Thanks for brightening up our newsroom, Danielle.

How often do you take for granted some of the hospitality chores around your office?

For instance, do you know who is responsible for decorating for the holidays?

In our newsroom, Danielle Dunaway (@danielledunaway) took it upon herself to not only put up a Christmas tree and Hanukkah menorah in our reception area, but she crafted garland and snowflakes out of newspapers, too. It makes me smile every time I step out of the elevators.

These are the small touches that brighten our routine work days — and it’s only one part of Danielle’s job as newsroom editorial assistant.

If you’ve ever called our newsroom’s main phone line with a tip or complaint, you’ve probably spoken with Danielle.  She also writes various stories; takes photos, updates the Ticker, Botetourt View, So Salem and SWoCo blogs; tweets; and compiles lists of events and announcements, including Your Community Calendar, Names and Changes, the Next 21 Days, and almost all planners and calendars found in the community publications.

Danielle Dunaway: Editorial assistant for the newsroom and community publications

Hometown: Covington

College: Virginia Tech, B.A. Mass Communication; Dabney S. Lancaster Community College, associate degree in General Studies; Virginia Western Community College, where I took one photography class with our lovely Stephanie Klein-Davis.

Why journalism: Back when I was in high school, I had a Live Journal (livejournal.com), where I would blog my “exciting” teenage life, opinions and post pictures. After describing in great detail about an ordeal where I was with a friend who got her car stuck in the mud while trying to covertly drive by a boy’s house, someone commented on the post, saying that I should go into journalism. It stuck with me when it came time to pick a major. It was a brilliant (and probably obvious) observation. I could combine my love of writing with my love of photography to make a living.

Years in journalism: Almost seven years, counting time put in with internships and producing photos for the newspaper and yearbook in college.

Years at The Roanoke Times | roanoke.com: Almost five years. Four years in the editorial department, one year in the newsroom and several years with the community publications.

Other newsrooms where you have worked: Virginian Review in Covington, where I worked as a staff reporter.

Proudest journalism accomplishments: Recently, I went to a Misfits concert in Roanoke. I went out purely to have fun. From my fun spawned an opportunity to have a guest post on the cut’n’scratch blog. I got to write about music and have my photos displayed, both of which are pretty huge to me. I also had a tweet about my blog post retweeted by Misfits Records and the Misfits themselves.

Journalists you admire and why: Jon Stewart. I enjoy his snark and how he presents the news. I also find him trustworthy.

Websites you visit regularly: Aside from Roanoke.com, facebook.com, twitter.com, weather.com, npr.org, huffingtonpost.com, pinterest.com, rollingstone.com, postsecret.com, dearphotograph.com, amazon.com, lifehacker.com, tumblr.com, grumpycats.com and digital-photography-school.com.

Favorite books: “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky. “Five Against One: The Pearl Jam Story” by Kim Neely. “Virgin Suicides” by  Jeffrey Eugenides. “Bossypants” by Tina Fey.  All of the Post Secret books by Frank Warren. “I’m a Lebowski, You’re a Lebowski” by Ben Peskoe, Bill Green, Scott Shuffitt  and Will Russell.

Favorite movies: “Angus,” “Interview with the Vampire”, “Clerks,” “The Big Lebowski.”

Interests outside of work: Photography, photo editing, collecting vintage cameras, vintage … anything, music, arts and crafts, food, cars, all things Kevin Smith, fashion and cleaning.

Interesting fact about you that few know: I worked for Advance Auto Parts for almost eight years. I’m proud of the fact that I can change batteries, test alternators and starters, and know various facts about diagnosing car troubles.

(Danielle also makes a killer bacon mac’n'cheese, which won top honors in our newsroom’s annual holiday potluck. Find the recipe here.)

Throughout the week, we publish various top 5 or top 3 lists of roanoke.com content on Page 2 of the newspaper. For the first time, I’ve rounded up all of our weekly stats for this one blog post (and thanks to some new metrics, I’ve added the top 5 stories on roanoke.com).

Is this something you’d like to see weekly? Your input would be helpful.

