Less than a week to go, and the misery is over, I thought to myself. It didn’t look as if my attitude towards Christmas was going to change. I knew, deep down, it wouldn’t. How could it? People were hypocrites. Dec 25th would come and go, and I could guarantee you that even on that day of family and celebration there would be those at each other’s throats, screaming and fussing, and even if not, 24 hours later everyone would go back to exactly how they were.

The war wouldn’t stop. The death and violence wouldn’t stop. The enslavement of my people wouldn’t stop. Not because of Christmas.

Christmas was nothing more than an exercise in commercial socialism. People had to participate in the spending of Christmas or be frowned upon by their peers, judged by rules none could quantify, and their perceived worth lowered within in their caste. It might not be a legal or official proclamation, but it was true nonetheless. Christmas was about competition, with coworkers, with family members; who spent the most money on gifts, who had the biggest and best party, etc, etc. It wasn’t as selfless or giving as the media would have us believe.

I was a simple man. I didn’t have room in my life for the complexities and shallow nature of Christmas. And yet somehow, I was ok with myself, and the life I led.

ADVENT DAY 18

PRIZE: ???

TASK: First of all, I hope everyone had a good chuckle at yesterday’s stories. I know I did. If you didn’t, go back and read them please; they are worth it.

Time is running out! Roc Wieler still doesn’t believe in Christmas Spirit! Today, your task is to interact with Roc directly with respect to your own view of Christmas.

This can be in character, out of character, a mix of the two, whatever you want. It can be happy, sad, angry. For all we know we could be Jewish and support Roc’s position on Christmas. I really don’t know. It’s up to you.

Please post your entries in the comments below, or email them to adventcelebration@gmail.com.

I will announce today’s winner at 10 PM EST.

Boy, am I ever late announcing this one. Saw Avatar late last night. Good movie. Today’s winner is Miningzen, whom has won himself a set of posters, care of EON Magazine. Please email your shipping address so I can get these out to you.

*** SNEAK PEEK FOR DEC 24TH ***

PRIZE: $100 US Racial Gift pack from the Eve Online store

TASK: Create a holiday video for your fellow Eve Online players

“Every child grew up with these. They are classic!”

I had been pondering those words for a few days since they were first spoken to me in shock and judgement. Some forget that there was no Christmas for slave children. Every day was simply about surviving until your next meal. I never grew up with the luxuries the Gallenteans had; I didn’t know about the classic kids tales everyone had been going on about when I walked into the conversation.

I had asked innocently about one particular cartoon title, and was then told at great lengths about the wonders of classical animation and how it was simply unheard of for an adult to not be familiar with these. What about my kids? Had they seen them?

Christmas was complicated.

ADVENT DAY 17

PRIZE: ???

TASK: Today you will be submitting a short script/story detailing the next big “classic christmas cartoon”, featuring Roc Wieler of course.

Post your entries in the comments section below, or email me at adventcelebration@gmail.com.

I will announce today’s winner at 10 PM EST.

Congratulations to Rettic, whom has won himself a copy of EON Magazine Issue 19 when it comes out!

Christmas was clearly not for me, I thought to myself. I lived my life by rules; I needed structure. The holiday season was chaotic, and seemed to bring out the worst in people. I wondered how family would react to the gifts they received if they knew to what morally questionable lengths their loved ones went to get them, how they mistreated others, shoving, pushing, cursing, filled with impatience at every turn; in their vehicles, in their shopping, everything. It was deplorable.

If any of my pilots were to act the way I had witnessed innumerable civilians act in the name of Christmas, I would have them under court-martial faster than they knew what hit them.

I was losing myself in the madness. I needed order. I needed direction.

ADVENT DAY 16

PRIZE: ???

TASK: Today you will be creating a witty yet insightful Christmas Rule. Not only will the winning rule win today’s prize, it will be featured as an official Roc’s Rule. Post your entry in the comments section below, or email me at adventcelebration@gmail.com.

I will announce today’s winner at 10 PM EST.

Congratulations to Song Li, today’s winner! Not only is your quote today going to be an official Roc’s Rule, but you’ve also won yourself a free ad on Capsuleer! Check this LINK out for details. Ignore the ISK part; that’s on us!

“It might do you some good. Maybe it’s just what you need to get that Holiday Spirit going.” my therapist said. It annoyed me that in her political correctness, she called this the Holiday season, or Holiday Spirit, or Holiday this or that. If you were going to talk about Christmas, at least call it what it was.

