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Christmas Stories  [message #72336] Thu, 22 December 2016 11:39 Go to next message
ivor slipper is currently offline  ivor slipper

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Registered: September 2013
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I would like to say 'thank you and congratulations' to my fellow authors who contributed such a good andvaried selection of stories to aid our enjoyment of the season.

Happy Christmas to you - and our readers!


http://forum.iomfats.org/?t=getfile&id=3131&private=0
Re: Christmas Stories  [message #72348 is a reply to message #72336] Fri, 23 December 2016 09:37 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

Has no life at all
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13739



It's always fun to write something with a different flavour. Christmas isn't really magical. As a time of year I have always found it the second most depressing time after my birthday. I have always hated the fact that nothing changes because of either day. So I enjoyed trying to write something where, for two boys, something changed.

[Updated on: Fri, 23 December 2016 09:38]




Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: Christmas Stories  [message #72352 is a reply to message #72348] Sat, 24 December 2016 19:27 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Geron Kees is currently offline  Geron Kees

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Registered: February 2016
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It's always fun to write something with a different flavour. Christmas isn't really magical. As a time of year I have always found it the second most depressing time after my birthday. I have always hated the fact that nothing changes because of either day. So I enjoyed trying to write something where, for two boys, something changed.

Christmas is like any other day of the year - what you make of it. I like it, myself. The Christmas story that you wrote certainly expressed a bit of magic for the day. How could you do that, if there wasn't just a little bit of magic inside you?

Why does the day depress you?  For that matter, why does your birthday depress you?

Birthdays are for others - to be reminded that you are here with them. A small celebration is in order for that, Tim. We certainly celebrate the fact that you are here among us. Everyone should have one day where they are celebrated.

I am not particularly religious. I treat Christmas as a kind of group birthday - a celebration of the fact that we are all here. It is one day where every single person I know makes an effort to get along with every other person I know. To have some fun. For that reason, if no other, it's worth the wait.
Re: Christmas Stories  [message #72353 is a reply to message #72352] Sat, 24 December 2016 23:31 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

Has no life at all
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13739



I was raised to believe that those two days, my birthday and Christmas day, were special days, the days when wishes might come true.

Every year since a few weeks past my thirteenth birthday I wished, fervently, passionately, for one thing. I knew each year it was not going to happen unless I made it happen, yet I wished without acting. And so it never happened.



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: Christmas Stories  [message #72355 is a reply to message #72336] Sun, 25 December 2016 04:24 Go to previous messageGo to next message
TigerPaw is currently offline  TigerPaw

Getting started
Location: West Coast Canada
Registered: November 2016
Messages: 9



The thing that always made Christmas grate was when I was working ... suddenly all those that had been stabbing you in the back, being irritating, and generally making ones life miserable for the past 364 days would suddenly be all smiles at you. I simply cannot *STAND* people that are two-faced, and boy Christmas showed them in spades. And once the obligatory office lunch was done, and the required greeting from the normally abrasive (or worse) boss, they were all right back to their usual selves. I'd often intentionally plan a day off to avoid the whole affair.



--
tgrpaw@gmail.com
Re: Christmas Stories  [message #72356 is a reply to message #72353] Sun, 25 December 2016 18:04 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Geron Kees is currently offline  Geron Kees

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Registered: February 2016
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Quote:
timmy wrote on Sat, 24 December 2016 23:31I was raised to believe that those two days, my birthday and Christmas day, were special days, the days when wishes might come true.

Every year since a few weeks past my thirteenth birthday I wished, fervently, passionately, for one thing. I knew each year it was not going to happen unless I made it happen, yet I wished without acting. And so it never happened.

--
Ah, Tim. I'm sorry for that. But just because you never waved the wand, so to speak, does not mean that wishes do not come true, nor that magic - at least of a sort - does not exist. We could debate this forever and never agree, I'm afraid.

Life really is what you make of it. The decision to seek magic in it is required in order to ever have a chance at finding it. Standing, and waiting, and hoping it happens on its own, seldom works. Magic is created by wanting, and then by seeking. And sometimes, no matter how much you want, or how hard you look, some things are not meant to be.

