The OC Christmas is coming upon us once again, but I am facing a conflict for my December schedule. Between bringing back this yearly tradition and keeping the door open for the monthly YCHs and standard commissions, I am certain that I'll be stretched too thin to achieve all 3 without some notable sacrifices.

For those who don't know what the OC Christmas event is: it's a daily-art period where I draw people's OCs everyday for December --saving Christmas day for myself to draw Sampson & Jewel (I've attached some examples of OC Christmas art through the years down below). Historically, there was no way for people to request their OC to be drawn, as the art was originally done in the spirit of surprising my Twitter mutuals with gifts. But last year, I allowed 30 slots for everyone to sign-up with their OCs as a special commission opportunity, and it was a major success. This is all brought into question now because another success of my business is rivaling the of the OC Christmas: the monthly YCHs I've been doing since July.

The reason I can't just shelve December YCHs to make room for the OC Christmas is because they offer a much more approachable set of business terms. The OC XMas is limited to 30 entrants; YCHs are unlimited for the month. OC Xmas art may consider unique posing, costumes, props, and colors in accordance to my artistic discretion; YCHs show you exactly what you'll get. OC XMas publishes your piece sometime within December; YCHs might get published as early as later that same day. If people prefer that kind of transparency, turnaround, and ease-of-access for business (especially during the hectic holiday season), I don't have full confidence in dropping the opportunity.

Now there is the option for if I were to close enrollment in the OC XMas. Keeping it closed would definitely make it easier for me to handle (and to get started on it early), but people would no doubt feel left out like they had been every year prior. Especially since there'll be a sentiment of better looking Christmas art that they can't have while they're stuck with much more simplistic YCHs.

And of course, there's also the matter of people waiting to just commission something normal this month, regardless of whatever's going on with all these event periods. If I'm going to entertain these at all, something's gotta give in return. It's all so much to consider!

So I've decided to leave it up to a poll. There's no real guarantee that this is how things will go for all years going forward, but I just need to gauge the interests of my following first and foremost.

The poll will be open until midday this Saturday. If the people vote for open sign-ups to the OC Christmas, the enrollment period will begin next week (Nov 24th-30). 

Normally, today would've been the last day before I close up slots for 2023's 31 Days of OC Christmas, but we still have some left open. If for whatever reason you haven't been aware of this and want to join in, please follow this link for instructions. Throughout the application period, it has been brought to my attention that most people who would've liked to join in haven't been able to thanks to tight holiday budgets and short notice. In response to this, I'm considering extending the submissions window into December. Now, I have no idea for how long I'll be able to feasibly do so --probably for only the first week, maybe 10 days-- but this still is an option for me to accommodate.

Otherwise, I'll figure something else out for the remaining slots. If all else fails, I'll just handle it like previous years and just from a list of OCs I have in my back pocket.

What do you guys think? Feel free to fire off any other solutions in the comments.