Yuletide 2025 Wrap-Up

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 10:14 am
yuletidemods: A hippo lounges with laptop in hand, peering at the screen through a pair of pince-nez and smiling. A text bubble with a heart emerges from the screen. The hippo dangles a computer mouse from one toe. By Oro. (Default)
[personal profile] yuletidemods posting in [community profile] yuletide_admin
End of Event
We have revealed creator names at the main 2025 collection and the 2025 Madness collection. (Reveals seems to be working as intended - fingers crossed!) The New Year's Resolutions 2026 collection will shortly open for posting. The structured parts of this year's event are over - but you can keep posting recs at [community profile] yuletide and commenting on works to let their creators know you enjoyed them.

Please comment!

Please check that you have commented on any gifts you received - you can search on your username at the Yuletide 2025 collection, or the Yuletide Madness 2025 collection, or check your own personal AO3 gifts page. We understand not everyone can comment immediately due to late-December commitments or unforeseen events, but please comment when you can to acknowledge the gifts you requested. Comments and kudos on other Yuletide works are also very welcome.

Thank you from mods and team
Thank you to everyone who took part in Yuletide 2025: writers, requesters, betas, pinch hitters, community coordinators, chatters, hippos and the hippo pool.

Thank you from mods to the tagmod team: these are the assistants who research and process tags, proofread announcements, brainstorm author questions, contribute specific fandom knowledge, check stories, and discuss how to solve problems.

We look forward to running Yuletide again in 2026!

And now
There's a reveals post up at the participant community, if you want to chat about your writing process now that you can.

New stories can be posted to the New Year's Resolutions 2026 collection.

Feedback
As always, general feedback is welcome!

This year, we increased the nominations allowance from 4 fandoms to 5 fandoms. Since that worked okay, we anticipate continuing that next year.

We introduced a limited Do-Not-Match system. That was manageable so we're interested in repeating the same process next year - though it's possible it could grow beyond our capacity, so we don't want to guarantee it indefinitely.

We changed the deadline time and the reveals times. Those changes were based on mod availability, and it was really helpful to us to have multiple mods awake at the point of deadline and reveals. We'll need to base future deadline and reveals times on that priority, but since that isn't the only factor making deadlines and reveal times effective, we're interested to hear feedback too.

Next Yuletide, we may review franchise rules to make sure we're being consistent and fair. We may also specifically review rules for music videos.

As requested by a participant, we will also be adding a section to our rules on AO3 listing what you can expect from the mod team’s communications and conduct. We have had an internal Code of Conduct for several years but agree it would be helpful to share a public version.

Again, feedback on these or other topics is also welcome.

Thank you for helping to make Yuletide 2025 a wonderful event.


Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Contact Mods | Participant DW | Participant LJ | Pinch Hits on DW | Discord | Tag set | Tag set app

Please either comment logged-in or sign a name. Unsigned anonymous comments will be left screened.

Yuletide 2025 Reveals Posts

Friday, January 2nd, 2026 10:11 am
morbane: pohutukawa blossom and leaves (Default)
[personal profile] morbane posting in [community profile] yuletide
Thank you for all the work that went in to the Yuletide 2025 collection and event.

Now that author names have been revealed at the main Yuletide 2025 and Yuletide Madness 2025 collections, it's traditional for people to share thoughts on what they made this year. Maybe you want to write a post on your own social media (Dreamwidth or other) about your thoughts during canon consumption, your false starts, your research rabbit holes - please link it here! Or maybe you'd like to comment directly with much shorter thoughts. There's room for options in between, too.

See past posts at the reveals tag.

The Friday Five for 2 January 2026

Thursday, January 1st, 2026 02:13 pm
anais_pf: (Default)
[personal profile] anais_pf posting in [community profile] thefridayfive
These questions were written by [livejournal.com profile] tabular_rasa.

1. Do you mostly drink tap, filtered, or bottled water?

2. Is it safe/recommended to drink tap water where you live? If not, why?

3. What does the tap water taste/smell like where you live?

4. Do you collect rainwater? If so, what do you use it for?

5. Do you/have you ever had restrictions on water use where you live? What did you have to change about your lifestyle?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

**Remember that we rely on you, our members, to help keep the community going. Also, please remember to play nice. We are all here to answer the questions and have fun each week. We repost the questions exactly as the original posters submitted them and request that all questions be checked for spelling and grammatical errors before they're submitted. Comments re: the spelling and grammatical nature of the questions are not necessary. Honestly, any hostile, rude, petty, or unnecessary comments need not be posted, either.**

Recs for my gifts

Thursday, January 1st, 2026 07:02 pm
kahvi_kat: (Default)
[personal profile] kahvi_kat posting in [community profile] yuletide

A few recs for my gifts here - Blackwell Series, Jeeves & Wooster, and Fantastic Four: First Steps:

https://www.tumblr.com/norwegianpornfaerie/804561142003499008/yuletide-recs?source=share

Snowflake Challenge #1

Thursday, January 1st, 2026 08:24 am
tjs_whatnot: (Default)
[personal profile] tjs_whatnot posting in [community profile] snowflake_challenge
Introduction Post*
Meet the Mods Post *

Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.