“Alright doc; I’ll give it a try.” I said, already feeling uncomfortable, as was typical with most any suggestion she would make.

I almost didn’t want to leave my quarters that day. At least then I wouldn’t have to think of a unique and individual way to state my appreciation for each and person I met, as my therapist had suggested. Go Christmas Spirit!

ADVENT DAY 15

PRIZE: ???

TASK: Yep, you guessed it. You’re going to verbally give your unique and individual appreciation to every person you meet today ingame. And you’re going to provide screenshots to me in the comments below, or at adventcelebration@gmail.com, as evidence of your niceness.

I will be announcing today’s winner at 10 PM EST.

Tragically, not a single entrant for today’s contest. It only reinforces the inherent cynicism I’ve always known capsuleers to have. Even for a prize, we aren’t willing to wish our fellow pod pilots a friendly greeting.

This is the first time one of our contests has defaulted. Consulting Roc’s Rulebook, it would appear that PyjamaSam receives today’s default prize, one lump of coal in his stocking!

It wasn’t that I minded all the parties associated with Christmas, not at all. Any good Brutor welcomed the chance to drink their face off. It was more that while I enjoyed the company of my brethren, I really didn’t have many Minmatar friends. Sure, I knew a lot of Matari, but most were  under my command and not really friends.

It seemed that night was my turn to host the festivities, and the party itself was being thrown in my honour. To me, it was a lot of pressure to live up to, but looking back I am thankful for learning both how to be a gracious host, and how to interact better in social gatherings. These traits served me well in later years.

ADVENT DAY 12

PRIZE: ???

TASK: Yeah, so I suck at Christmas, and at parties. Today’s task is to come up with some fun and engaging Christmas party activities/games that will amuse and entertain my guests tonight.

I will need to announce the winner early tonight, and I apologize for that. I will announce tonight’s winner at 6 PM EST.

Thanks to everyone for coming up with some fantastic ideas quickly. Today’s randomly selected winner (I am stating that now as someone thought maybe it was by favourtism) is Rettic, whom has won himself a 50% off code from LoneTrek Hosting, a really good hosting solution provided by a really genuine Eve player who simply wanted to offer better services to those in need of them.

Congratulations to Rettic, and depending on how exactly hungover I am, I’ll see you all tomorrow.

“I’ll think about it.” she said, referring to an earlier conversation we had engaged in regarding the exchanging of Christmas gifts. Sarasfox seemed sincere, yet as I continued my quest for Christmas spirit I found myself still feeling hollow inside.

It was so loud on the station promenade I could hardly hear myself think. It was chaotic, unrelenting, worse than any ground warfare stories I had heard with the exception of the deaths of course. My thoughts turned to Daul Halwick, to Mynxee, to all those that had once been dear to me. Christmas was supposedly a time of family and friends; aside from PyjamaSam (whom I hadn’t seen in months), I couldn’t think of a single soul that I could call “friend”.

I held a personal massager in my hand. It was on sale. I didn’t know if it was something Sarasfox would like, so I decided to ask one of the many lurking women around, a slightly older, plumper lady looking through discount underwear.

“Excuse me,” I began. “Sorry to trouble you, but I’m not very good at this.” I smiled awkwardly, and she smiled back in silent understanding. I showed her the massage device and asked her if it was an appropriate gift for a woman I barely knew.

She looked at it, then at me, then frowned her brow, harumphed, and walked away. I received similar reactions from the next four women I asked, completely oblivious as to what I was doing to garner such hostility. I was being polite, friendly even, with what I thought was the right amount of boyish charm. Apparently I was wrong. Finally, one younger Achura girl let me in on my mistake.

“You’re cute, but not so smart hun. That’s a vibrator.” She smiled coyly at me, but I didn’t even notice the sudden wanton flirtation in her gaze.

With growing horror, I stared at the long cylindrical device in my hand, suddenly with abject disgust, and dropped it to the store floor, walking as far away from it as quickly as I could.

What a messed up holiday this Christmas is, I thought to myself.

ADVENT DAY 10

PRIZE: ???

TASK: Today’s task is to post a picture of the most “hidden yet obvious” sexual Christmas gift you can find. What I mean by this is not to link to pictures of sexual toys, not at all. Rather, find what is considered an “innocent” gift that is obviously sexual in nature.

