Happy New Year!

For those who are relatively new to MIP, the “12 Days” series is my list of my favorite posts for the current year that would not be in the Most Popular Posts for the same time period. They are still the next most popular posts of the year with only one exception and I think you’ll enjoy this walk down Memory Lane as much as I do. Some are often seeing these posts for the first time because they missed the initial posting. By all means, if you are in the latter group, I would love to hear from you about your impressions of these. Leave a comment telling me the good, bad and indifferent of what lies ahead over the next few posts:

Number 12 on this list is due to a tradition that the “in-law family” has every few years. This enormous clan of 34 likes to take vacations together every few years and we like seeing new places.

Book Club Members: Did Santa bring you Killing Jesus? I sure hope so, because we will start off the New Year next week with reading the latest from Bill O’Reilly.

WOW Lovers: Next Monday’s WOW will be a listing of words that Merriam-Webster Online is contemplating adding to its next edition. It’s currently listed as slang by that austere organization. Do you know the definitions for these words? I sure don’t!

Well, boys and girls (that seemed right simply because it’s Christmas Day), we’re finally at the end of the 12 Days of MIP. Today I give you a little insight into the two highest reader-viewed posts that I also like. If I were to arrange them in the order in which I liked them, the order would be somewhat different. In fact I think I would have listed # 2 as my top choice, but you, dear readers, chose differently for your top choice. Thus, in your order and in your honor:

Number 2:

Lessons Learned from Heart Attacks 3 & 4…

This post was one of the first to hit the MIP blog after my 2 heart attacks this past summer. The posts prior to this and some that came immediately after this post were largely serious and factual, but this one I reserved for just venting my complete and total frustration with the medical world–a world that is an all too familiar part of my life. While I understand that I’m definitely not a cardiologist or nurse and that their jobs are made especially tough by cases like mine that probably would be right up House’s alley, there are times when I wonder why these folks were given an RN or MD after their names. Click here to see what I mean.

Number 1: (Drum roll, please!)

It’s All About the Splash…

To be honest I wasn’t sure if this post would even warrant a glance from anyone. For one thing…it’s remarkably brief, which probably causes most of my readers to confuse it with a WOW post. But sometimes, when I’m brief, I’m at my best and this one may qualify in that category. Also, it’s sometimes difficult to get my thoughts onto paper or screen clearly and my fear, with this post, was that it wouldn’t make sense to anyone other than me. Thankfully, my dear readers “got it.” Click here to enter the “Splash Zone.”

Friday’s Post: The 12 Days AFTER Christmas…

You might also like: The 12 Days of MIP: 4 & 3; The 12 Days of MIP: 6 & 5; The 12 Days of MIP: 8 & 7; The 12 Days of MIP: 10 & 9; and The 12 Days of MIP: 12 & 11

If you read my post from last Wednesday, then you know I’m in the midst of revealing my 12 favorite posts from this past year which most likely will not make it into the Top 10 or Top 12 of what all of my readers viewed most frequently. Why 12? Because I adore the Christmas song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Thus, this is my little tribute to that illusive bird known as the partridge. Seriously, how many of you have actually seen a partridge???

These posts all missed the top 12 in viewership by a “hair.” May I conclude that you still liked them? Just not as much as the Top 10 or 12 (which I will reveal in January)? I hope so.  Here are # 10 and # 9 and why I consider them my favorites.

Number 10:

“Because I Want to Be with You…”

When I started MIP I wasn’t sure I wanted my Christian viewpoint to take “center stage” in what I posted. But, little by little, God worked on my heart and I realized the whole point of my writing is to work on building a closer relationship with Him. While not every post will be evident of this, a great many of them reveal just how blessed I feel to have Him in my life. This post recounts the beginning of the realization that it was okay to be publicly open about my Christianity, despite an increasingly secular world viewpoint. I debated, for a long, long time whether or not to post this story because it makes me sound crazy and because I hope to fictionally include it in my first book. But, finally, I just couldn’t stand not sharing it, much like Jeremiah just couldn’t stop prophesying. Click here to either review that story or to read it for the first time!

Number 9: 

Lessons Learned from a Routine Examination…

This post is probably the total reverse of the tone of # 10! Because of my health adventures, I have to endure a lot of examinations and hospitalizations. The medical community’s major mistake is to actually make a writer wait for such stuff. It gives me entirely too much time to construct my next posts about the embarrassing and silly things doctors and nurses ask one to endure to take care of health issues. Yes, some of this is definitely fictionalized, but it is oh, so based on actual reality. Click here to laugh again or to get your first insight into the nonsense that is my life.

Monday’s Post: Do you fard? (I beg your pardon!)

You might also like: The 12 Days of MIP: 12 & 11; The Odd Days of December; and Don’t Need Any More Stuff This Christmas? How About This?