Winner Wonderland 2012

Thank you to everyone who played “Guess the Christmas Phrase” for the past four weeks—on Facebook and on this blog! There were a lot of fun interactions, and I did a lot of L-ing OL. You guys are great!

Obviously, last week’s Christmas phrase was “Five Golden Rings,” or, if you prefer, “Five Gulden Rings.” Not too difficult, but still pretty clever, don’t ya think? Plus, as a bonus, I have a whole bottle of Gulden’s in my fridge, ready for some bratwurst!

First, let’s congratulate our winners…

The 6:00am prize goes—again—to Christmas Queen Michelle Lagestee, who quelled an uprising (literally) by Jim Heethuis, who submitted his correct answer only 120 seconds after Michelle submitted hers. Michelle was very gracious about her win, and Jim was very poetic about his loss. More about that later.

The 12:00n prize goes to repeat winner Ann Schenkel. Ann apparently set her midday alarm and sat poised over her keyboard like a reindeer straining against the Christmas Eve sleigh. Her answer arrived promptly at 12:00 noon. Not 12:02. Not 12:01. 12:00. Nicely played, Ann!

The 6:00pm prize goes to repeat winner Judith Robl, who provided some nice bookend-ish symmetry to this year’s game—she was the very first winner and the very last winner. Masterfully planned, Judith!

So let’s look at some game stats…

Week 1— “Peace on Earth”

• 18 emailed guesses, 17 of which were correct
• 2 correct guesses posted in the comments, despite clear instructions not to do this (I deleted these comments and emailed the eager offenders to let them know they needed to email their answers)
• 14 Facebook comments on 2 separate posts
• Earliest guess: 7:19am, November 28
• Latest guess: 10:25am, December 3

Week 2— “Ho Ho Ho”

• 11 emailed guesses, 10 of which were correct
• 0 guesses posted in the comments
• 0 Facebook comments
• Earliest guess: 6:13am, December 5
• Latest guess: 5:51pm, December 6

Week 3— “In Excelsis Deo”

• 32 emailed guesses, 2 of which where correct
• 1 incorrect guess posted in the comments and removed
• 1 correct guess given verbally
• 51 Facebook comments
• Earliest guess: 6:41am, December 12
• Latest guess: 9:36pm, December 12

Week 4— “Five Golden Rings”

• 11 emailed guesses, 11 of which were correct
• 0 guesses posted in the comments
• 33 Facebook comments on 2 separate posts
• 1 poem response (yes, a poem!)
• Earliest [attempted] guess: 5:10am CST, December 19
• Latest guess: 8:48pm, December 20

And how ’bout some winner stats…

Because this is a business blog, the prize is related to my business—it’s a 1GB USB drive emblazoned with my the new LifeLines logo. In addition to looking cool, these drives are a useful tool for “helping you share your story,” which, as you know, is what LifeLines is all about.

• There were a total of 12 prizes to be awarded—3 for each of 4 episodes of the game.
• Seven different people won these 12 LifeLines USB drives.
• Michelle Lagestee won a total of 4 LifeLines USB drives. She is the only person in our long history of Christmas games (two years now) who has won 4 weeks in a row. So in addition to the 4 drives, I’m going to send Michelle a bonus prize of LifeLines tchotchkes that are still emblazoned with my old logo—a padfolio, a LifeLines pen (which may or may not write), an old LifeLines USB drive, and a paperback copy of Cancer Freedom. Congratulations, Michelle!
• Jim Heethuis played all four editions of the game—and lost every time. But, as mentioned above, Jim was the only player to mark his experience with a three-verse rhyming poem that cleverly captured the spirit of the game and Jim’s own good-natured frustration. So he wins a LifeLines USB drive for that.
• Two people were two-time winners, both of whom won Week 1 and Week 4: Judith Robl and Ann Schenkel will each receive 2 LifeLines USB drives.
• Our other winners—Jim Grutzius, Karin Vredeveld, Nancy Rejholec, and Karen Racek—will each receive 1 LifeLines USB drive.

Thanks again for playing! It’s been a fun way to celebrate Christmas and end a wonderful year. Next week, we’ll go back to our regularly scheduled programming, which is not as competitive as the past four weeks have been, but still highly enjoyable. What’s that you say? You haven’t subscribed yet? It’s not too late—start the new year right by subscribing to LifeLines today!