
For this edition of the Silver Bloggers Blog of the Week, the number of entries was double that of the previous edition. Not only did the topic seem to resonate for those of us who can look back over a generation...ahem...but it attracted some new entrants and subscribers, too. To them and to @ericvancewalton his direct donation to the Silver Bloggers' Community Wallet (@hive-106316):

Choices...decisions...
This time round there was a total of 15 contributions, three of which were ineligible (from the panel and the most recent winner) and four were disqualified because they didn't follow the rules... Remember what we said before:
As the community is approaching 550 subscriber mark, we do need to stick to our own rules!
Speaking of, we now have 💥625💥 subscribers, of whom 128 are active.
But first, the team -
The original team has dwindled some what and for the last few months consisted of Silver-Blonde Lizzie, Sir Stirling Silver and me (Silver Flower). This time round, we're delighted that @ericvancewalton has returned to his post and we welcome the most recent winner, Silver Fish, as both a guest panelist and moderator in the Silver Bloggers' Community Discord channel - please join us there?
Three of the panel contributed to this edition of the Blog of the Week. @ericvancewalton didn't just look back to look forward, he seriously threw forward, to a time twenty years, hence. Silver Fish's memories are legend, combining both parties, indulgence and solitude - the stuff of life. Last but not least, Silver-Blonde Lizzie takes us on a journey from the Macarena to a Masked ball.
Before getting to the official entries:
Two reminders:
Firstly -
You can still show your support for a post that's past its payout, by sending a tip. Like @steelthong did for this edition's announcement post. Thank you!
Secondly -
The criteria for entering the Silver Bloggers Blog of the Week initiative:
- Posts must be in English and obviously centre on the week’s topic.
- Prose must be a minimum of 350 words. If it’s a photo or graphic essay, the photos must be your original work and preferably with some sort of back-story to the images.
- The blog must be posted in/from our community
- The account must be a subscribed Silver Blogger
- Use #BoW - blog of the week - as your first tag. And follow the tag so we can all easily find, upvote and comment on other entries.
- Share the link to your entry in the comments of the announcement post and in our Discord channel which is open to subscribed members only.
We will continue to strictly apply these rules for the next and following editions.

This week's theme
For this edition, we asked you to looking back to look forward:
How will your New Year 2022 party plan shape up against your 1992 New Year's celebration?
We knew that three decades, a generation, is a l-o-o-ng way back, but we figured that our spirited silvers were more than up to the challenge.
We weren't disappointed!
Special mentions
The special mentions this time are special for two reasons: we're beset with the festive spirit and have, to some extent, excused those who didn't follow the rules. The #bow links not dropped in Discord were not considered for the b-e-e-e-g prizes, but we could not ignore these two.
Last week's winner, Silver C, who would not have been eligible, has vivid memories of 1992, and of the forthcoming New Year's Eve, well...
Yes, I used the plural: we have a second special mention to end the year -
@carolinacardoza has clear memories, as an eighteen year old, of New Year wardrobe failures and happy family fun. She reflects on how, thirty years later, a lot has changed, and how some things - like family traditions - just don't.
Runners up
The first runner up, Silver Dish got me with:
My first thought, when I saw the new #BoW topic, was "I have no plans for New Year's Eve this year. That would be quite a boring post."
It wasn't. Read it here.
Hard on her heels and a strong contender for the top spot, is one of our youngest newest Silver Bloggers, @steelthong. His thirty-two year love story, and how he'll be spending this new year with the person nearest and dearest to my heart, the love of my life spoke to the entire panel of sentimental softies.
The winner
This week's deserving winner's is Silver Mama Chef. Although we did not have to resort to the luck of the draw, it was a good thing that this time round, we had five panelists. When that fifth and final vote was in, @artywink pipped everyone to the post.
Hers is a true story to which both parents and now old teenagers can relate. In the best and worst possible ways.
🌟The prizes 🌟
This week's prize pot is a 🤑whopping 45 Hive, plus 10 HBD 🤑 thrown in for good measure and which will be distributed among four five winners:
As usual, the be-e-eg winner gets
- 50% of the liquid rewards from this post and @artywink's account has been set as a 50% beneficiary
- 10 Hive sponsored by @lizelle that she will send directly to the winner's wallet
and - 15 Hive sponsored by the Silver Bloggers Community and which will also be sent to the winner's wallet
The runners up win, too
Thanks to our founder and Silver-Blonde Lizzie, the runners-up will also receive 5 Hive each, and which she will send to @steelthong and @owasco's wallets.
And there's a little more...
Thanks to previous sponsors we still have Hive and HBD in the kitty, so we are allocating 10 Hive from the community account for the runners up, therefore a further 5 Hive each will be sent to both runners up.
And some more...
Because it is the season for giving and gratitude, the community management team, (Silver-Blonde Lizzie and Silver Flower), agreed to a once-off prize for the special mentions - 5 HBD each, and which will be sent to @carolynstahl and @carolinacardoza's wallets.
All prizes will be sent directly to the winners' wallets.
Finally
This is the last blog of the week for 2021. The team is taking a short break and we'll be back bright eyed and bushy tailed in the new year. We're aiming for mid-January. In South Africa, it's our summer holidays and, for the aforesaid management team Silver-Blonde Lizzie and Silver Flower, a really busy time in our real life jobs.
Last but not least
May 2022 bring us all health, happiness and prosperity