Fandom Snowflake Challenge #1 ) And please do check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge and visit their journals/challenge responses to comment on their posts and cheer them on.

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.

two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

liadt: Yuki sat down reading a scroll (Yukinojo Henge)
[personal profile] liadt
HAPPY NEW YEAR! I bring fic:)

Title: The Hero Goes Back Into The Mountains (14,110 words)
Author: Liadt
Fandom: 雪之丞変化 | An Actor's Revenge (1963)
Rating: Teen
Categories: Gen
Characters: Nakamura Yukinojo, Nakamura Kikunojo, Yamitaro, Ohatsu, Various OCs.

Additional tags: can be read as pre-ship Yukinojo/Yamitaro, Ohatsu makes some phobic comments and so does a random monk, everything sorts itself out eventually, references to death and canon death, References to Child Prostitution, physical child abuse, Brief Ableism,
References to Suicide and Mental Illness, references to domestic abuse, Post-Canon

Summary: Yukinojo finds an out of the way monastery, but will becoming a monk free him from his life of pain?


Notes; Cheery summary and tags for a happy ending fic(!).

Multifandom: Crack the WIP 2026

Thursday, January 1st, 2026 11:56 am
chacusha: An open empty notebook with a pencil and pair of glasses laid next to it. (stock2)
[personal profile] chacusha posting in [community profile] fandomcalendar
Crack the WIP Fest Banner
(Banner by [personal profile] ysilme)


Description: Crack the WIP is back this year! Crack the WIP is a multifandom fest for finishing your WIPs. If you need a deadline to help you finish something, this is the challenge for you! All fanwork media and all fandoms, ships, kinks, ratings, and lengths are welcome. Got a WIP you'd like to make a resolution to finish in the early-ish part of this year? Come join us!

Schedule: Works must be posted by June 30th. Sign-ups are open now and will remain open until the posting deadline.

Links: [community profile] crackthewip | Event rules and sign-up post

A handful of recs

Thursday, January 1st, 2026 11:53 pm
cyphomandra: fluffy snowy mountains (painting) (snowcone)
[personal profile] cyphomandra posting in [community profile] yuletide
Recs for KJ Charles' England series, Utopia Avenue, Soulmate Goose AU, LEGO Botanical Garden and LEGO Natural History Museum, The Long Walk, Oxford Time Travel Universe, Dredge, and Miss Marple, here at my dreamwidth.

A few recs

Thursday, January 1st, 2026 08:50 am
regshoe: Black silhouette of a raven in flight, wearing a Santa hat (santa hat)
[personal profile] regshoe posting in [community profile] yuletide
Seven Yuletide recs (plus one non-Yuletide rec) at my journal. Fandoms are Blackadder, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (TV), Flower Fairies - Cicely Mary Barker, LEGO Botanical Garden and LEGO Natural History Museum, Moby Dick - Herman Melville, Piranesi - Susanna Clarke and (unofficially) Raffles - E. W. Hornung.

Yuletide recs (part III)

Wednesday, December 31st, 2025 08:58 pm
snickfic: (Dru)
[personal profile] snickfic posting in [community profile] yuletide
One last batch in before reveals! Nine recs, all on my journal. Fandoms include:

The Long Walk (2025)
Carrie
The Odyssey
Philadelphia Flyers RPF
Crash (1996)
19th Century Poets RPF
True Detective
Jaws
The Blue Castle

Yuletide recs

Wednesday, December 31st, 2025 03:09 pm
harukami: (thinking dirty thoughts)
[personal profile] harukami posting in [community profile] yuletide
10 Yuletide recs in 8 fandoms: Valdemar series, the Coldfire Trilogy, Cthulhu Mythos, Dimension 20: Escape from the Bloodkeep, The Goblin Emperor series, Rivers of London, Type Help, and Yami no Matsuei

https://harukami.dreamwidth.org/816011.html

51 recs in 34 fandoms

Wednesday, December 31st, 2025 12:02 pm
beatrice_otter: Drawing of a hippo in a red leotard and tutu, holding a rose in its teeth.  At the top it says "Yuletide! Featuring Beatrice_Otter as Rose Hippo" (Yuletide)
[personal profile] beatrice_otter posting in [community profile] yuletide
Getting my recs in before the wire!

