- \n
- Congrats to the first ever winner of the Kim Parsell Memorial WordCamp Europe Scholarship – Lena Stergatou!<\/li>\n
- What\u2019s 122 feet tall and has skis for eyelashes and spruce trees for arms?<\/li>\n
- WP Gives a Hand celebrates five years of well, giving a hand. \ud83d\ude4c<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
![\"Post](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/boss-can-get-this-completed-before-end-year-sure-also-corporatebish.png\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nHot Off The Presses: All the Jingle Bell That\u2019s Fit to Rock<\/h2>\n
Sleigh Whaaat?!<\/h3>\n
2024 is almost over already? Damn, my clumsy little fingers just got used to typing it. You\u2019re telling me I have to start typing 2025 soon? Ugghhhh\u2026<\/p>\n
Anyway, we won\u2019t take up too much of your time because you\u2019ve got important stuff to do, like playing Xbox with your cousins, destroying your elderly parents at Scrabble, fumbling with the assembly instructions for that new scooter and fighting the post-Turkey sleepies. \ud83e\udd83\ud83d\ude34<\/p>\n
But Christmas has us feeling all Santa-mental\u2026 so here\u2019s a little song for you:<\/p>\n
\u2728 Have Yourself a Merry Little DEVmas \u2728<\/h4>\n
Have yourself a merry little DEVmas
\nMay your plugins load right
\nFrom now on, all errors will be out of sight<\/p>\nHave yourself a merry little DEVmas
\nWe\u2019ll keep sending memes
\nAnd an update on the newest WordPress themes<\/p>\nHere we are as in olden days
\nPosting stupid puns galore
\nWhile faithful readers who are dear to us
\nComment on our blogs once more<\/p>\nThrough the years we all will work together
\nIf the sites allow
\nMaybe we will change the world with code, somehow
\nSo have yourself a merry little DEVmas now! \ud83d\udc97<\/p>\nIt\u2019s Giving\u2026 Uh\u2026 Giving.<\/h3>\n
Feeling like you want to be more generous this holiday season? Even if you haven\u2019t been spooked by three guilt-tripping ghosts, you might be thinking about how you can give back. We certainly are, especially after hearing that WP Gives a Hand<\/a> is celebrating it\u2019s fifth birthday! \ud83c\udf82\ud83e\udd73<\/p>\n
The charitable initiative unites businesses to donate a portion of their revenue to support various non-profit organizations. Over the past five years, 29 companies have collectively raised more than $52,000 for 19 different charities. Nice one!<\/p>\n
The 2024 campaign is still in swing, with participating companies donating a percentage of their sales until December 29th. Some of the charities supported include SOS Children\u2019s Villages Latvia<\/a>, World Bicycle Relief<\/a>, Italian animal shelter ENPA Mira<\/a>, One Tree Planted<\/a> and UNICEF<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Lena Stergatou Wins WordCamp Europe\u2019s First Kim Parsell Scholarship<\/h3>\n
The first ever WordCamp Europe Kim Parsell Memorial Scholarship has been awarded, and the recipient is Greek WordPress developer Lena (Eleni) Stergatou.<\/p>\n
Previously exclusive to WordCamp US, this scholarship now includes WordCamp Asia and Europe, recognizing contributors from around the world who embody Kim Parsell\u2019s spirit<\/a> of community and advocacy for women in tech.<\/p>\n
Lovingly referred to as #wpmom, Kim contributed countless hours of volunteer time to the WordPress project and her commitment lives on in the people she inspired.<\/p>\n
Inaugural winner Lena describes herself<\/a> as a \u201cCode Wrangler\u201d and \u201cHappiness Engineer\u201d and has expertise in multisite setups, Greek translations and plugin development. She holds a Diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Democritus University of Thrace, and currently develops web services for the Greek educational community at the Computer Technology Institute (CTI Diophantus).<\/p>\n
Lena says, \u201cI love to debug, fix broken things, extend functionalities and share them with others.\u201d<\/p>\n
The scholarship will cover Lena\u2019s travel to the host city of Basel, Switzerland, hotel accommodation for the event duration and a WordCamp ticket for the June 2025 event.<\/p>\n
Lena, you\u2019re a legend and we\u2019re very happy for you! Have fun in Switzerland! \ud83d\ude4c<\/p>\n
Go Away, I\u2019m Working On My Novel!<\/h3>\n
So, if this winter is when you plan to finally hunker down and finish that book you\u2019ve been planning to write, we\u2019ve got good news for you.<\/p>\n
