Young Writers Society

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1. THIS IS WHAT I CALL CHRISTMAS
2. TWO CENTS: HOLIDAY CHEER
3. A LITTLE ABOUT HANUKKAH AND KWANZAA
4. SOCIETY PAGES
5. GREEN ROOM GALLERY
6. YWS CALENDAR
7. SHAMELESS PLUGS
8. SUBSCRIBERS

THIS IS WHAT I CALL CHRISTMASwritten by JustPerks < PM: >

One thing I’ve done for as long as I can remember is going over to my grandfather’s house on Sunday, typically the last one before Christmas. My mom’s whole side of the family are always there, bearing gifts and good food and items to enter in the annual, and surprisingly competitive, gift exchange. The house is quickly filled with booming and shrill laughter, mostly from my three aunts or my many cousins, outraged at a crazy trade between spouses. The trick is to bring something that you wanted for yourself, and be able to walk away with it. It’s always a hoot to watch.

On Christmas Eve, my immediate family, my parents and my brother, gather around our pile of presents, and pick out a few to open. All of us can’t help laughing in relief at finally being able to talk about what we got each other - the stress to keep it contained is real. We go to bed very happy that night. And the next day, of course, is filled with the gifts from dear ol’ Santa Claus, which we open after eating breakfast, since we care about our health. I wish I was joking. Every year I feel
that I can barely contain myself to actually chew my cereal and not just swallow it down.

Finally, to round up the holiday season, for New Year’s, my family once again finds itself at my grandfather’s house, for a day-(and night-) long movie marathon. One year, we almost forgot about the ball dropping, and barely turned the TV to the news a few minutes before midnight. Everyone was scrambling to get their glasses of eggnog and the younger cousins couldn’t stop laughing at the panicking adults.

Although many of you probably do similar things for the holidays, I look forward to them with the same enthusiasm I had as a ten year-old, even if I’m close to eighteen. I hope you all have fun during this holiday season!

TWO CENTS: HOLIDAY CHEERwritten by Aley < PM: >

This is the last issue of Squills before Christmas, so I thought I'd take a little bit of time to talk about Holiday Cheer and, well, my two cents on it. I'm rather contrary on the idea of holiday cheer. On one hand, I enjoy it, on the other, I don't. I believe I'm like the majority of people who celebrate the holidays with gift giving when I say that.

Gift giving can be enjoyable and fun, especially if you know someone well enough to really light up their life by giving them something they will enjoy, but it can also be a drag when you find out what you thought they'd like actually isn't worth anything to them, and they can't use it.

For example, last year I got my dad something to help him keep track of his wallet, but he can't use it because it's too thick for him to keep it in his wallet. The intended use is inapplicable.

Another example is the gift they didn't want or need, but you thought they'd enjoy and they don't really care one way or another. This happens when you go for more experimental gift giving ideas, but it can be just as devastating to see an old unused gift sitting around unappreciated.

So why do we do it? What's the up side? Personally I find the reason I give gifts is to prove that I know the person as well as I do, and because of that, when I find something they don't find that useful, I learn from it and give better gifts next year or for their birthday.

But while gift giving in itself is fun to do and informative, gift receiving is dangerous territory. After all, you don't want people to feel like what you got from them is one of those useless gifts, so what do you do? Well, act. Plain and simple. After all, we all have had that experience and while we can say "Oh, thank you but no thank you" it's polite to pretend that you appreciate the gift and use it a few times before putting it away. As long as it doesn't hurt anything, it's often best to just be appreciative they've gotten you anything in the first place.

After all, if celebrating the holidays was just about being with family and avoiding the winter storms, we wouldn't be exchanging gifts, we'd be exchanging stories like we do at Thanksgiving in the US.

However, the problem I have with the holiday season is also the social obligation to gift because while it's not necessary to gift people things, if you don't, that sends a message just like if you do. Considering all of the perspectives and sides of things, it can be difficult to balance and that's another downside to the holidays.

All in all, I enjoy the holidays because I enjoy discovering things to get people, but it can be tricky to find just the right thing for new friends, so talking to friends about gifting in advance is a good idea.

See you after the holidays!

A LITTLE ABOUT HANUKKAH AND KWANZAA written by JustPerks < PM: >

Are you up for a little culture lesson? If so, please stick around to learn more about other holidays and traditions celebrated around the same time as Christmas.

Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday celebrated for eight days, to honor the candle that had miraculously burned for eight days over two millennia ago, when Jews wanted to rededicate the Second Temple in Jerusalem from their opposers, the Greek-Syrians.

Now, instead of keeping one candle lit for eight days, Jews tend to light one a night, from left to right, in a menorah, which is basically a candelabra. In addition, Jews typically eat traditional food, mostly fried food, to honor the sacred oil that lasted, against all odds, for over a week.

This year, Hanukkah started during the evening of December 12th, and ends in the evening of the 20th.