Join our Silver Bloggers community

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in the dedicated #silver-blogger channel in the OCD server
Congrats to everyone... and a big THANK YOU for all you two do Silverblonde Lizzie and Silver Flower. Have an excellent time and a busy business. 😊
Thank you so much for joining the team @mondoshawan, despite being busy with your project; business is very busy here especially now that the school holidays have started!
Thank you so much!!! I think, for once, I managed to read all the entries to this contest. They were so good!!! Congrats to all.
Congratulations on your win as well @owasco; looks like we're going to be spending new year just as quietly as well, but you never know what could happen;) I must agree, we had some really good entries, it was a great theme!
Congratulations to all the winners and gosh I did not expect a special mention. I did mentioned that it was a null entry. I just wanted to participate for fun. But thanks very much.
Your story was really too good to make it a null entry, and the winner is still eligible for runners-up or special mentions, just can't win twice in succession! Hope that this year you'll be sitting with your feet up and a glass of bubbly by the time the clock strikes midnight?
Thanks so much but I really don't want to enter anymore because of the discord thing. I really am fine if I can just participate under the bow topic if it's ok.
It's a given at midnight I will be doing just as you said haha. Thanks again.😊
I had so much fun writing this, it was a great subject! Thank you Silver Bloggers for all the kindness and support you have given me since my arrival. At the spry
oldyoung age of 57, I look forward to many years of quality engagement with this HIVE community!And so say all of us ;) Congratulations and thank you for your participation in our community, much appreciated and enjoyed by all, especially all the delicious but healthy foods for us
oldiesyoung at heart!Congratulations @hive-106316! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s):
Your next target is to reach 60 posts.
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To support your work, I also upvoted your post!
Check out the last post from @hivebuzz:
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Thank you @hivebuzz!
You're welcome @hive-106316
I am so grateful to you for such a beautiful recognition of my publication. Many congratulations to those who participated and won. Let's keep building a nice platform and doing a good job.
Loved your story @carolinacardoza, I'm sure your brother was not very popular with you that night;) Congratulations on your special mention!
Congratulations to all the happy winners, and I am also happy to have participated in several #Bow during the year and to belong to this beautiful community of which I feel part, with all your experiences I feel very close to you despite the miles of distance that separate us.
I wish you all a very happy and well-deserved vacation!
We will keep writing to each other.
Congrats to all the winners. Have a good time this season everyone :)
Congratulations to all of you, winners! Cheers to all of us on the holidays :)
Felicidades para los ganadores!!!
Thank you to all our awesome #bow contestants, you did us proud! It was a real pleasure reading all your stories, but it's not been an easy task choosing a winner, as each story had its own charm!
Congratulations to @artywink, @steelthong & @owasco and of course our special mentions @carolynstahl and @carolinacardoza 🥳🥳🥳
Your prize payouts below:
Sent by @hive-106316, our Silver Bloggers account:
Sent by @lizelle:
Please continue blogging even though #bow has been paused till 2022!
Wishing all our #silverbloggers a very Happy 2022!
Silver-Blond Lizzie
(@steelthong walks to the podium in his Tux and in his best Academy Awards voice accepts his HIVE award.)
"First I would like to thank my wife, without hmm none of this would have been possible. My kids for being my
guinea pigsUhm, helping with the subject matter. All of HIVE and especially the Silver Bloggers community who helped to make this dream (and post) possible! Thank you all very much, from the bottom of my heart. Good night!"(exits stage right waving award)
LOL @steelthong, I can just see you walking onto the stage but hope the stork is not right behind you ;) We really enjoyed your story, well done on your Silver Bloggers Academy Award!
Thank you so much, never expected this, and to all the winners, most of all thank you to @hive-106316 who made it possible. Thank you so much @.
Well deserved win @artywink, you had us in stitches with this story. I never had daughters but can just imagine how Dad was worrying, as he probably was a naughty young man once upon a time, not so ;)
Congratulations Silver-Mamma Chef
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Congratulations to all the winners and a big thank you to the organizers.
Hehehehe, when I saw this question, my head said, "dude, you weren't even born in 1992" lol.
Congratulations to all the winners. Cheers.