You can now use the WordPress Block Editor to write your book<\/a> – then export it as an EPUB file that can be read on any e-book app like Kindle or Apple Books.<\/p>\n
It\u2019ll treat each heading as a chapter, so you can easily navigate the content from within the e-book reader. You can even add a cover with a custom image.<\/p>\n
Writing a book on WordPress ain\u2019t a new thing. In fact, we wrote a tutorial on how to organize an online book using WordPress<\/a> waaaaaay back in 2012.<\/p>\n
(2012?! In internet years, that blog post is approximately the same age this very bitchy cuneiform tablet<\/a>.)<\/p>\n
But before now, it wasn\u2019t as easy to do this and you\u2019d have needed to use one of the many third party services out there to turn your blog posts into a book. As developer Ella<\/a> writes in the blog post linked above, this is definitely a full circle moment for Gutenberg!<\/p>\n
A Few Fun & Festive Facts<\/h2>\n
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- Apparently when Robert May wrote the story of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in 1939, he almost named him Rollo, Romeo or Reginald. Imagine Santa saying, \u201cHey Reggie! Bring that glowing nose over here for a sec, will ya?\u201d (Source<\/a>)<\/li>\n
- In order to deliver gifts to all the children in the world, Santa would have to fly at a speed of 4,705,882km\/h. Yeeeesh. (Source<\/a>)<\/li>\n
- Online shopping on mobile made up 51% of holiday purchases last year. (Source<\/a>)<\/li>\n
- According to Gen Z, Brussel sprouts are like, totally lit, fam. (Or at least they were in 2023.) They became a TikTok trending veggie and supermarkets in the UK reported a 150% boom in sales last year. (Source<\/a>)<\/li>\n
- You\u2019ll get a frosty reception if you ever visit Bethel, Maine\u2026 it\u2019s where the world\u2019s largest snowperson was built. At 122 feet tall, she was only a few feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty, her eyelashes were made from skis and her buttons made from truck tires. (Source<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
A Stocking Stuffed With Blogs & Resources<\/h2>\n
All you want for Christmas is the \u201cgood, old Twitter?\u201d Eric Karkovack from the WPMinute hopes Bluesky will be a fresh new start<\/a>.<\/p>\n
OpenVerse<\/a>, the platform that\u2019s like Santa\u2019s workshop for openly-licensed creative media, now has a Dark Mode toggle that makes browsing very easy on the eyes.<\/p>\n
If you could ask Santa for any feature, enhancement or bug fix on Gutenberg\/WordPress, what would it be? Riad Benguella asked the question, Martin Dubovic recapped the responses<\/a>.<\/p>\n
And since we can\u2019t send you actual candy for your stocking, how about some eye candy? These creative website layouts shared by Jamie Marsland<\/a> should do the trick.<\/p>\n
Doing some last minute decorating? Here\u2019s a site that calculates the amount of baubles you\u2019ll need<\/a> based on the height and width of your tree.<\/p>\n
And if you\u2019re all about those twinkly light vibes, this site<\/a> will help you find the best decorated homes and official displays in your area.<\/p>\n
Sippin\u2019-Boozy-Hot-Chocolate-In-Your-Fuzzy-Onesie Distractions<\/h2>\n
This guy drunkenly bought an inflatable Santa that\u2019s bigger than his house, but he\u2019s making the most of it. <\/a><\/p>\n
Speaking of Santa, where\u2019s the big man right now? Check in on him with NORAD\u2019s Santa Tracker<\/a><\/p>\n
Apparently my Elf Name is Noodles BrightToes, what\u2019s yours?<\/a><\/p>\n
Speaking of elves, wanna use code to make an elf dance? Of course you do. <\/a><\/p>\n
If your gift-wrapping skills leave something to be desired, just watch this video in slow-mo and follow along. Easy, right?<\/a><\/p>\n
Speaking of wrapping, if you thought your Spotify Wrapped was a bit\u2026 underwhelming this year, you\u2019re not alone. (Maybe those massive lay-offs are to blame?)<\/a><\/p>\n
Set the cosy winter vibe by adding falling snow to your WordPress.com website. <\/a><\/p>\n
- In order to deliver gifts to all the children in the world, Santa would have to fly at a speed of 4,705,882km\/h. Yeeeesh. (Source<\/a>)<\/li>\n
- Apparently when Robert May wrote the story of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in 1939, he almost named him Rollo, Romeo or Reginald. Imagine Santa saying, \u201cHey Reggie! Bring that glowing nose over here for a sec, will ya?\u201d (Source<\/a>)<\/li>\n