This year has been a series of tremendous ups and downs, mostly ups, for our family. I won’t get into the details.

On the one hand, it’s been nice to find a way I can make some legitimate money online with the blogs I do — and I’ve seen some steady growth in the small amounts of revenue I’m getting from affiliate marketing websites.

Read more on Another year comes to a close — how was 2007 for you?…

I have a longstanding interest in Christianity, having gone through a sort of “spiritual journey,” which I’ve mentioned from time to time here and which I refer to in the “About Me” page on this website.

Read more on Faith has been the primary force which has shaped my writing career…

I asked earlier today about your favorite holiday stories and told you mine. Your favorite “stories” may well include some films, but it’s worth asking about as a separate topic.

So what are your favorite holiday movies? I’d have to pick the all-time sentimental favorite, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” You probably knew, didn’t you, that it wasn’t created or released as a Christmas or holiday movie? I seem to recall hearing it came out in August, or maybe October? But it’s quickly become identified with Christmas, because of the Christmas setting of the grand finale and the overall themes of the movie, I suppose.

Read more on How about the movies? What are your favorite holiday films?…

Trust me on this: Shop around carefully when you make a decision on the company that will host your website.

Here’s a great website, “Web Hosting Choice: Your Guide to Web Hosting,” that will help you in your hunt for a website for your blog or online writing presence. Their web address is http://www.webhostingchoice.com and they are a sort of “portal” with a web hosting search engine. You can type in the maximum monthly cost you want to pay, the amount of web space you are looking for, even the minimum monthly amount of bandwidth you expect to need. (If you don’t understand those terms, you can also just use their links to browse all the web hosting companies they list.)

Read more on Looking for a webhost? Explore this directory of web hosting companies…

I was abducted by a dragon just after midnight Sunday and taken to a far away land …

No? Okay. I’m lying. There was no dragon. I wasn’t abducted. And the real problem started more like 6:00 a.m. on Monday morning. But it has been a harrowing tale, and it is far from over …

Read more on If you’re wondering where I’ve been — boy, do I have a tale to tell…

This is a quick “heads up” about the work I’m going to be doing in the next few days on this website.

Yes indeed, it’s time for a new look. Same excellent, sparkling content, but a new “skin” on the old blog. I’ve located a couple of nice looking WordPress “themes” — that’s what they call the layout and design for sites using WordPress software — and with about three days of back breaking work I should have one of them in place. I’m leaning toward one which randomly cycles through large horizontal photographs at the top of the page. Should I choose that theme, I might even invite you, dear reader, to send me digital photos to display on the site as part of the random graphics.

Read more on Changes coming to improve the look and usability of this website…