Well, the results of my brief (and rather sudden) poll are in. I counted each and every e-mail that hit my inbox from the time I posted the announcement until now (considering that I only have a couple of hours left before I leave work), and the results are:
Before Christmas (Shorter): 8
After New Year's (Longer): 9
It was a really close call, and no, the ballots weren't tampered with. :) To those of you who wanted a shorter chapter, all I can say is sorry, and I'll try to make the wait worthwhile.
Happy holidays, everyone! Diana