What Is Happening Today On Gather - Friday December 19, 2008

"I'll be home for Christmas. . . If only in my dreams."  I love Christmas songs. Seems that they have the ability to heighten my mood level and make me feel grateful to a higher extent.  I have been listening to Donnie Osmond's Christmas CD today. That man can sing. He is one talented artist.  Who is your favorite Christmas singer?

Santa Claus Has Came and Went!

Santa has been making appearances on Gather this holiday season. The gather children are asking for their toys. You really must read this post to see what kids are wanting this year.  Santa has been checking his list and checking it twice. What did he find out about you on the list?

Earning Program Changes Take Affect January '09

In August 2008 Gather expanded the options available when redeeming points by offering Paypal cash payments for all US members.  With this exciting option members can use their points to purchase $25, $50 or $100 transfers into their Paypal account as easily as buying a gift card or donating to one of the charities listed at https://earnings.gather.com/.  Because this option is now available for all US members we phased out the old invitation-based cash compensation program and the option to have your payment via a check.

Members who currently receive their payments via checks will be able to continue doing so for redemptions placed through December 30, 2008.  We will make some back end changes on December 31. Starting January 1, 2009 all cash payments will be via Paypal and all accounts currently set to show cash earnings will be switched to show point earnings.

  Secret Santa Update: Making the Holidays Brighter

Since announcing the Secret Santa program last Monday (12/8):

100 Gather members and employees have donated more than $1,000 to the Secret Santa program. Gather will match donations up to $2,000.

126 members have sent Santa a private note, nominating a fellow member in need.

Five members have received a "visit" from Santa, which includes a $250 PayPal^TM payment or a $250 Visa® gift card.

Gather's Secret Santa hopes to visit at least one deserving Gather member each day through Christmas Eve.

If you'd like to gift some or all of your points to Gather's Secret Santa program, visit the Gather Earnings page. Santa accepts donations starting at $5 (or 315 points).

If you'd like to nominate a deserving member or learn more about this unique program, please read the original announcement post.

 Gather's Secret Santa: Donate Points & Nominate Members in Need

Remember that if you are on the cash option you will not be able to give until you have your option changed back to point option.  Keep in mind that everyone will be put back on the point option the end of the year.

 Having Trouble Donating Your Points to Gather's Secret Santa? Read This!

Holiday Tips 2008

As Christmas draws ever closer, we often find ourselves needing quick tips. Gather is the the place to find all those tips. Lets pull together to help each other have a wonderful stress-free holiday season. 

Remember to share your tips as well and have a wonderful Christmas season with your loved ones!

Winner Of The Mama Mia DVD

Thank you all of The Mama Mia! The Movie giveaway deadline has ended and the winners have been selected. The following respondents will be receiving a copy of the movie:

Dawn J.
Diane H.
Erica Carnes
Geoff Kaufman
Jennifer B.
Kimber L.
Susan G.
Suze P.
Tonia, who hugs trees G.
Vikki M.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Tips for Baking with the Kids. Win a Free Baking Book!

What baked treats will you and your children be making for the holidays?  Be sure to  comment  by Wednesday, December 24th for your chance to win a free book. One participant will be drawn to receive a copy of my new book, Crumbs Bake Shop in a Box.

LIVE CHAT ANNOUNCEMENT:Live Chat with Author of "Crumbs Bake Shop in a Box"  Mia Bauer  Friday at noon ET to discuss holiday treat ideas you can make with your kids.  Crumbs Bake Shop in a Box was developed by Mia Bauer, founder of CRUMBS(r) and first time author of Lolly LaCrumb's Cupcake Adventure. Adults and chidren will enyoy baking everything from cupcakes to pies to brownies and cookies-each guaranteed to deliver the tasty magic only a CRUMBS' creation can offer!  The chat will take place in Parenting.gather.com.

Holiday Traditions - Share Yours and Win a $25 Target Gift Card and Gather Points^TM!

Traditions are the reason we look forward to the holidays every year. Do you remember your favorite tradition as a kid? Mine was baking cut-out cookies with my mom! I'm sure we all have traditions we enjoy today - perhaps it's a favorite recipe, a favorite game you play with your family, or a charity your family gets involved with every holiday season. Every family has incredible! holiday traditions - what is yours?

We want you to share your incredible! holiday traditions with us this year. You could win one of two $25 Target gift cards! Post a comment, share an article or share your photos of the holiday tradition. Make sure to use the tag "Incredible Holiday Tradition" for the articles and photos. The Gather Team will choose its favorite two traditions to win the Target gift cards and five other participants to receive 500 Gather Points^TM.

 Note: All comments, articles and photos must be posted by December 31^st at 11:59pm EST to be considered. You can enter more than once.

 Win a DVD of "BEETHOVEN'S BIG BREAK" - A Hilarious Family Adventure!

Beethoven's Big Break is a brand-new hilarious family adventure  movie featuring an all-star cast and the world's best loved St. Bernard as he's never been seen before!

Gather wants to hear about your favorite pets. Tell us about the cutest, funniest, or most mischievous things your dog or pet has done. Gather will select their top five favorite comments. If yours is chosen, you'll receive a copy of Beethoven's Big Break! Comments must be posted by Saturday, December 20th.

Social media can change the world: Gather and the American Egg Board help Share Our Strength this holiday season

Susan W. shared a post of  a heart breaking story and shares her ideas on how we as Gather members can help this great cause.