Top 5 STORIES on roanoke.com
(Dec. 12-19)
1. Breaking news: I-581 South reopens after apparent suicide
2. Breaking news: Five teens arrested in Forest nativity scene heist
3. Sports columnist Aaron McFarling: Time for a change at Tech
4. 202 Market owner accused of sexual battery, abduction
5. Breaking news: Pedestrian dies in Monday night crash in Roanoke County

BLOGS
This week’s Top 5 blogs (Dec. 12-19)
1. Andy Bitter’s VT football
2. Columnist Dan Casey
3. Kevin Myatt’s Weather Journal
4. Mark Taylor’s Wild Life
5. Rebecca Holland’s Shoptimist

Find all of our blogs here.

COMMUNITY BLOGS
This week’s (Dec. 15-21) top community blog stories.
1. TheBurgs.com: Opinion: Leave politics out of the holiday parade
2. SWoCo.com: Pedestrian dies in accident on Brambleton Avenue
3. BotetourtView.com: Botetourt deputies arrest two in weekend robbery
4. SoSalem.com: Where are the best Christmas lights in Salem and western Roanoke County?

FACEBOOK
This week’s (Dec. 16-21) most talked-about posts on the Roanoke Times Facebook wall.
1. Gov. Bob McDonnell: Time to discuss arming school officials
2. Sen. Mark Warner changes supportive stand on assault weapons
3. Surf and Turf restaurant to close Christmas Eve

PHOTO GALLERIES
(Dec. 12-19)
1. Week in Photos, Dec. 5-11
2. Week in Photos, Dec. 12-18
3. All-Timesland 2012

PODCASTS
(Dec. 11-18)
1. Hokies Press Pass
2. Folk Soul Revival drummer Dan Witt
3. Guitarist extraordinaire Jim Campilongo

When a water authority crew working in Elmwood Park hit the cap of a water line Thursday, starting a miniature geyser, reader Meghan Johnson was quick to tweet us this photo from her office building. She simply tweeted:

Whoops. @roanoketimes twitter.com/sparklymegz/st…

— Meg J (@sparklymegz) December 20, 2012

While social media editor Stephanie Ogilvie asked Johnson to send a few more details, reporter Chase Purdy quickly contacted the Western Virginia Water Authority for confirmation, and we were able to post an update on roanoke.com within minutes

In this age of smartphone cameras and instant communication, we rely on you to help us do our jobs better.

If you see news happening, tweet us by including @roanoketimes in your message, share on our Facebook wall or email news@roanoke.com.

Today’s update is from editorial assistant Danielle Dunaway:

Magic City Ford Lincoln again donated to the Good Neighbors Fund, Roanoke Times’ fundraiser benefiting the RAM House.

“The donation is made every year in honor of our employees and customers,” said Bill Johnson, Magic City chairman of the board.

Cameron Johnson, president of Magic City, said that he likes how donated funds stay in the Roanoke Valley.

“This is a way for us to give back to the community,” Bill Johnson said.

If your group or business makes a donation to The Good Neighbors Fund, please email us a photo to news@roanoke.com.

Pictured: Magic City Ford Lincoln representatives from the sales, service, office and body shop departments with a new Ford Focus ST. Photo by Danielle Dunaway | The Roanoke Times

Nona Nelson

Roanoke Times newsroom manager/Books page editor/Happy Wag blogger Nona Nelson shares today’s post:

Every work day during the month of December, I get to experience grace and goodwill first hand.

Monday through Friday, I open the daily envelope stuffed with donor forms to The Roanoke Times’ Good Neighbors Fund drive, and as I prepare the list of donors that will appear in the next day’s newspaper, I see firsthand how generous and loving the people of this area can be.

So many groups, families and individuals set aside part of their holiday budget to help people in need. Many of the donations are given in tribute and memory of loved ones. Many are in honor of friends, family and neighbors, often in lieu of small gifts or cards.

Many are just given out of the desire to help people in our own community. All are appreciated.

We are reaching out to the community to meet some of these generous folks.

The merry ladies pictured below are part of the Thursday Lunch Club, a group of close friends that have been meeting for more than 45 years and have been making a group donation to the Good Neighbors Fund every year since the drive’s beginning. The ladies believe that they are among the first group donors in the campaign’s history.

If your group or business makes a donation to The Good Neighbors Fund, please email us a photo to news@roanoke.com.

You can make an online donation here.

And if you have any suggestions on how we could better promote Good Neighbors in our community, on the website or through social media, please leave them below. We’d love to hear your ideas!

