Advent Calendar Overview
For the first 24 days of December 2015, my blog was turned into a multi-contributor Advent Calendar. It was definitely something fun, even though I realised that doing such a dense series takes a lot of time. I actually did far less writing than I had thought, and I read less blogs than I normally do. Still, it was great! I learnt a lot of things about how to be a host blogger, how to set deadlines, formulate guidelines and find my way around twitter (watch out for my very own twitter tutorial coming in 2016…). What a pleasant surprise that none of the participants were like students, if they were late it was for a good reason, and it was rare that things arrived late.
Many bloggers, who I see as pros out there, were still worried that their piece was too long, too short, or not what I was looking for. What does this tell me, I who have done a mere 2 guest posts so far, that however long we have been doing this, we are very similar.
Now, I try to thank these 21 guests as much as I can, but I feel that I cannot do them justice. It was amazing to have 21! people participate in the advent calendar.
87,5% of the Advent Calendar posts were by guest. As for gender equality, of those 21 guests 3 were male, that means 14,3%, so not all that equal. 4 continents were represented, but more than 4 were mentioned in the posts. As for the age span, I don’t really know all of the ages, I myself am 27 and don’t boast about it… I have the feeling we went from 21 (almost 22) to about 60, correct me if I am wrong! Two of the guests celebrated their birthdays on the 24th and the 25th, do you know who they are?
With this post, I want to thank all of the participants of the advent calendar. I want to thank everyone who read, liked, and commented on the posts. I want to thank everyone who shared posts of it on social media and their own blogs. I want to thank everyone in advance for coming back and reading the posts.
To make the reading and coming back to the calendar easier, you can find links to all 24 posts here:
Day 1: Opening the First Door by Solveig Werner
Day 2: My First Christmas at the Age of 31 by Doctor Gulara Vincent
Day 3: Oh, Christmas Tree by Melanie Noell Bernard
Day 4: Cherry Blossoms and Snowflakes by Solveig Werner
Day 5: My First Christmas in California by Evelyne Holingue
Day 6: Nikolaus I Still Believe! by Solveig Werner
Day 7: A Christmas Kodak Moment by Tara Paray
Day 8: The Gift of Reading by Anabel Marsh
Day 9: Christmas Memories of Rome by Judith Works
Day 10: Christmas Traditions by Diana Gordon
Day 11: The Christmas Storm by Trent McDonald
Day 12: The Legendary Magic of the Poinsettia by Corina Carrasco
Day 13: Christmas in Zimbabwe by Beaton
Day 14: A Whirlwind by Camille de Fleurville
Day 15: Christmas: The Perfect Excuse For A Fight? by Lucy Brazier
Day 16: A Collage of Christmas Memories by S.D. Gates
Day 17: A Stinking Hot, Australian Christmas by Rowena Newton
Day 18: Christmas Music with Kate Edwards
Day 19: Holidays are: Food and Family by Robin Rivera
Day 20: One Tradition After Another by Kerry K
Day 21: The Advent Calendar by Geoff Le Pard
Day 22: Moments in Time by Melissa Barker-Simpson
Day 23: Tom Bowcock’s Eve by Rosie Reast
Day 24: A German Christmas by Solveig Werner
Thank you! Have fun reading!
© Solveig Werner 2015. All rights reserved.
Solveig Werner 
Thank you for playing hostess and let others express themselves on your page while you were doing most of the work… I think I can guess at least who was one person who had his/her birhday during the advent calendar and who was among the youngest contributors… 🙂 More seriously, thank you again: you have helped people meet who would have not otherwise and THAT was a true Christmas gift.
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Thank you Camille for being part of it! Well both birthdays were for women if I am correct one turned 22 and the other 60 😉
I am so happy to see comments of contributors popping up on blogs of others. As the series was not spread out in time, I do think it did help with the meeting of new people.
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It’s a great idea to have a recap post, Solveig. I have maybe missed a couple of posts as they got closer to Christmas, so it gives me the opportunity to catch up. I’ve enjoyed reading about other people’s traditions and stories related to this period of the year. All posts illustrated our human universality despite the different countries where we make our homes. Thank you again, Solveig, for the idea.
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This recap post was not entirely my idea, Rowena suggested that maybe an overview might be a good idea, she had clicked through all of the posts and told me that it was not the most convenient way of making her way though.
Thank you so much for being part of the Calendar, it was a pleasure having you!
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Fab line up! Happy birthday 🙂
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I hope that the birthday girls will see your message 🙂
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I wish I would have DISCOVERED THIS the beginning of the month. I Posted about Advent All Month long. Have a wonderful New Year. Hugs Sarah
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Aw, well the twelve days of Christmas aren’t over yet, so there is nothing wrong reading about Christmassy things for a few more days to come. Thank you Sarah, see you in the new year!
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I never pay attention to the days. Christmas Ends when I say it does. After all: the feelings should continue all year.
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Besides I never put the tree up or the MANGER SCENE till January 7. Usually later.
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Reblogged this on and commented:
I just Discovered this wonderful blog and it’s Advent Series. I can’t wait to start it.
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Aw! Thank you so much for hosting this wonderful idea, Solveig, and for asking me to participate. I was, and am, incredibly honored to have been asked (especially with being such a new blogger.) ^.^
P.s. I look forward to your how-to-twitter in January. I definitely think I’ll need that. I’m so incapable on social media. :p
P.p.s. Oo! Was I not the youngest? That’s a first. :p
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You are welcome Melanie, it was a pleasure having you! And there is nothing better than to start blogging with a guest post 🙂 When did you start? I will have to dig out that very first post of yours (I love reading first posts, they show that we are all quite similar when starting).
I figured twitter out through the need, I am still learning so maybe the post will be number 1 or something like that, so that I can build up on that.
No the youngest was 21 and turned 22 on Christmas Eve 🙂
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True. I really enjoyed the opportunity to learn about guest posts, and it’s what led me to do my guest post blog series in January. So, thank you! ^.^
I started on August 31st this year. So, it’s been 4 months. Wow! Four months. 0.0
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SUPER idea for a series at Christmastime. You have far more tolerance for the WordPress formatting quirks than I, however. It would drive me mad to hassle the admin for 21 elves, even as I’m thrilled that you took it on.
I will return to read each and every one of them. I’m a bit of a Christmas nut – and, in the dead of dreadful summer, reading these posts will remind me that I have something to live for: the return of WINTER!
xx,
mgh
(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMore dot com)
– ADD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder –
“It takes a village to educate a world!”
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