It’s that time of year again, when the those of us in the North think of snow and darkness and holiday lights; shopping and giving and receiving; family and friends and food.

It’s also a time that bloggers decorate their sites with red and green and sparkles of various sorts. Seasonal music infuses not only our city centers, but the places we visit online.

Granted, all this can become sectarian and obnoxious, but it can also be fun. I recommend indulging yourself in whatever brightens your own season. Here are two possibilities for bloggers:

BlogCatalog.com . . . will launch its fourth social awareness campaign on Dec. 17.
This time, the “Bloggers Unite” campaign challenges its more than
80,000 members and other bloggers to do something good offline — an act
of kindness — and then post about it, using words, pictures, and/or
videos to tell the story.

Another option is the annual Holidailies project:  Holidailies is a free community writing project. All Holidailies 2007
participants promise to update their personal web sites every day from
December 1 to January 1. Portal participants post summaries of their
entries, which are aggregated on the front page of Holidailies 2007.

Both of these are good ways to connect with other bloggers, as well as inspiration and impetus for your own blogging.

But perhaps you prefer to take it easy in this darkening season? There is something for you, too: After coming across what seemed to be the 4000th or so post on
someone’s blog starting with "I’m sorry I haven’t posted in awhile." I
decided it is time to rethink what makes a good blog and the
expectations that have come to be part of it. I am thinking that no one
should utter those words again . . .and with that thought I give you
Blogging Without Obligation.

So, go post; or don’t — and may you have a good and deepening season!