A Christmas Message from Bill
As we near that special day of the year, let's take a moment and reflect on what Christmas really means.
For those who believe, it is a deep spiritual time, as they celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus. It is a time of religious reflection and deep faith soul searching.
For many, it is a time for family. A time when most of us get a well deserved break from the grind of our work life and spend some quality time with those who are most important to us ... our family. As I get older (and perhaps a little wiser), I have come to realize that friends and acquaintances can come and go, but family (for better or worse) are always there and at this time of the year I find it most important that the focus of my attention is on my family. In the end, all you have is family. Enjoy them while you can, because life can be but a fleeting moment.
Gifts, of course are always a part of Christmas, but again, as I get older, I have come to realize that the greatest gifts I can receive are no longer under the tree. They are in the smiling faces of those I love the most, my family. Especially my 4 beautiful grandchildren. They are the greatest gift of all. Their innocence, wonderment and pure joy remind me of the true meaning of Christmas. Peace, Love, Joy and Understanding.
To my incredible family of Poets here at the Pub, I raise a special glass to each and every one of you. You have all become a part of my life that I cherish and look forward to and I hope that each and every one of you, no matter what your beliefs, have a wonderful, safe and Happy Holiday and that you find the Peace and Joy in the Holidays that I know I will. Be safe, have fun and cherish the memories that this special year will bring.
Lastly, a special Merry Christmas to the heart and soul of the Poets Pub. The amazing woman you all know as MystresMyna. To me, she is simply Jess. I wish you all the best over Christmas and I hope that you find the amazing joy and happiness that you deserve this special time of the year. Enjoy the time with your family and and rest ... because we have another super busy year next year. Merry Christmas my friend.
Merry Christmas everyone.
Bill
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A Christmas Message from MystresMyna
Bill messaged me to let me know that he had started this week's Chatter with his Christmas message and reminded me not to forget to add mine. So, I moseyed over to read what he wrote and after reading it my first thought was....my Christmas message will be easy....all I need to write is...DITTO!!
In all seriousness, Bill's words ring so true. For me Christmas is all about the celebration of the birth of Christ, it is all about the celebration of love. I realize that not everyone celebrates Christmas the way my family and I do, but I do know that we can all celebrate love. The love of family and friends is the driving force in all our lives. I believe that life is always about family, but often we let the chaotic drumming of the world around us drowned out the beautiful melodies made by our families. We need to take the time to just listen to the music, without the hectic noises that intrude upon our day to day lives. Christmas is the perfect time to year to do just that, listen to the music of life. I know I plan on drinking in every moment with my precious grandbabies, my children and the rest of my family.
To every one of you here at the Pub, I hope, no matter what your beliefs are, that you will let this Holiday Season, fill you up with the glorious sounds of love, laughter, joy, and grace. I hope you are able to gather enough life music, that your cup overflows into a reserve that will last you throughout the coming year. You are all so dear to me, the friendships we have made here are priceless, thank you from the bottom of my heart!! I love you all!!
To Bill, "Oh captain, my captain!", I wish you and your family a blessed Christmas. I hope you make wonderful memories with your precious grandchildren!! I know everyone will agree that you are the cornerstone upon which the Pub is built, and we are all grateful and blessed to have you at the helm. I hope you have time to rest and renew, this holiday season, because next year is going to be our best year yet!! Merry Christmas, my dear friend!!
Merry Christmas and Cheers to you ALL!!
MystresMyna (Jess)
FEATURED POEM
Decisions, Decisions
By NehpetsEnal
She read them all and was rockily impressed
A path of cobbles was soon her's to walk
She found herself between a rock and a hard place
The organ grinder slew the music and she cried, in empathy
She kissed Halloween tears, the horror of her choice
Picking the few was torturous, so she shared the pain with the many
Soon she had us all in the cutting room, taking a hand in dropping the guillotine
Sadly, most were sacrificed, but each of us gave five a stay of execution
Hubble, bubble, toil and trouble
Snips and snails, and puppy dog's tails
Sugar and spice and all things nice
It'll soon be time for the 'Mystres' to pop the survivors in the oven and release the best to fly from her royal pie
Thank you NehpetsEnal for sharing this lovely poem with us!! -- MystresMyna
PUB-VERSE ANNOUNCEMENTS
Poets Pub
PUBBER OF THE YEAR -
The Pubber of the Year is an award that we bestow upon a Pub member that exemplifies the tenets on which the Pub was created. The Poets Pub's mission is to bring together poets from around the world and give them a place to share their craft, without fear of judgment, NO EGOS, just support and inspiration. In choosing a Pubber of the Year we look for someone who is well known in the Pub, someone that not only participates in our monthly contests, but contributes to the Pub by encouraging fellow poets, through comments and the offer of help when needed.
The choice for Pubber of the Year is never an easy one, however, with the help of your wonderful nominations, it is with great pleasure, Bill and I would like to announce 2019 Pubber of the Year:
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@NehpetsEnal
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NehpetsEnal has proven himself a great friend to all members of the Pub. His bright and cheery presents always has a kind word for his fellow poets. He has graced us with many of his witty poems, as he is an eager participant in our monthly contests. Please join us in Congratulating our 2019 Pubber of the Year!!
