You'd Better Watch Out ...

You'd better watch out for the 2009 Christmas Carnival, that is.

As the name implies, this is an opportunity for bloggers to showcase their blogposts about Christmas -- stories, poems, recipes, nostalgia, videos, podcasts, humor, spirituality, graphic art, photographs, songs, and more. Christmas lends itself to a flying sleigh-load of creative endeavors.

The first two Christmas Carnivals were hosted by Adam Graham in 2005 and 2006. Cathouse Chat took over in 2007.

Last year, Cathouse Chat hosted the Christmas Carnival for the second year in a row, and this year Kat makes it a three-fer. I was pleased to see two of my holiday-related posts listed in the 2008 Christmas Carnival, and I'm hoping to have at least one relevant item to submit this year.

The announcement for the 2009 Christmas Carnival sets out a number of ground rules:

first of all, absolutely no political or advertising posts. I want to make sure the Carnival remains focused on the season and that it celebrates the joy, solemnity and unity that the season ought to bring. Secondly, I earnestly request that all submitted posts be dated from November and December of this year, 2009. I really want to keep the Carnival fresh with new pictures, recipes, memories and meditations, so get cracking and send in some of that awesome creativity I know you all do so well!

The past two years that CatHouse Chat has hosted the Carnival, I have pretty much accepted as many entries as I've gotten and haven't limited people to one submission per person; I'd like to continue that tradition. However, bear in mind that the Carnival has gotten bigger each year (hooray!), and I may have to limit people to, oh, three entries per person *grinz*

The deadline for submissions will be Tuesday, 22 December, and I plan to post the Carnival no later than 3 p.m., ET, on Christmas Eve. Hopefully, I'll get it up by the 23rd, but I like to give myself that extra time just in case something crazy happens.

I will NOT be using the Blog Carnival tool for entries this year. Please send ALL submissions directly to cathousechat -AT- gmail-dot-com, and use CARNIVAL in the subject line. In the body of the post, please include the permalink to your post, as well as the trackback URL if you want me to send one when the Carnival is posted. Please also give a brief (one or two sentence) description of the post, and what category I should put it in.

You can read the rest of the rules, such as they are, here.

So, bloggers, start using your egg-noggin and come up with some appropriate ideas for Christmas posts. You may just wake up on Christmas morning and find yourself among the revelers of the Carnival of Christmas 2009.