Hello again, dear Word Weavers –
Here Come the Holidays!
Here we are – so suddenly, it seems – nearly halfway through December already, and rapidly heading for Christmas. And this is our final post for 2025, as we take our end-of-year break. Magaly will be back on January 2nd to welcome us into the new year.
In the Western world, shops are already decorated for Christmas, and people are beginning to plan their celebrations and gift-givings. Even those of us who are not particularly religious – or of other religions than Christianity – often join in the celebratory aspects: the giving, the feasting, the family reunions. It’s traditionally a time of love and joy.
Christmas, and its month of December, punctuate the year. We think of it as an ending, a full stop; and we think of the start of the following year as beginning not merely a new sentence but a whole new chapter. The time between Christmas and New Year strikes me as a liminal space: one of those between times, or thresholds, when magic is believed to happen more easily. Google tells me that liminal spaces are ‘times of transition,’ notable for ‘suspension of normalcy’ and ‘a shift in perception.’ Nowadays the whole month of December seems to have become such a time! I would also call them times of transformation.
Poised on the threshold. (My previous cat, Selene.) © Rosemary Nissen-Wade 2017
Your optional prompt this week is to let yourself be inspired by the concept of ‘in between,’ whatever that suggests to you. (It need not be about this time of year, though it can be.)
Guidelines: 369 words or fewer (except for title and notes), one post per person, poetry or prose, new or old, on prompt or off.
Do read and comment on others’ posts! It’s what creates community. And do leave us a comment here, if you wish or need.
Meanwhile, thank you all for your wonderful and varied writings and your warm and thoughtful comments over these past many months. All our different styles and preoccupations make such a rich kaleidoscope! Two of the things I like best to do are to read and to write. Here, we all get to enjoy both of those activities anew, again and again. Each and every one of you contributes to that mutual enjoyment.
Also, great big thanks from me to Magaly and Rommy for ensuring that everything behind the scenes works well and happily!
Greetings of the Season! Happy holidays / holy days, all those of you who are having them.
Next time: On January 2nd, we'll resume with the prompt: Fireworks!
Thank you Rosemary - will be sharing solstice with my sister - hoping you have a peaceful holiday season too and thank you for continuing providing us with this community - Jae (the tail end of Magaly's prompt was snipped off the post)
ReplyDeleteThat sounds nice! I'll be lunching with fellow-Vegan friends. I'll return to add the new year prompt. (We do have a bit of extra time to prepare for it, lol.)
DeleteOK, fixed! Thanks for pointing it out.
DeleteSorry Rosemary - yes plenty of time - just being a worrier!
DeleteOh no no no, no need to apologise! (It was myself I was reassuring with that remark about plenty of time). I'm very glad you pointed it out before too many others were left wondering.
DeleteOh dear I am having computer problems again and my comments do not show on Rall's blog ( to me anyway) and I can put them on but can't play videos back.So I have submitted this poem to my Cressida blog which seems to be working normally. Sadly this could be the end of poor ole Rall as she is unable to spend hundreds of dollars on tech experts who do not seem to understand why these glitches are occuring let alone fix them. So having moaned on and on I must say thank you to you all for enriching my life with your poems and lovely comments. They are greatly appreciated. Also a special thanks to Rosemary, Magaly and Rommy for making this site available. Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and see you in the New Year.
ReplyDelete(hopefully if this brand new Computer is working:)
Damn!!! I should have read this before deciding it must have been a mistake and deleting the link to your Cressida bog. (Can only make the excuse that it's too early in the morning and I haven't had my coffee yet.) I did leave a comment on your poem at the Cressida blog. And sure enough, am unable to do so at the Rall blog. I am going to delete that link too. Please put the Cressida one back, and accept my abject apologies!
DeleteAha! I figured out a way to access your Cressida blog again (by going through my browser history) so have put your link back. Whew!
DeleteRe the probs you are having, I suppose you have already thought of consulting the Blogger Help forum online?
And further: I checked the forum. Not much help except for suggesting the problem may come with using the Chrome browser. Apparently Explorer works better for this – but would all your readers have to switch to it too? So I asked the Perplexity search engine (yes, the dreaded AI, but a useful form of) and it told me the following, which I post here in all its length as I don’t have your email address, and in any case it may be helpful to others too:
DeleteThe most common reasons comments suddenly stop working on just one Blogger blog are: a per‑blog or per‑post setting has changed, the theme/template is hiding or breaking the comment widget, or browser/privacy tools are blocking the embedded comment form.
Below is a focused checklist you can work through.
1. Check blog- and post-level settings
Even if you have not changed anything, Blogger can inherit “no comments” on new posts if an older post was set that way.
