Hello everyone. I've decided to organize this again another year. I've been going strong since 1999. If I've left something out or something needs to be corrected, please let me know and I'll make the changes. TIA!!!!!!
It's time to sign up again for the TWCOE (Teresa Wentzler Christmas Ornament Exchange). But, by signing up you are not officially committed until it the date listed at the bottom of the rules. Makes sense, right? Either way, read on!
Rules are really simple for this club. They are as follows:
1. It is one time a year that we do this. No year long or monthly commitments to it. Names will not be picked until closer to the mailing deadline.
2. There will be 3 categories. A TW ornament (can be from any of her designs - motifs, etc. work out beautifully!) OR another designer ornament OR a Winter/Non-Christmas/Non-Christian themed ornament (or WNCC).
3. Start stitching! The number of ornaments that you stitch will determine how many you receive back, and what you stitch is what you receive. So, if you would like to receive a TW ornament, then you need to stitch a TW. The same applies for the other 2 categories as well. You may stitch as many ornaments of any category that you want, but they must be a finished completed ornament when you mail them out. The ornament(s) must be put in the mail by Saturday, November 22nd. NO EXCEPTIONS TO THIS RULE. THIS IS IMPORTANT SO THAT IF YOU ARE MAILING OVERSEAS OR RECEIVING FROM OVERSEAS, THEN YOU (OR THE PERSON YOU ARE SENDING TO) WILL GET IT BEFORE CHRISTMAS.
4. Please send an email to me by 9 P.M. CST Thursday, November 6th if you wish to participate. PLEASE DO NOT POST TO THIS TOPIC WITH YOUR INFO!!!! But if you do have any questions, please feel free to post here. My email is: TJAllison6@verizon.net . I will only need the following information at this time:
your user name,
real name and
mailing address
Please DO NOT SEND me any info on the ornies that you plan on stitching or which group(s) you wish to participate in as I will get all that later. If postage for oversea mailing is a big expense for you, please let me know. Of course, postage is usually not that bad since the packages are lightweight and don't have to have insurance, etc. on it. IE: If you decide to participate in 3 exchanges, you could specify how many you'd be willing to ship overseas.
5. I will on Sunday, November 9th, send an email out to everyone, who has sent me an email expressing their wishes to participate, to see if ornaments are completed and if so, how many, for which group, etc. Responses will need to be received back by Thursday, November 13th, so that I can send out who is to send to whom by Sunday, November 16th (after I pick names out of a real large bowl!). This will allow everyone 1 week to get to the post office with their packages as the mailing deadline is Saturday, November 22nd. The reason for this deadline is that I want to give at least 4-5 weeks to have packages mailed that go overseas (and don't forget that Thanksgiving is on the 27th this year) There will, unfortunately, be no exceptions to this rule. If you can't do this by the time frames, then please don't participate as it makes it hard to explain why one or two people haven't gotten their ornies before or by Christmas (yes, sometimes the post office does mess up but other times it's because it didn't get mailed on time). This may seem harsh, but my track record for everyone receiving all their ornies has been good except for a couple the first year or two when I initially started this. So, please forgive me if I sound harsh, but I want to make sure that everyone does receive what they stitched for and not get short changed. Because everyone has fulfilled their commitment in the past years it has made it pleasant to do this each year.
5A. If you are going to be gone during the time above when I need to get replies from you and you wish to still participate, please email me beforehand and I will work with you to make sure that you don't get left out or overlooked. But, please only do this, if you know you are going to be gone and not around a computer where you can't reply.
6. Changes may occur on any of the above rules if anyone brings a problem to my attention about the rules. If this happens, I will send out notification to everyone who has responded to the exchange by that time.
So, that's it! It really is quite simple. Have fun! Stitch as few or as many ornaments as you like and if you haven't completed any by Saturday, November 8th, you don't have to worry about it as names haven't been assigned yet and no one gets left out of the game.
Dates to remember:
November 6th, Thursday 9 P.M. CST - deadline to let me know that you wish to participate if you haven't already
November 9th, Sunday- expect to get an email from me for detailed information on what you got finished
November 13th, Thursday - deadline for you to send me back detailed information or that you can't (which is fine as sometimes life does get in the way)
November 16th, Sunday - email from me on who you are going to be sending to
November 22nd, Saturday - deadline for you to get package(s) in the mail
December - now just wait for your ornies to come!
