I have a totally thrilling announcement:
Within 24 hours, all Elves will have the ability to author their own posts on this blog!
Sometime tomorrow each of you should receive a username, a password, and a URL. If you click on the URL, it will take you to where you can compose your post. When you finish your post and hit the “submit” button, it will be sent for moderation. (All that means is that I’ll do what needs to be done to format it for the site.) And then boom, it will go live! Once one post has been submitted, you will even receive your very own “category”, which will appear on the sidebar as your Elf name. That way anyone can click on your name and see all of your giving stories at once!
I want every Elf to feel free to feel ownership of this site. That means you should post absolutely whenever you like. This site is yours! No Elf should ever feel obligated to write a post, of course, but this way if you’ve given a gift, you can tell everyone about it right here on the front page. This is especially nice if you want your recipient to read about why you may have picked them. In fact, I think that is probably more special and important than the gift itself!
I am just so excited about this. Truly: Anyone should feel free to post at any time.
Speaking of Elf giving stories, we have a wonderful one from yesterday. Here is what Elviolith wrote in Elf Chat about her giving experience:
I elfed my 3rd recipient today. I went out for lunch and before I went out I was nudged to get everything ready – I put a pair of cute purple dangly earrings in a little pink organza bag and wrote a note that said “You are loved and appreciated” on the back of my AbM card and attached it to the gift bag.
I went about my shopping and I saw this lady in the shop. My heart just went out to her for some reason. Things didn’t work out in that shop so I shot up a little prayer and asked that if she is the one I am supposed to be gifting that our paths would cross again before I have to go.
I went in to another shop and lo and behold who walks in? The lady in brown! I went over to her and said “Excuse me I have this for you – have an awesome day further”. She took the little bag and read the card. And I scooted out of there.
I hope she feels a little lighter and knows that she is indeed Loved and Appreciated ♥
Well, the recipient DID feel appreciated, as you will see if you peek at her thank you on the Leave Thanks page. How wonderful is that? We also received a lovely thank you from April — can you tell I’m just having the most wonderful day? 
OK I’ve already written a novel, I’m going to make today’s $50 winner very quick. I will skip all the photos and the fanfare and get right to it:
The winner is…
Love Joy!!!! Hooray for wonderful Love Joy!!!
Enjoy!
And be on the lookout for your log on information, Elves — it should arrive sometime tomorrow. Woo-hoo!!!
December 8th, 2009 - 6:49 pm
wow! LOL! Someone had a lucky week full of abundance!!! Congratulations!
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December 8th, 2009 - 7:03 pm
Oh my goodness! I am so excited to get out there and get giving! I have been feeling eager and ready to get going…now I have even more incentive.
I’m so excited because I’m going to be out all day tomorrow and I cannot wait to get my cash and cards all ready and wait for Divine Inspiration!
Thank you so much Abundance by Magic. I can’t wait to post about my giving!!!
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December 8th, 2009 - 10:15 pm
Yay, how fun! And congrats, Love Joy.
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December 9th, 2009 - 1:17 am
Whoooopie! That is awesome AbM
and congrats to Love Joy! Happy elfing!
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December 9th, 2009 - 6:25 am
Hooray! Love Joy, I’m so glad you’re pumped up!
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December 9th, 2009 - 9:16 am
Oh, pumped is not the word….I’m over-the-moon, off-the-walls, head-over-heels, ecstatic!!!!!
I am also thrilled about the blog idea!
I am going to the airport today and then Christmas shopping so I just KNOW I’m going to be inspired to elf today!!!
Woot!!!
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Abundance By Magic Reply:
December 9th, 2009 at 10:06 am
That’s awesome!!! You’re totally charging me up! Go Love Joy!!! Hooray!!! Yay!!!
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December 9th, 2009 - 10:05 am
All Elves have now been sent their log on information, woo-hoo! I wrote up some brief instructions on Elf Chat, I’ll repeat them here in case anyone misses them over there:
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OK, you should all have your logon information now!
Hopefully it’s really easy to figure out, but please don’t hesitate to ask questions. When you click the link, you’ll see a place to add your first and last name and a profile description. I don’t actually think any of that gets used on the site, though, so don’t waste your time working on a nice profile.
What you CAN do is create a signature for yourself that will appear automatically at the bottom of your posts. If you click where it says “signature” on the left, you’ll see where to add one. Feel free to add whatever you like to your signature. You can add links to your websites, include your real names if you like, or put nothing at all.
When you’re ready to create a post, click on the “posts” link on the left, and “add new”. You should then see a window to type a title and your text. Click “submit” when you’re done, and it will go into the queue for moderation.
You may want to send me an e-mail when you submit an article — it looks like I don’t get notified when something is submitted, for some reason. I’ll be checking in once per day or so for new posts, but it’s fun to see them right away. If it’s been longer then a day since you submitted a post, and it hasn’t gone live and you haven’t heard from me, e-mail me for sure.
I am so excited for this! Be sure to ask me any questions. And feel free to begin posting, any time!
WOO-HOO!!!!! This site is going to the ELVES!!!!!
p.s. a couple more things:
Your “nickname” is what appears on your byline, not your username.
You’ll see other links on the left, like “tools” and “contact” and other random stuff — not totally sure what all that is, so it’s probably best left alone.
There is a function for polls, feel free to play with that if you’d like.
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