Temple Renovation: Annnd the Council gets it.

Now that the temple has one room open to the public, the county council apparently wanted to meet there.

Well, no. You can't have a business meeting there.

We explained that given all that's open is our prayer room, we have nowhere to meet with them on the property. A shrine room is sacred space. (Not to mention we have a 24-hour prayer vigil going.) We can do teachings there, and classes, but nothing else really.

And it sank in. My friend Claire (an earnest sweetie and currently acting as temple president) saw them get it.

We have the Use & Occupancy for our prayer room. We don't have a temple yet.

SGA Santa ... risk it this year?

SGA Santa is open for business!

Do I dare sign up this year?

I wrote a fic for every year from 2007-2011. Actually, pretty much every year I wrote a Christmas theme. Well, except for the squid. And the cross-dressing.

But mostly.

2007: Silent Night - PG-13 - John/Rodney, team
"Christmas?" John blinked.* (Icarus reviews her own fic: I've always liked the peaceful mood of this short off-world Christmas fic.)

2008: All Dressed Up And... - R - John/Rodney
John had put a stop to it fifteen years ago. Even burned the evidence. But he just couldn't give it up. What's one more secret between friends?* (This story's stuck with me over the years. Not one I re-read, just, that vivid as I wrote it. If you're into crossdressing....)

2009 A: Star Drive - PG-13 - John, Rodney friendship
Ten thousand years ago, a cabal of militant anti-Ascensionists had a plan to force the Ancients to stand and fight the Wraith. Now all they need is John Sheppard to set it into motion.* (Muse's 'Knights of Cydonia' sums up this fic. I wrote John in a space battle. Of course I've gone back to re-read it! And I fixed the original drop off a cliff ending.)

2009 B: The Pandora Effect - R - Woolsey/Sheppard
Usually Richard avoided entanglements by focusing his affections on someone safely out of reach. But in the midst of a battle with the Wraith, an uncomfortable alliance, and disruptions on Atlantis, Richard is offered everything he could ever want.

2010: Squid And Christmas Trees - R - John/Rodney
Wherein John handles squid and Rodney makes a death pact. Sort of.* (It's the writing that works for me here. It was written shortly after I wrote my one and only SGA Big Bang, Dragonlord, and there's nothing like writing a massive 80,000 word story in three months -- I started late -- to tone up the writing.)

2011: Toy Drums & Soldiers - PG-13 - John/Rodney
The Atlantis expedition exchanges Christmas gifts, banter, and inside jokes.

Last year I had to pull out. My cousin moved in with her boyfriend and new baby and life just got really ... complicated.

This year I have a project that involves lots and lots of knitting until the day after Thanksgiving.

Do I try again? It would be due December 10th, so I'd really only have ten days to write it. On the other hand, it's a tradition.


* = You know how some stories you write as experiments but they aren't what you'd choose? While others hit you right in that sweet spot? Well, these starred fics I'd read.