You cannot blame the days for what did not happen. They were simply times to remind you - to act.
Re: Christmas Stories  [message #72358 is a reply to message #72355] Sun, 25 December 2016 18:14 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Geron Kees is currently offline  Geron Kees

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Registered: February 2016
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Quote:
TigerPaw wrote on Sun, 25 December 2016 04:24The thing that always made Christmas grate was when I was working ... suddenly all those that had been stabbing you in the back, being irritating, and generally making ones life miserable for the past 364 days would suddenly be all smiles at you. I simply cannot *STAND* people that are two-faced, and boy Christmas showed them in spades. And once the obligatory office lunch was done, and the required greeting from the normally abrasive (or worse) boss, they were all right back to their usual selves. I'd often intentionally plan a day off to avoid the whole affair.

-- Hmm. Yes, there is plenty of that in life. People who feel being nice one day out of the year somehow absolves them of the guilt of being complete asses the rest of it. At Christmas, when they suddenly become nice, all you can do is smile and be nice back, knowing that the next work day, things will be back to business as usual.

But those people do not count in life. They are not what Christmas is about - not for me. Those people are shadows, and stay exactly where they have placed themselves - away, in the background.

Christmas is for those in the foreground of your life - family and friends that are a part of your life. That the world is full of takers should never blind us to the givers we have in our lives. Those are the people we share with. Those are the ones that matter.
Re: Christmas Stories  [message #72359 is a reply to message #72356] Sun, 25 December 2016 19:48 Go to previous messageGo to next message
timmy

Has no life at all
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13739



Quote:
Geron Kees wrote on Sun, 25 December 2016 18:04--
Ah, Tim. I'm sorry for that. But just because you never waved the wand, so to speak, does not mean that wishes do not come true, nor that magic - at least of a sort - does not exist. We could debate this forever and never agree, I'm afraid.

Life really is what you make of it. The decision to seek magic in it is required in order to ever have a chance at finding it. Standing, and waiting, and hoping it happens on its own, seldom works. Magic is created by wanting, and then by seeking. And sometimes, no matter how much you want, or how hard you look, some things are not meant to be.

You cannot blame the days for what did not happen. They were simply times to remind you - to act.

--
And that, precisely that, is what the site is for, the stories are for: to try to help kids to act when they need to act. I missed that chance. They need not to. And that is more important now, somehow, than it was back then.



Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
Re: Christmas Stories  [message #72360 is a reply to message #72359] Sun, 25 December 2016 22:19 Go to previous messageGo to next message
William King is currently offline  William King

Toe is in the water

Registered: October 2016
Messages: 98



"Magic is created by wanting, and then by seeking."

Oh how true those words are, yet there is more mystery, what you want or wish so hard for that it comes true, does not always come true quite how you imagined. But nevertheless, no one should doubt in magic, it comes into being with emotion and with love, it's so strong you don't even need to speak the same language. I still recall all those moments of magic, like unforgettable milestones through life, and I'm sure if I put some of them into a story you would think I just made it up!
Re: Christmas Stories  [message #72363 is a reply to message #72359] Mon, 26 December 2016 20:52 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Geron Kees is currently offline  Geron Kees

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Quote:
timmy wrote on Sun, 25 December 2016 19:48
"Quote:"
Quote:

And that, precisely that, is what the site is for, the stories are for: to try to help kids to act when they need to act. I missed that chance. They need not to. And that is more important now, somehow, than it was back then.

--And it would seem to be doing a good job of it. I can't guess how many young people visit this site; but I can see what content they are exposed to, and I do feel it will make most view themselves more positively, and perhaps hearten them into taking steps towards securing happiness that they otherwise might not have attempted. Life is too short not to have love in it. Pointing someone - anyone - in the right direction, is a form of magic in itself.
Re: Christmas Stories  [message #72364 is a reply to message #72360] Mon, 26 December 2016 20:58 Go to previous message
Geron Kees is currently offline  Geron Kees

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Location: USA
Registered: February 2016
Messages: 147



"William King wrote on Sun, 25 December 2016 22:19"
"Magic is created by wanting, and then by seeking."

Oh how true those words are, yet there is more mystery, what you want or wish so hard for that it comes true, does not always come true quite how you imagined. But nevertheless, no one should doubt in magic, it comes into being with emotion and with love, it's so strong you don't even need to speak the same language. I still recall all those moments of magic, like unforgettable milestones through life, and I'm sure if I put some of them into a story you would think I just made it up!

--I agree. It is a mysterious process that prompts two people to suddenly see each other in a unique and wonderful way. Love has no gender. It can happen between any two people, and the keys to it sometimes seem to appear out of thin air.

I have to say I don't think I'd be surprised by anything much I see in a story when it comes to love. I already know what it looks like. It's many disguises are simply icing on the cake.
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