anti-Christmas (although a passing reference to fit into the challenge would be nice), and just be a present offered to any Pros fans passing through the com. You can post as often as you like on that day - just once, half a dozen times, every hour on the hour - it's entirely your day to be as Pros-y as you'd like to be as often as you'd like to be.

The hope is that people will receive something Pros in their flist (or by visiting the comm) every day leading up to Christmas, and - very much crossing fingers - even through and into the New Year.

Despite it always being a bit uncertain whether we'll be able to fill the calendar, and suggestions that we cut back on days, I've gone ahead and posted the entire 1st December to 6th January version, so crossing fingers and holding thumbs. If we don't fill it then we'll just leave the empty days there, with a shout of Wassail! - but let's see how we do.

It doesn't have to be fic or art that's posted - although that's always brilliant, obviously - but it could be something completely different. A Pros trivia quiz? Cowley's letter to Santa? Macklin's Christmas card list? Start a discussion about why Doyle adores winter and Bodie hates it? Make up a Pros wordsearch puzzle, or colouring-in page! Post that scan you have of a pic no one else would see otherwise! Anything connected to our lads and CI5 is welcome. *g* There is a word-prompt on each date, if you'd like some inspiration (okay, or an extra challenge in some cases!) but again it's entirely optional, it's only there for anyone who fancies. *g*

As ever, I'm happy to post for you, if you'd rather not do it yourself for any reason (such as Christmas being a hugely busy time for many people), or if you don't have a livejournal - just drop me an email to my email on the User Info page. If you'd like to offer "extra content" that can be slotted into days nobody has claimed, or if someone has a disaster and can't fill their day after all, that would be greatly appreciated as well!

Please sign up as soon as possible (so that I can organise for whatever days appear to be empty etc.) but feel free to sign up any time the comm is running – if you're suddenly inspired on 16th December to post on the 17th, and it's still an empty day, then comment below and go for it (please let me know in the comments though, because otherwise I will try to fill it with extra content myself, as the comm mod!)

If you'd like more than one day then that's almost certainly do-able these days - but I'll give you one to start with, let everyone else have a chance at their first choice of day, and then ask who'd like second (third, fourth... *g*) dates.

To sign up, please comment below with the date/s you would like to post or have your work/creation posted. I will then snag the icon you've used (please make it a Pros icon, because this is Pros, and not an animated one, otherwise the calendar makes me dizzy... *g*) to block off those day/s for you on the calendar. Then all you need to do is post to

discoveredinalj on that day! The icons on the calendar will then also become links to your post.

Please use GMT (lads' time) when you post, and post between midnight and midnight lads' time on your day - this is just because, with people all over the world posting, times and posts can get tangled otherwise. Someone posting late can end up crossing over with someone posting early - and it's happened before! This time converter is helpful if you're not sure.

If you'd like to see how it's worked in previous years, you can find links to all the comm challenges on the user info page - simply click on the challenge banner and you will be taken to all the entries with the challenge tag. If you find the challenge calendar, you'll be able to click on any day to see what was posted. *g* And there are eighteen other Christmas/Solstice/Winter challenges to explore and be inspired by!

If I've missed out anything vital, or you have any questions, then do let me know in the comments - and sign-ups are now open, for the twentiety Pros Christmas/Solstice/Winter/Let-There-Be-Light

discoveredinalj challenge!

1st Wassail!	2nd Wassail!	3rd Wassail!	4th Wassail!	5th Wassail!
6th Wassail!	7th Wassail!	8th Wassail!	9th Wassail!	10th Wassail!
11th Wassail!	12th Wassail!	13th Wassail!	14th Wassail!	15th Wassail!
16th Wassail!	17th Wassail!	18th Wassail!	19th Wassail!	20th Wassail!
21st Wassail!	22nd Wassail!	23rd Wassail!	24th Wassail!	25th Happy Christmas!
26th Wassail!	27th Wassail!	28th Wassail!	29th Wassail!	30th Wassail!
31st Wassail!				1st Wassail!
2nd Wassail!	3rd Wassail!	4th Wassail!	5th Wassail!	6th Wassail!

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From:

agt-spooky.livejournal.com

Yay! May I have December 3rd, please? 😀

From:

Discovered in the Wassail Bowl

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