On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas

I think I'm going to call the spec-fic holiday-themed contest, "On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas."

Whaddaya think? Love it? Hate it? Wonder what I'm talking about?

I Hate Naming Things. Pity My Children.

Ok, how about "Gifts of an Improbable Winter" or "An Improbable Winter's Gifts" as alternate titles for "On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas"? Too much of a mouthful?

For those just joining, I'm running a spec-fic holiday-themed contest.

Here's the preliminary description:

[On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas] is a contest for speculative winter holiday-themed fiction, artwork, and poetry. The holiday may be fictional or real; it may be Christmas as we know and love it, or it may be something much stranger.

What do I mean by speculative? I mean science fiction, fantasy, or even horror, of traditional and modern varieties. Mixed genres and slipstream is okay. Horror must be of the supernatural, dark science fiction, or dark fantasy variety. However, although I am including horror, I am not accepting relentlessly downbeat stories. This is a celebration of the holiday season, so I have a couple of caveats. There must be at least one sympathetic character (for fiction and poetry), and there must be at least a glimmer of hope at the end.

These are the name requirements:

It would be good if it reflects the spec-fic theme, but it cannot reflect *only* fantasy or horror or science fiction.
It must be unique enough to be the first or only hit in a Google search.
It must reflect the season (doesn't have to be Christmas--could just be very wintery or holiday-y or Yule-y).
It has to be reasonably short.
Bonus points if it reflects the "sharing" aspect in some way, as that's going to be a key component of the contest.

Tentative Guidelines for Speculative Winter Holiday-Themed Contest

Here's the tentative guidelines. Please read through and tell me whether or not I've forgotten anything! Thanks.

[On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas]
Guidelines

On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas is a contest for speculative winter holiday-themed fiction, artwork, and poetry. The holiday may be fictional or real; it may be Christmas as we know and love it, or it may be something much stranger.

What do I mean by speculative? I mean science fiction, fantasy, or even horror, of traditional and modern varieties. Mixed genres or slipstream is okay. Horror must be of the supernatural, dark science fiction, or dark fantasy variety. However, although I am including horror, I am not accepting relentlessly downbeat submissions. This is a celebration of the holiday season, so I have a couple of caveats. There must be at least one sympathetic character (for fiction and poetry), and there must be at least a glimmer of hope at the end.

( The rest of the guidelines )

Spec the Halls

Upon consideration, and the Mad Scientist's confirming my fears that "On the Thirteenth Day of Christmas" was too hokey and "Gifts from an Improbable Winter" was too cumbersome and awkward (he was wearing his muse hat), the current favorite for contest title is:

Spec the Halls
A Winter Celebration of the Weird and the Fantastic

Thanks, nemoren! The Mad Scientist had to reassure me that it wasn't too pun-ny.*

Um. I know I've asked you this question a lot lately, but--what do you think?


* He also told me I was being way too indecisive, as usual...just so y'all know that I'm not actually getting away with it.