The Holiday Season is the time for celebrating in the now, but also to remember the past as well.
I wouldn't be making captions right now if I hadn't been introduced to Rachel's Haven, which I think I've established over the years, but want to remind anyone that didn't know. Back in 2006, TG captions weren't really that big of a thing, and the few places that had them, were pretty exclusionary with all sorts of "must comment X amount of times to be in certain tiers, and most people had to jump through hoops to get involved AND some of the captioners were rather "high and mighty". For some reason, Bimbo's Sanctuary comes to mind, and Locked in Lace had their pins and such.
So I would visit, but get bogged down with the rules. Rachel wanted something much more community based, and you literally posted an introduction and set up a bit of a profile, and you were good. You had to post 50 comments to get access to the "Gallery" but there are literally THOUSANDS of captions in the trading area alone, so you never need step into the Gallery. Hell, I've been an admin for 12 years or so on the Haven, and I don't think I've gone in the Gallery in at least 10 years!
And the people, with few exceptions, are at the very least polite, and for the most part, pretty supportive. And you can disappear for years, and come back and everything is cool. There's always bound to be a few old timers around to welcome them back again, and to get back in the active section of the Trading Area, they need to make ONE caption in a trade and then request, and one of us will bring their folder back to the active spot.
Add in a pretty busy RP section, and an archive of old TG stories, and it's still a wonderful community, all started by Rachel, who sadly is no longer with us .. having passed away on the last day of January in 2021.
This caption was originally posted for the 25 Captions of Christmas even run every year by friend of the blog, Terri! This is the 11th year, and I only missed one. There's one spot left .. Dec 23 .. so If you are/were a member of the Haven, and want to make a caption for this event, sign in and sign up for that date .. alternately, in honor of Dawn (Commentator) who used to post every Dec25th, we are inviting anyone to post an Christmas Caption on Christmas Day as well. If anyone wants to know more, just reach out to me here or on the Haven. OK?