Members of the Thursday Lunch Club: First row (from left): Barbara Garner, Ruby Shepherd, Martha Whitesell and Claudyne Judy. Back row (from left): Kay Lanter, Pat Kuehn, Betty Phelps and Helen Hall. Photo by Danielle Dunaway / The Roanoke Times

Low water is evident along the Blackwater River section of Smith Mountain Lake in October. Photo by Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

The daily news can get a little intense … or dry (no pun intended).

So I was tickled to see our colleagues at the Laker Weekly try to find some humor in the low lake levels at SML.

This week they asked their Facebook fans to finish this sentence:

“The lake is so low …”

These zingers have received the highest number of *Likes* so far:

Bruce Helms: “I’m considering converting my Jet Ski into a 4-wheeler.”

Kevin Lankford: “The fish have ticks”

Phil Woods: “Realtors are updating property descriptions to include beach access.”

And my personal favorite (as a “Gold Rush” TV show fan):

Mike Baker: “…even Todd Hoffman could find gold!!”

Read the entire list of jokes (and please share your own) on the Laker Weekly Facebook page.

We are almost ready to roll out the new roanoke.com, but before we do, we’d like some help in testing the new site and getting feedback from our users.

If you are interested, please email beta@roanoke.com with your email address.

The testing will be done the second week of January, and we expect it will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. You can take the test from any computer or tablet.

If you sign up, keep an eye on your inbox around Jan. 14 for a link to the survey and testing instructions.

Thanks for your interest. In the meantime, follow our new Times Square blog for updates about the redesign and what’s happening in the newsroom.

Columnist / blogger Dan Casey

Columnist Dan Casey’s Friday blog post about moderating comments for civility already has 100+ comments.

But the call for civility didn’t seem to stop the name-calling.

One question that Dan addresses: Is calling Obama “the Fuhrer” acceptable? Yes, he says, but you’ll have to read his explanation in comment No. 51.

Our favorite comment so far is from Steve C. (No. 89), who writes:

“To everyone complaining about the new civility protocols, I urge you to consider a couple of points;

1-Dan does not have to provide or support this blog. It’s a service he’s providing us free of charge and he’s not making any ducats off this puppy.

2-Dan’s the strongest advocate of free speech I know. He’s put up with a whole ration of horse hockey from some ungrateful ingrates and malcontents that got kicked off lesser blogs. If I was the king a whole bunch of posters would have gotten the boot years ago.

3-The civility initiative is not his idea but he’s required to enforce it, meaning the blog just got about 8 million times more time intensive for our host.

The question we should be asking Dan should be thus;

“Dan, thanks so much for providing us this highly entertaining outlet for our creative talent free of charge; what make of fine single malt scotch can I buy you for Christmas to show my appreciation for sharing your blog with us?”

Dan responds: “Everything that Steve C wrote above is true, except I hate Scotch and like bourbon but it doesn’t matter much right now because I’ve pretty much given up whiskey and other alcohol for the holiday season.”

See the full comment thread on Dan Casey’s blog.

In case you missed Sunday’s invitation by the Roanoke Times Editorial Board:

A bitterly fought election season is over, and the holiday season is upon us. Sounds like a perfect time to share a little warmth and remember what each of us holds most dear.

We invite you, dear readers, to send us your favorite memory of holiday seasons past in a letter to the editor (of 200 words or less, of course). Please get yours to us — by email, postal service, sleigh or hand-delivered — by Dec. 17. We plan to share as many as possible in our letters column on Dec. 25.

We have no illusions that political differences have been settled and the conversation ended in the country, the commonwealth or, least of all, among our letter writers. We look forward in the coming year to what undoubtedly will be a robust exchange of views.

But whatever our differences, we human beings are more alike than not. Be of good will, and have a wondrous holiday season.

Email: letters@roanoke.com

Fax: (540) 981-3458

Mail to: Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, VA 24010

We have a few fresh Roanoke Times / roanoke.com job openings to report from jobs.roanoke.com. Please share these links with your friends!

1. Reporter to cover Roanoke County, one of the largest localities in our region. Deadline to apply is Dec. 31.  Details

2. Freelance restaurant reviewer for the Roanoke Valley. Deadline to apply is Jan. 14. How to apply

3. Sales and service representative in our Circulation department. No deadline listed. Details

What’s it like working at The Roanoke Times? Watch our video below.

See our full list of available career opportunities at jobs.roanoke.com.