• In your blog: Settings → Posts → “Reader comments” should be “Allow” (or equivalent) and “Who can comment” set as you prefer (e.g., Anyone).
• In individual posts: Edit a recent post → right sidebar “Options” → ensure “Reader comments” is set to “Allow”. If this was ever set to “Don’t allow, show existing” or similar, newer posts can keep inheriting that.
• Also in Layout: Edit the “Blog Posts” gadget and tick “Show comments” / “Show comments with count,” then Save.
If any of these were off, fix them, republish one post, and test again.
2. Test a different comment form style
Sometimes the “Embedded” comment form stops working on specific templates, while “Popup” or “Full page” still works.
• Go to Settings → Posts → Comment location and switch from “Embedded” to “Popup window” (or “Full page”). Save, refresh your blog, and test.
• If comments appear in popup/full‑page mode but not embedded, the problem is usually your theme or a script conflict rather than a global setting.
You can leave it on popup/full page as a workaround or continue with the next step to fix the theme.
3. Check the theme/template
A glitch in one theme (or custom HTML edits) can remove or hide the comment section even if settings are correct.
• Temporarily switch to a default Blogger theme (Theme → try a standard template → Apply) and then view a post.
• If comments now show, the issue is with your original theme/template. Restore your theme and either:
• Remove recent HTML customizations, or
• Compare the comments code in your template to a fresh test blog using the same base theme, and copy over the correct sections for comments/threaded replies.
If changing to a default theme does not restore comments, the cause is more likely settings or external blocking (next step).
4. Check browser, cookie, and blocking issues
On some browsers, strict privacy or anti‑tracking settings, adblockers, or script blockers can silently prevent the comment
box or sign‑in frame from loading.
• Test in another browser and in an incognito/private window with extensions disabled.
• If you or your readers use privacy tools (Brave Shields, uBlock, etc.), temporarily turn them off for your blog and reload to see if the comment box appears.
If comments work in one browser or with protections off but not in another, you are dealing with third‑party blocking rather than a Blogger misconfiguration.
5. If only some posts are affected
When comments work on some posts but not others, it almost always indicates per‑post settings or older posts created while comments were disabled.
• In the Posts list, edit several affected posts and individually set Options → Reader comments → “Allow,” then Update.
• For many posts, you may need to bulk‑edit via the Posts list, or at least fix one “template” post so new posts inherit “Allow comments” correctly.
If you describe exactly what you see now (for example: “No comment box at all” vs “Box appears but publishing fails” vs “Only some users cannot comment”), plus your current comment settings and theme type, a more targeted set of steps can be suggested.
Oh Rosemary you are so kind for helping me out like this. You are the nicest witch I have ( never met) :)Thank you so much .
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome!
Delete(Though you may have met – or not-met, ha ha! – many more witches than you know you have.)
Hope everyone is good and well. 😊
ReplyDeleteRecently I have lost the desire to write and post. I hope it’s just a bad phase. Stars don’t align, bad feng shui. Hope to come back strong next year. On a borrowed iPad. Yeah, PC broke down too.
Anyways, here’s wishing Rosemary, Magaly, Rommy and all the other wonderful poets who have given me such great joy in reading your poetry, a very Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays!
Thank you! I'm sure I'm not alone in very much hoping your Muse returns to you soon. Meanwhile – is this the time to go through your work with a view to compiling a book?
DeleteOr perhaps a series of chapbooks on different themes?
DeleteThank you Rosemary. There is a lot of material in my blog. At one time I was thinking of gathering all the poems under different themes, like Landscapes, My Military days, the People I wrote about, Love and Loss, and that will be enough for a series of chapbooks. There was even a local publisher who said will take a look at my blog but nothing came out of that encounter. IDK, I have a lot of things on my plate at the moment, and I don’t think I have the time to work on a book. 😊
DeleteThank you, Rosemary and all the other fellow writers and poets. It's been great reading your poems and interacting with you on this site. My best wishes for a Festive Season. Peace and tranqullity, which we all need in these increasingly troubling times.
ReplyDeleteYes, that's a lovely wish; and the same to you.
DeleteThanks for hosting. Great prompt for the year end.
ReplyDeleteFestive greetings!
A lot has happened "in between" 2025 beginning till date.
Thank you for the prompt. This time of the year invites a pause — a moment to reflect in between everything we are busy with.
ReplyDeleteCHEERS to the Terrific Trio ~~ Rosemary, Rommy and Magaly!!!! Whatever would we do without YOU?? Wishing everyone a Grand Holiday Season and an amazing New Year!!!
ReplyDelete