Another year nearly gone.

Christmas is behind us and most of us will have eaten too much, drunk a little too much and just enjoyed the festivities. As the New Year hurtles towards us, I'd just like to thank you all for being a part of HPFF.

It's been a fantastic year for me, both here and in real life. HPFF continues to grow and the staff continue to be the best on any website on the planet. We reached several milestones this year including getting just short of one hundred million hits in a month and receiving two million reviews for our stories. Yep a very good year for HPFF.

Personally, my year has been memorable for several reasons, most of them connected with HPFF. I finally met BitterEpiphany, timeturner, Georgia Weasley, WeasleyTwinMom and JLHufflepuff.  I may be a bit biased here, but without a doubt these are some of the nicest people I have ever met and I am happy to call them my friends. Yes, my friends. Not faceless internet entities that I speak to every so often, but friends, real friends that I trust and would do anything for.

Travel played a huge part in my year, Chicago, NY and San Francisco were amazing places ( well OK, NY was not what I expected, but Brooklyn was amazing and the pizza? To die for!) Chicago with BE and tt was the best few days I have ever had on vacation. In fact I think it'll be hard for anything to top it. I laughed, ate good food and spent time with two women that  were the best company any man could wish for. I have wonderful memories of those few days and it is all thanks to BE and tt. San Fran was also a wonderful place. Again great company and fantastic memories from NoWD and the days around it. I stayed at the most amazing hotel, dressed as a 20's gangster in a purple flowing wig and got lost trying to find the hotel that was hosting NoWD. It was another great time with the staff that included massages, drinking, drowning of gummi bears and flashing of stars n stripes boxer shorts. Again a vacation filled with wonderful memories and again all thanks to HPFF.

So as I sit here in my study with a bear sitting beside me and a HPFF goodie bag on my desk, I'm looking forward to what the next year will bring. I hope it will be as much fun as 2011 and that I will be able to make just as many (if not  more) happy memories, thanks to HPFF. I want to get to see my friends again and have some more fun times and lots more adventures. The bear is a travel veteran now and I think he has developed a case of wanderlust. So maybe we'll be travelling again in 2012. If it's anything to do with me, we will. I love travel and most of all I love meeting people and experiencing new things.

Hmm, this has turned into a bit of a ramble. I really just wanted to say  thanks to all the staff, especially timeturner, (her work behind the scenes for NoWD was just amazing) for the endless hours they put in and putting up with crap from some nasty members. Thanks to you for being here, enjoying the site and making it the number one HP fanfiction site on the planet. I hope we can still manage to make this a happy and safe place for you to visit and I hope to see you again next year.

So until then, have a safe and happy New Year and I'll see you in 2012.

Jay.