 Incredible Holiday Food Drive, you can help.Points Redemption Page, where you can donate in increments of $10 and now $5.

 Helping Share Our Strength® Feed Hungry Children

 So far, we've raised $1,500 from Gather donations! And, the American Egg Board will match up to $3,000 of every dollar donated by Gather members. That's incredibly amazing! But I know we can do even better .So as you're enjoying your Gather days with commenting and writing, please remember Share Our Strength® and the incredible work they're doing to end childhood hunger. With the

Incredible Holiday Food Drive  you can help.  If you're ready to donate, go to thePoints Redemption Page , where you can donate in increments of $10 and now $5.

What are Your Favorite Soul Songs? Win a FREE Seal CD!

Gather wants to know, what are your favorite soul songs? Share your favorites from any decade. From your recommendations, the Gather Editorial Team will select their Top 10 favorites.

Three respondents who share their favorites by December 27th will be drawn to receive a copy of Seal's new CD, Soul.

 Win a Free Record Signed by a Grammy Winner!

 Gather is giving away two copies of Boz Scagg's new vinyl LP "Speak Low".

(That's right, we're giving away the record - not the CD). These records are signed by Grammy winner, Boz Scaggs!

For your chance to receive one of these two records  tell ugather the first record (not CD) you ever bought. Comments must be posted by Sunday, December 21^st. Gather will randomly draw two respondents to receive "Speak Low".

Do you know about the Incredible Group? It's the group where you can show off your incredible kids and the incredible people who are helping them! It doesn't matter if you're a parent or not, we all know someone who is incredible for one reason or another and this is the time to tell us about them!

Join the Incredible Group today and tell us who's incredible in your life! Each week, Gather will award three Incredible members of the group with 500 Gather Points^TM. All past members are eligible as well! So join today! Note: Promotion will run until December 20^th.

The Modern Baker: Sicilian Fig Bars. Win a Free Cookbook.

This post offers recipes and tips on making holiday cookies as well as announcing the contest. It is a must read!

What are your favorite Christmas cookies? Gather will draw one respondent to win a copy of Modern Baker. Comments must be posted by Sunday, December 21^st.

MEMBER CONTESTS:

Boy do I have a Tupperware contest for you! Whoo Hoooo!!!

This will be a little more of a detailed challenge, but the benefits will be worth it.  So here are the details of your next challenge:

1. Find a piece of Tupperware in your home and write a review on it.  Old or new.  Telling the why's and how's it is used and so on.  You can even talk about the guarantee Tupperware gives on their products as an added bonus.  You can make the review as fun as you want.  Now if you don't own any Tupperware and would like to...go to my website link provided below and do some research and you can still get in on the challenge, by writing a review on what you have learned about Tupperware.
2. Provide this link: http://my2.tupperware.com/VISION2WIN somewhere in your review.  As long as the majority of your review is talking about Tupperware's uses, benefits and/or the history of Tupperware, you may provide this link.  It has been verified by Gather that this is the proper way to do it.  To make the link clickable...just copy and paste the link above.  This will not work on Opera, but it will work on IE.
3. Once your review is finished...post it for others to view and then come back and make a comment below on this post that it's done.  Tell me the name of your post.  I will then go and review your post.  If you can add a link to your post that would be awesome.
4. If a picture of your Tupperware is added to your post...I will increase the value of your gift.
5. At the end of the contest, I will choose not one, but two lucky winners who wrote the best reviews and send them a very nice piece of Tupperware.  At least a $20 value or more.

You have until midnight next Friday December 19, 2008.

Winner of $20 gift card announced/new contest announcement

Dan Tomkins is having a pinging contest.  December pinging contest rules!

The year is about over. A new year, a new beginning. So ping Dan and tell him what is your new year resolutions for 2009!!

Gosh, this is so simple! There are no limits to how many pings, and you can ping everyday with a different resolution. Again, winners will be chosen by random.

   December Pinging Contest. This month's theme is New Year Resolutions!

Rules: Ping me, telling me if you have set any resolutions for 2009, and what are the resolutions if any!(any resolutions for a new bear rug will be disqualified!) You may ping everyday if you want, but each ping must be different!

Prize: So far I have decided on giving a $10 Borders gift card and a neat book called Baby Animal Butts, it has pictures of  cute baby animals and humorous thoughts of wisdoms. Winner will be chosen randomly

Deadline: Dec 31, 2008 is the last day!!

 I would like to spotlight a wonderful member of the Gather community. She is so sompassionate and kind to others.  Her posts range from her talented writing skills to updating you on issues of concern.

This member is: Chana (I'm just sitting here watching the wheel go round & round.)

 Her posts I want to spotlight are:

IMAX Run Of Engagement Passes For The Day The Earth Stood Still In NYC (Contest)

 Free Movie Screening In The Washington, D.C. Area - The Wrestler (12.22.2008)

 Let It Go

Do We Know Us?

INFORMATION ON THE TODAY ON GATHER POST

This post is a place where your opinions are always welcome and you will always  find a friend. I have a place reserved just for you. I do read all comments and usually try to acknowledge those comments as well. Keyword being "try". There is always a place reserved just for you in the Gather Community. You need never be alone.

Is there something that you would like to see changed on the "Today On Gather" posts?

Do you know of some exciting activity that is going on in the Gather Community? Please just let me know.

Just let me know by making a comment in the comment section. I will be back to chat with you again each weekday of the week.

Today On Gather article is published each weekday to the group Today On Gather and Gather Essentials: News .

You will find many more updates in past articles