As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Christmas Eve is hubby's birthday, so he chooses. This year, he wants stuffed shells (hey, Lisa, how 'bout I just send him over??? ) as his "Last Supper" to commemorate the first meal I ever made for him. Who says only girls are all about the drama?
Christmas is the food that Shall Never Be Changed. Breakfast is powdered and chocolate covered donuts with milk while we light our Advent wreath and read the Bible story. After that, DDs open stockings and we proceed in an orderly fashion to the gift opening. Once that is done, hubby and I retreat to the kitchen to finish the sauerkraut balls that I started a few days before. We'll have that, Honeybaked Ham, meat & cheese trays (also made the day before), veggie and cookie trays. Very easy, very little effort. We nosh in our Christmas jammies all afternoon.
The views and opinions expressed on this post are mine and do not necessarily represent or reflect those of The Walt Disney Company and Affiliated Companies
I am so tempted to make a mess of Mexican food for Christmas Day dinner. I don't like ham or turkey and I'm just not a fan of the traditional holiday fare. I wonder how the extended family would react if I made enchiladas and tamales and beans and rice, etc...
We always have monkey bread for Christmas Day breakfast while we open presents, and I will still do that. The kids would mutiny if I ever changed that.
We'll be five for dinner as we're inviting a neighbor who will be alone this year. We're having spiral sliced ham, Emeril Lagasse's scalloped potatoes, fresh and smoked kielbasa, perogies, veggie, and some kind of dessert that I haven't yet decided upon.
Christmas eve dinner is Mexican take-out from our favorite local place.
Christmas dinner will be ham, cheesy potatos, green bean casserole and red velvet cake
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Cheese ball with crackers
Classic coke in those little bottles
Smoked ham
Craisin sauce
Sweet and spicy meatballs
Hashbrown casserole
Deviled eggs
Corn with bacon
Peas with sauteed mushrooms and carmelized onions
Asparagus with balsamic brown butter
Lime cream gelatin
Spinach salad with fresh figs and candied pecans
Cranberry orange bread
Banana cream pie
Apple pie
Frango mints
Fruit jellies
__________________
Katydid
10/96 - All Star Sports, 11/03 - CBR
9/05 - Wonder Cruise, 7/06 - Disneyland
11/08-All Star Sports - 7/09 Ft. Wilderness
11/14- AKL Jambo House
Christmas Eve is traditionally lasagna, salad and garlic bread before 8 pm Mass - then cocoa or eggnog and cookies while we open jammies after church.
This year - Amanda is celebrating Christmas Eve with her BF Nick's family - they won't arrive at our house till about 9:30. John is working till 6:30 - but our church was merged with another - so Jennie and Sarah are now singing in the choir at 4 pm, not 8 pm. So - new plan - Jennie doesn't like lasagna - so we'll either do a big Chinese take out after Mass, or have mini pigs in a blanket, and other appetizery type foods.
Christmas Day starts with coffee, cocoa or eggnog - served with homemade pumpkin bread, homemade lemon twist bread, and homemade cinnamon bunny bread in the shape of christmas trees. There's lots of fruit around too - and stockings always have a good supply of chocolate. John's on a no-bread, lots of protein kick right now - so I may have to cook up some eggs with bacon and maple sausage for him.
Dinner has always traditionally been a rib roast, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and carrots. I have a ginormous turkey John got from work for Thanksgiving in the freezer - and thought about having that instead - but nope - we'll stick with our tradition. I'll do up the turkey on New Year's maybe, or for Sarah's big vacation sleepover.
Christmas Eve we always go out to eat at Lancers Diner after mass.
Christmas Day we are doing an apple french toast for breakfast then we go to see my mom and brothers then dinner this year is just me and dd and we are having a ham steak (a whole ham is way too big) cheesy potatoes, shoepeg corn and spinach
I grew up with clam chowder on Christmas Eve -- it's as close as my mom could get me to her traditional oyster stew. But DD8 won't do clam chowder, and has asked for grilled cheese and tomato soup ("Mom, the soup is red. That's Christmasy!") so I guess that's what we'll be having
Christmas dinner, though, is much less subject to negotiation:
Standing rib roast, yorkshire pudding, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans almandine. Cinnamon apples for salad, and steamed pudding for dessert.
Christmas Eve we have reservations at our favorite Italian restaurant before church. Then home with hot chocolate and Christmas cookies whie we watch "It's a Wonderful Life". My mom stays over and celebrates with us.
Christmas morning we have "Pancake Cake", which is a pancake mix, cut link sausage and blueberries baked in a 13x9 pan. Also fresh fruit while opening presents.
Dinner will be turkey with gravy, homemade yukon gold mashed potatoes, homemade cornbread stuffing made from my own cornbread, green bean casserole, corn pudding, a big salad and homemade rolls.
Christmas Eve will be clam chowder and salad before midnight mass.
Christmas Day Tom and I have to work so that will be the snack food day.
Boxing Day (26 Dec) will be our Christmas and we will have Buckwheat pancakes and sausage for breakfast, leftover snack foods for lunch and for our Christmas Dinner roast beef, yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans with basil and tomatoes (very Christmas colored) and blackberry cobbler.