POET OF THE YEAR –
Thank you for sending in your votes for week four of our Poet of the Year contest. Our judges are hard at work making the final decisions and we will be announcing our Poet of the Year in next week's Chatter.
NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS –
Don't forget to send in your New Year's Resolutions poems. We will get them posted here in our collection. It is always fun to look back over the year and see how you fared with those resolutions.
JANUARY 2020 –
Our first contest of the new year will start on January 1st 2020!! We plan on making 2020 our best year yet!! We have plenty of new things in the works for you in the new year. We are happy to announce that the Poets Pub will now have a broader presence on social media, with a Facebook page, Twitter as well as an Instagram page. We will announce it here when we have all of those up and running.
As always, we invite you all to send in your suggestions for what you would like to see here at the Pub. You can leave your suggestions down in the comments or send them to us in a PM.
WINTER COLLECTION –
Our winter seasonal collection – A Pub Christmas is now (and always) open for submissions. We encourage everyone to join in and show some holiday spirit by sending in your best holiday poems. Check the poetry prompts below for some fun holiday poetry ideas.
POEM A WEEK –
Our Poem-A-Week Challenge will start anew, January 1st, 2020. If you have been a part of this challenge in 2019 and wish to continue, let us know and we will put you on the participants list for 2020. To participate challenge, all you need to do is create a book on your own profile for the challenge, let us know what book it is and then start writing. You can also send in your poems to include in our collection here. Please PM us if you take on the challenge so we can add your name to the participants list.
We would like to welcome a new participant to the Poem-a-Week challenge:
Anneshiningstar
Our December prompt is up and we invite everyone to stop by and participate!!
We already have our first entries for December, stop by and let the authors know what you think.
If you haven't stopped by to read our Write the Story entries yet, I would highly recommend that you take a moment to check them out!! Then consider send us your entry as well!! If you know anyone that might be interested in this challenge, please, don't hesitate to pass on the information.
Every month I will be posting a new short story writing prompt along with several words to use in the story. The stories will completely vary in genres. Please check out our contest book for full details!
Lyttlejoe's Busted Gulch Volume 12:
Black Hat finally got his meeting with the Mayor. He wants to but some property out by the tent city, he says it is for a warehouse to expand his business. The Mayor agreed to discuss it with the city council but was skeptical. Brandy turned in the two bodies of the bounty hunters to Billy and collected her money and then went to meet Colton. Ruechari saw Ronan hugging a woman, not knowing it was his niece, she was not pleased. The latest edition of the Golden Pillars is out with all the latest news of Busted Gulch along with an extensive interview with Jacob Craven. Billy saw Rue in the café wanting to put her name in for the Secret Santa, but she decided to toss her Christmas wish in the trash. Billy was able to retrieve it and plans on fulfilling her wish. Jacob enlisted Rue's help with Josie, his little sister is becoming a woman. It but Jacob in a new light for Rue, it got her to thinking that maybe she shouldn't be keeping him at arms length.
If you want to find out what's next, head on over to The Storytellers Saloon and check out Lyttlejoe's Busted Gulch Volume 12!! Don't forget to add it to your reading list, new chapters are posted daily!
We are having our FFF Write-off to determine the Master of Flash for 2019. Starting today and lasting into January of 2020, we will be inviting past winners of FFF monthly competitions to send us a new story to add to the Masters of Flash collection. The collection already will include all the winning entries from all contests since September 2018, when the FFF was introduced.
Each winner will have the opportunity to send us a new story of their choice to include in the collection. We then encourage all writers to reach out to their followers and have them check out the entries in the competition, as the winner will be determined by fan votes.
The winner will be announced at the end of January 2020.
As part of the Pub-Verse of sites, we encourage all Pubbers to drop by the FFF and take a look. The Flash Fiction Forum has struggled to gather new followers and we ask ll Pubbers to support one of their sister sites.
OLD/NEW/CONTINUING WORKS
If you would like to share any of your old/new/continuing works on your personal profile, please send us a private message and we will include it here.
PERSONAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
If you would like to share any personal announcements, birthday, anniversary, Wattpad anniversary, new books published or anything else, please do not hesitate to send us a Private Message and we will get it in here.
WORLD POETS
Hungary
The Poet Of The Hortobágy
By Endre Ady
He was a large-eyed, Hunnish youth,
smitten with many a fair mirage,
and with his herd he struck into
the famous Magyar Hortobágy.
Woman and dreams have seized his soul
a thousand times with magic snare;
but when his heart would sprout a flower
the herds of cattle grazed it bare.
He often thought of wondrous things,
of wine and woman, death and birth;
he could have been a holy bard
in any other land on earth.
But he gazed upon the herds
and on the breeched, illiterate crowd,
straightway he buried all his songs;
he whistled or he swore aloud.
POETRY PROMPTS
Prompt #1 – Write a poem about resolutions you made at the beginning of the year and whether or not you achieved your goals.
Prompt #2 – Write a poem about New Year's resolutions for 2020.
Prompt #3 – Write a poem about Father Time ringing in the New Year.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!! I hope you have a safe and joyful holiday season! Remember to keep those pens and keyboards flying!!
Cheers from your Mystres of Chatter
MystresMyna