Post your links in the comments below, or email me at adventcelebration@gmail.com

I will announce today’s winner at 10 PM EST.

I really want to thank all of today’s entrants, as I received a lot of funny images of clearly crazy toys. What were these manufacturers thinking?

Congratulations to 343guilty1, whom has won himself an autographed glossy print of Roc Wieler! (thunderous applause)

I was quickly growing tired of all the stories, recipes, embarrassing memories, and general camaraderie of the season. It was all a facade.

By complete accident I got inbetween two small women fighting over the last of an item in a shop on the promenade. I honestly have never felt more threatened for my life than I did at that moment. I’m a short man, but a solid man, yet these women bounced me around like a rag doll. Christmas spirit indeed. Hmmph.

Still, I wasn’t ready to give up hope. I knew I was too cynical for my own good, and that I needed to grow as a person. Christmas was a perfect opportunity for that.

My therapist concurred. She would.

By the way, I ended up with the item the two women were fighting over. I won’t go into the details of it, but it did make my Christmas season a little merrier.

ADVENT DAY 9

PRIZE: ???

TASK: Today’s task is super simple, and you may have some curiousity based on the Twitter logo in today’s blog banner. So let’s get to the point.

Today you will “follow” me on Twitter, and send a quick festive greeting to @RocWieler. That’s it. Told you it was simple, didn’t I.

Did I mention I will be copy/pasting ever Twitter comment for today’s task into the blog post? Yeah, I will, so make it memorable.

I will announce today’s winner at 10 PM EST.

Today’s winner is autumnn_aether! Congratulations! You will be co-hosting an upcoming Missions Collide podcast! Please email me at adventcelebration@gmail.com with your character name, and I will make sure to get you in touch with Song Li of Missions Collide!

ADVENT TWITTER

R_Javorsky Merry Christmas, @RocWieler! Hope you don’t get too much coal. 😉

rwfloydjr @RocWieler Roc, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I am sure that will involve many Amarr wrecks and bloodshed. 🙂

Jaggins_EVE @RocWieler Happy Yule!

Galen_Druid @RocWieler Happy Holidays my friend!!!  #tweetfleet @eveonline

kiithilurin Merry Christmas! @RocWieler ‘Tis the season to be jolly. May the halls ring with autocannon volley. 🙂

Jagerda @RocWieler Have a Merry Christmas! Hope your stocking is stuffed with many enemy pods.

kirithkodachi @RocWieler Happy Holidays to a fellow Canuck!

autumnn_aether @RocWieler Happy Festivus!

alaguspirate Festivus for the rest of us! RT @autumnn_aether: “@RocWieler Happy Festivus!”

lfxbones @RocWieler merry Xmas and happy new year enjoy this festive time

Paxeh @RocWieler Happy Holidays Roc! Maybe you can try to overload twitter with this Christmas cheer.

evepilot @RocWieler Merry Christmas Roc. May that lump of coal in your stocking refine into endless millions of trit.

WebSpaceships @RocWieler Merry Christmas to all, and to all some good fights

JamesSp RT @WebSpaceships: @RocWieler Merry Christmas to all, and to all some good fights.

wensley @RocWieler Enjoy the Amarrian festive season.

Rettic @RocWieler I’m so in the holiday spirit, I set you to “red”…festive colors! Meet me in Provi for shiny New Years fireworks. 🙂 #eveonline

Thorvik_EVE @RocWieler Merry Christmas may you finally catch up to the Amarrian Capsuleer Claus and pwn his sleighAgeddon

SawnAconite @RocWieler Merry Christmas Col Wieler. May the fat Amarrian in red bring you much spiced quafe and exotic dancers!

jorshan Happy Holidays @RocWieler. May the lights shine especially bright for you and yours this holiday season.

AMuleInEvE @rocwieler I hope u get 2 run around and blast away many of the Amarr, so many that it becomes like the ‘whack a mole’ game! Merry Christmas

ClydeJr @RocWieler May your holidays be bright and cheery, sorta like an exploding Amarr battleship #eveonline

TehMasterSword @RocWieler  Merry Christmas Roc! I know you will catch that evil “Santa” soon enough! Let that firms know what your autocannons can do!

Tygoka @RocWieler Heres hoping your stocking is stuffed with amarrian slaver killmails!