Kwanzaa is an African holiday, celebrated for seven days, in honor of seven principles, called “Nguzo Saba” in Swahili. This set of ideals was created by Dr. Maulana Karenga, in 1966. There are also seven symbols which represent African values.

Each night, often after having traditional food or reciting poetry, the families will gather, and a child will light one of the candles, in a candle holder called a kinara. They will then discuss what that specific value that candle pertains to.

This year, Kwanzaa occurs from December 26 to January 1st.

That’s it for now! Hope you enjoyed hopefully learning a little more about these holidays!

SOCIETY PAGESwritten by EternalRain < PM: >

Back at it with another society pages - holiday style!

‘Tis the season! Many YWSers are getting ready for the holidays, and the weather is too! @TheBlueCat , @RoseAndThorn, @Love, as well as many others, have gotten snow where they live! Meanwhile, down in the Southern Hemisphere, @TriSARAHtops is in a warm and sunny summer!

@DreamingForever has a thought about winter (and it’s the complete truth):






@AkeliaTaske’s opinion on Christmas shopping:






And I mean - who doesn’t? It’s got its upsides and its downsides.

And with winter, we’ve got the annual holiday gift giving here on YWS! @Sheytato may have accidentally gifted someone cheese. Who doesn’t like cheese!

However, as the holidays approach, that means exams are coming, too (bleh). @Rosella did very well on her math exam, and @Frinderman aced their environmental midterm! Many other people have just finished up theirs or are getting ready for a week of testing this upcoming week.

And in other, non-holiday related news:

@FalconerGal9086 got a gorgeous new bird - a red tailed hawk for falconry! @Mea and @DragonWriter22 and @ChieRynn saw the new Stars Wars film, The Last Jedi. (It was really good).

#alphabetplaylist, a hashtag where you name songs that start with every letter in the alphabet, is sneaking back into the people tab! @RavenLord did it, though wasn’t able to find one for X (who ever is!?).

And that’s about it for this week! It’s a busy time of year, but keep us posted with all your holiday endeavors!

GREEN ROOM GALLERYwritten by JustPerks < PM: >

Hello everyone! Happy holidays to you all! There’s many works in the Green Room right now that could use a little holiday cheer - 67 works have 1 review, while 42 have none. That’s over a hundred lucky souls in need of a wonderful present this time of year - a review! Most of the older works still unreviewed are novels, so I will be linking you to the first chapter as well, don’t worry. You better not pout at the large number of works - you guys totally got this!

To start things off, here’s the link to one of the oldest works in the Green Room:
The Mage and The Immortal Chapter 10 by @Thundahguy

This work is a classic fantasy adventure story, filled with a unique main character who is suddenly thrust into the world of magic.

Catch up starting with the first chapter, linked below:
The Mage and The Immortal Chapter 1 by @ Thundahguy

A second novel that also sounds intriguing is:
Of Illnesses And Antidotes - Chapter 8 by @KayLou1609
This work is set in a very uniquely sci-fi based world, and follows a young girl trying to find out the truth about her being and the way everything works.

If interested, please start with the first chapter:
Of Illnesses And Antidotes - Prologue by @KayLou1609

For those interested in either the Beatles, scripts, or both, here’s something you might enjoy:
February 7th 1964 by @Elinor

As evidenced by the title, this script follows the members of the Beatles as they travel to America, and are faced with many young, female fans.

And last, but not least, here’s a short story for anyone wanting to read something besides a novel:
The Driver by @liehart

This work is inspired by a Bastille song of the same title, so if that tickles your fancy, come read this unique story!

That’s all for now, folks, but I hope one of these stories caught your eye! Let’s get the total of 109 works down by Christmas Day, because who doesn’t like an extra gift? Good luck, and thank you.

YWS CALENDARwritten by Aley < PM: >

This is just going to be a little "in case you missed it" update so that we are all know the events going on for Christmas and New Years.

Secret Santa 2017 Sign-Ups - Sign Up Over

First up, there was a Secret Santa event which you could have signed up for a while ago, but now the submissions are closed. For those of you lucky enough to join, please remember you have until The Twentieth to send those gifts to Iggy for distribution. @Iggy is our Home Elf so please be kind and send her the code for your gift so she can copy it easy.

2017 YWS Most Awards

There's a thread to nominate the people you think fit things like the "Most Spirited" or "Most Likely to be a Gossip Girl" which is basically a popularity contest, but you can get badges for getting the award, so competition can be fierce.

2017 YWS Best Awards

Right along with that is the Best competition where you can vote for your friends to be things like the "Best Novelist" and so on.

2017 YWS Yearbook

There's also a yearbook going around for you to fill out with well wishes, happy memories, and long paragraphs of writing, or, if you want, you can grab a spot and fill it out later when no one's looking.

Holidayify Your Avatar - 2017

Lastly, you can now get fancy costumes on your avatar thanks to @saentiel if you head over to the link above. You can see an example on my avatar. I asked saentiel to decorate and thus got the antlers and Santa Hats added for the festival spirit.

SHAMELESS PLUGS

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SUBSCRIBERS

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