I received not one but three lovely fics, all of which really captured the spirit of their respective canons:

ExpandCreated For Me )


Other stories I enjoyed:
ExpandYulerecs )

Gaming Review 2025

Wednesday, December 31st, 2025 07:40 pm
selenay: (Default)
[personal profile] selenay
Summary

I know that my "games completed" list is a lot longer than last year, but there are a couple of things going on here. Firstly, in 2024 I started a lot of games without finishing and put a lot of hours into some of them - Zelda TOTK in particular I loved so much that I didn't want to finish! It's my comfort game that I wander around in to relax while often ignoring the story itself just to keep the vibes going.

Secondly, a lot of these games are a bit shorter than my 2024 games (40-70 hours rather than 130+) and I was much better at totally focusing on one game until it was finished rather than butterfly flitting.

In 2024, I was doing a lot of trying things while I worked out what kind of gaming I really love. This year, I know that RPGs are my jam and particularly ones with really good narratives. I have also been learning what types of combat I really love (and don't love). Turn-based is so much my jam. As much as I loved the story of Horizon, the combat was really difficult for me and I nearly quit at one point. I'm absolutely going to play Forbidden West, but the easiest difficulty setting is the only way I can do it and enjoy the experience. It turns out that games with any kind of free shooting/aiming mechanic are not where I shine and I don't enjoy the frustration of not being able to progress the story because I can't do the combat.

Expedition 33 was my top game of the year. Such a beautiful game both visually and musically, an incredible story that made me cry a few times, and turn-based combat mechanics that I adored. I highly recommend it. And new DLC dropped a couple of weeks ago that gives me a great reason to dive back in!

I absolutely loved Final Fantasy VII Remake (note the number of FF games on my "to be played" list) and it got me to play the original FFVII too. Eternal Strands was a lot of fun and I adored the characters.

I haven't upgraded to a Switch 2 (yet) and that's influenced the platform I play some games on - anything without a Switch 2 upgrade route is being bought on PS5 at the moment even if it feels more like a game I'd want in handheld. There's a high chance that at some point next year, this (or exclusive new games - Xenoblade Chronicles 4?) will push me over the edge into the upgrade.

My games to play list is longer than I can ever hope to play without quitting my job and every other activity in my life and it's constantly growing with new games and remakes coming out. I see that as a feature, not a bug, because I'm never going to run out of games to play at this rate. The hardest thing is deciding which one to play next!

Games completed 2025:

Stray
Eternal Strands
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Horizon Zero Dawn
Final Fantasy VII: Remake
Original Final Fantasy VII

Games in progress (and loving and planning to finish next year) 2025:

Wylde Flowers
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Two Point Museum
Stardew Valley
Metaphor Refantasio

Games planned for 2026 (ones I have physical discs for or that I've played the demo for and really need or are part of FFVII series):

Final Fantasy XVI
Dragon Quest XI
Trails in The Sky 1st Chapter
Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth

Games on my list to play later:

Mass Effect (1-3)
Horizon Forbidden West
Ghost of Tsushima
Ghost of Yotei
The Witcher 3
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Baldur's Gate
Kingdoms of Amalar: Re-reckoning
Octopath Traveller 0
Dragon Quest III remake
Dragon Quest I & II remake
Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy XIII
Final Fantasy X/X2
Final Fantasy XV

2026 game releases I'm already excited for:

Fire Emblem: Fortunes Weave
Dragon Quest VII Reimagined
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales
Trails in the Sky Chapter 2

New Fic: A Strategic Discussion of No Importance (Maybe)

Wednesday, December 31st, 2025 07:27 pm
selenay: (Default)
[personal profile] selenay
A Strategic Discussion of No Importance (Maybe) (765 words) by Selenay
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Metaphor: ReFantazio (Video Game)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Eiselin Hulkenberg, Leon Strohl
Additional Tags: Slice of Life
Summary:

"Admit it. You're a fan."

"I'm a what?" Hulkenberg asked, immediately wondering if she could throw herself out of a window before she had to endure this particular conversation.

Dreamwidth Book Club

Wednesday, December 31st, 2025 02:28 pm
seleneheart: (Default)
[personal profile] seleneheart posting in [site community profile] dw_community_promo


[community profile] bookclub_dw is a monthly reading club where community members take turns choosing a book to read for the month and then moderating a discussion about the book at the end of the month.

We are currently voting on the book for January 2026 here: https://bookclub-dw.dreamwidth.org/995.html

25 recs in 16 fandoms

Wednesday, December 31st, 2025 11:06 am
tafadhali: (Default)
[personal profile] tafadhali posting in [community profile] yuletide
I've posted a recset with commentary over on my DW. 25 recs in these fandoms: Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, Bend It Like Beckham, Billy Elliot, Dimension 20, Doctor Odyssey, Heated Rivalry, Jeeves & Wooster, Lord Peter Wimsey, The Lottery, Mad Men, Murderbot, Persuasion, Point Break, Rivers of London, Sports Night, and Worlds Beyond Number.

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