Merry Christmas One and All

Today is Christmas, a day of great importance for young and old alike. Many of us eagerly look forward to this day, for many reasons. Some of us love opening presents from Santa or loved ones, while others look forward to the holiday meals they get to eat. Still others enjoy Christmas simply because they get to spend time with family members they may otherwise not see.

But for some people, Christmas is a religious holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, the savior to mankind. Many people attend mass either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, as they read from the scriptures and the bible about that faithful first Christmas in the town of Bethlehem.

Regardless of how you spend it, Christmas is a day that seems to cause all the troubles of the world to vanish, if only for a little while. But this Christmas is far from the merriest for me, and my family. For my grandfather on my dad's side of the family was hospitalized a few days ago due to losing a lot of blood. In the time since, he has to have his lungs cleared of mucus, and now it is possible he may have cancer due to a growth in his liver. Doctors say that if he has to go in for surgery, it is possible he may not survive, especially since he has expressed his desires to not be rescuiated should he stop breathing.

I did manage to pick up a few of the IDW comics this Christmas, so unless the worst case scenario with my grandfather occurs, I should get the reviews out over the next few days. And as for my fanfics, I plan to have one last fic for 2015, and am currently awaiting feedback from my proofreader. But it is possible it may slip into 2016 before I can publish it. Speaking of which, while I won't open up the year on it, I do not intend until Season 6 is announced to do my third "What If?" series. When the time gets closer, I'll put up a list announcing the rewrites set in stone, and leave it up for a while to see if there are any episodes people want me to rewrite that I think I can do. It will likely be the last "What If?" to feature show episodes, at least for a while, but I am considering doing a fourth installment that rewrites various comic arcs or issues that people dislike. But we'll see how that goes.

I should also mention that I will be attending Eastern Michigan University in January, and the transition may affect my writing schedule depending on what activites and clubs I get involved in. I'll try to keep you all updated whenever my writing schedule changes, but my "What If?" and one other fic will likely be my only major contributions outside of occasional blog posts for much of (if not all of) Winter 2016.

So I ask that you all keep my grandfather in your thoughts and prayers today. I know this may seem selfish of me, but I would like to enjoy a few more years of his presence, before God calls him home to rest.

Because I don't want to end on a sad note, I'll leave you with a couple of Christmas songs. First up is my favorite Christmas song, both PMVed, and covered by several Brony musicians.

Then a lyrical version of my second favorite Christmas song from one of the best book adaptations ever.

And finally, some winter fun with two of my favortie versions of this timeless Christmas song.