My 2013 Christmas Card to all of you

I opened up several different holiday cards this morning.  Yeah, they’ve been arriving at my apartment for the past week, but I chose to save them all and open them today.  What an amazing, moving experience when you do that.

As far as I’m concerned, this blog is more than just me typing my thoughts on a web portal.  It’s an interaction between bloggers and readers, it’s an interaction between friends and friends.  And if I could send cards to everybody who I call “friend,” there wouldn’t be enough cards left in the Capital District for others to use.

So in the spirit of the holidays, in appreciation for everything you’ve done…

Merry Christmas.  Happy holidays, Joyeux Noel and Peace.

Merry Christmas to the wonderful blog-readers who fire up their computers and check out what I’m doing.  Some of you enjoy the K-Chuck Radios, some of you want more Collarworld stories, others enjoy the photography and still even more enjoy whatever I can come up with each day.

Merry Christmas to my crew of blog readers.  I appreciate your comments every time a new blog is posted, I appreciate your thoughts and observations and input into this little blog dialogue that started here in 2009 (and in a self-published blog a couple of years before that).  So much thanks to D357, Pat DeWolfe, PK Miller, CountryMama, HokieMom, LB, Jango Davis, Bob Burger, Deb Marks, Charles Bailey, Carol Rosenthal, Bill W, Hal Jordan, Girl “Ate”, Annie W, Potrzebie, Julie Chemgallws, all of you and many more.  You are the readers that inspire me to write this blog, to make it better every single day.

Merry Christmas to my fellow Times Union community bloggers, including Roger Green, Stephanie Snyder, Gina Peca, Roger Green, Mary Martin, Chad Polenz, David Kalish, Sonja Stark, Silvia Meder Lilly, Ken Screven, Don Rittner, Andrew Gregory, SIRSY, Jason Purvis, Jen Smith, Teri Conroy, all of you and so many more.  Each week I devote one day from my blog to share what you’ve written.  And it’s a day well spent, as far as I’m concerned.

Merry Christmas to Times Union blog boss Michael Huber.  Four and a half years ago, you saw one of my self-published blog posts and, in doing so, took a leap of faith and asked me to join the Times Union blog portal.  And I took a leap of faith and said yes.  And we continue on this journey every single day, four and a half years without fail.

Merry Christmas to the bloggers on other non-Times Union portals.  Those would include DerryX, Rob Madeo’s “Keyboard Krumbs,” Greg and Mary at AllOverAlbany.com, Matt Baumgartner at FridayPuppy.com, the crew at KeepAlbanyBoring.com, and many many more.

Merry Christmas to my fellow photographers, including those at the Auburn Photography Club, the members of the Photo Center of Troy, the crew at the Schenectady PhotoLab and the developing team at McGreevy Pro Lab.  Photography isn’t just a one-man operation.  It involves inspiration, dedication, production and completion.  And I would be totally remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the journey every picture has taken – and the steps all of you did in helping those photos reach completion.   A special thanks to Kelly Grimaldi and the team at St. Agnes Cemetery, for helping make my 2013 art show “A Dream in the Dash” as amazing and as wonderful as possible.

Merry Christmas to my trivia teammates, both on the Street Academy trivia team – Jeremy McNamara and Katie Kurtessis – and on my new “We Are Your Nemesis, Fear Us!” team of Donna Debboli and Dylan McLeod and Matt Hannon.  Brains and friendship.  Totally awesome combination.  That, and winning free food and bar swag is a plus.

Merry Christmas also to the trivia teams against whom I’ve competed – including squads like the Fist, Woo Hoo a Go Go, Tres Hombres, Send It In Jerome, More Cowbell, Unwed Fathers, What The Ruck, A Few Cards Short of a Deck, Troyale Family, the Skidmarks, Prestige Worldwide, and more and more and more.  Merry Christmas also to the trivia hosts, including Kevin Baker, General James, Ben Hovey, Steve Murray, Scott Mumford, and many more.

Merry Christmas to the teams and organizations at the National Basketball League of Canada, where I currently handle their statistics and player involvement as one of my paying jobs.   Yes, I work with five teams in Ontario – the London Lightning, Mississauga Power, Windsor Express, Ottawa SkyHawks and Brampton A’s – as well as four teams in the Maritimes – the Saint John Mill Rats, the Halifax Rainmen, the Moncton Miracles and the Island Storm.  Those nine teams, along with NBL commissioner Paul Riley, comprise something extremely special – they’re creating Canada’s true professional basketball league.  And I’m glad to be part of it.

My daughter Cassaundra gets a special holiday greeting of her own.  She’s made her own way in the world, she’s achieved so much in her life.  She’s doing what makes her happy and she’s doing it with someone who cares deeply about her.  Truly an accomplishment.

And a Merry Christmas to my beautiful girlfriend Nicole, who makes my heart float in the air like a balloon, whose smile has turned my world from despair to truly rare.

If I forget anybody on this list, please understand.  You have not been forgotten in my heart.

This blog is my Christmas card to you.  It doesn’t involve computer-generated dancing elves or digitally-enhanced mountain streams, and it doesn’t involve clickable hyperlinks that promise refinancing or weight loss.

It’s just my words and how I feel after I’ve opened all my Christmas cards at once.  Thank you all for making 2013 a fantastic year.

And 2014 is going to be just as great.

I can feel it.