CONTEST OVER (TODAY, you have a chance to win a copy of Lonely Planet’s Great Journeys, a beautiful book. See more at end of this post.)
Bring on the cake! Okay, I could settle for macarons in the shadow of the Eiffel tower.

A Traveler’s Library is now three years old. Should you feel inclined to give presents, I will just mention that the 2012 Bloggies nominations are now open, but only until January 15.

So what happened in year three?

1. Kerry Dexter and I finished our Great American Road Trip–words here at A Traveler’s Library, and travelin’ music at Music Road.  I posted a roundup of 54 Books and Movies for the road, and Kerry posted the most popular suggested music for the road.

2. Middle East/Muslim countries were in the news, and during the unrest in that area of the world ATL focused on that region. I thought perhaps you felt as “at sea” as I did in trying to understand those countries.  Although there are still conflicts (particularly in Syria) I feel much better informed having read books and watched movies about Egypt, Libya, Syria, Iran, Jordan, and Afghanistan.

3. Despite good intentions to do the same for Africa,  I did not get as far into Africa as I had hoped. On the positive side, we did discuss more books and movies  about Africa and set in Africa than we have in previous years.

4. A new series debuted (and will continue) reviewing past posts on a particular place (alliteration allowed). It is called “What I Learned.” So far I have done What I Learned about France and What I Learned about Italy.  There will be more, but honestly, the flow of new wonderful books tends to take first priority.

5. Thanks to Budget Travelers Sandbox, photos from deep in my files are being exposed on Thursdays as part of Travel Photo Thursday. Although most days, like today, I depend on Flickr to keep me supplied with the perfect picture to fit the content of the post. The next picture is a good example: New contributors writing from the rooftops, as it were.

6. We welcomed SIX regular contributors to A Traveler’s Library, to talk about travel from new angles–music, culture, movies, pets, family travel and food. If you somehow missed the 18 posts the contributors have done so far, they will be here next week, and the following Tuesday, and you can meet them here, on the contributors’ page.  They will bring you fresh approaches to travel at least once a month. HURRAY!

7. I reported on my personal trips to Nova Scotia , New Mexico and  Mansfield, Ohio, but no European or Asian trips this year.

8. Finally–my attention has definitely been divided this year, since in April the book I co-authored with Charnell Havens, Quincy Tahoma: The Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist was published after a decade of research and writing.  I’ve been traveling in Arizona and New Mexico for book talks and signings. And in October we learned that judges chose our book as a Top Pick among the Southwest Books of the Year. You can get your own copy by clicking on that “buy now” button in the right hand column at A Traveler’s Library. Or learn more about the inspiring  life of Quincy Tahoma at the Tahoma blog.

AN IMPORTANT P.S.  I forgot to mention A Traveler’s Library participation in Passports With Purpose. This year we sponsored THREE prizes, and PwP raised $89,000 to build libraries in Zambia. The winners have been chosen and you can read all about it at Winners and winners.

The stats:

• ATL topped 725 posts in December.
• Other folks did a lot of the work, but I read and wrote about 71 books and watched and discussed 13 movies. AND I wrote 18 guest posts related to travel and a dozen or more related to Quincy Tahoma.
• We love guest posts, and 10 terrific writers honored us with their work this year, Jessie Voigts doing several and Kerry Dexter and Jane Boursaw each contributing one even before they joined the contributors’ team.
• In addition, we were given permission to reprint a post on Lisbon from the great travel book site, Packabook.com

Did you know that the patron saint of writers, journalists and editors is St. Francis de Sales?  (Okay no lame  jokes about Sales of your writing!)

Here are all the scribes with links to their own sites, so you can thank them by visiting their “home ground,” and ask St. Francis de Sales to bless them.

Alisa Bowman, relationship writer, told us  about her personal Un-Travel Book Reading Tour

Jessie Voigts, cultural travel, (5 interviews with authors)

Traveler’s Bro, film lecturer, (who does not have a website, blog, nor, apparently, a name) wrote about old movies set in Egypt

Kerry Dexter, music, wrote about Northern Ireland

Kris Bordessa, sustainability,wrote our last road trip stop about her home state of Hawaii

Mara Gorman, family travel, shared the Horrible Books in London.

Jane Boursaw, movies, told us about the Jordanian movie, Captain Abu Raed

Casey Barber,food,  salivated over the cookbook of the year, Blood, Bones and Butter

Melanie McMinn, crafts and sustainability, shared her love of the Swedish detective Wallander on the BBC TV series.

Thank you so much for sharing your talents. Come back any time!

And thank you, readers.  Come back every day. The library is always open. Better yet, subscribe by e-mail or RSS feed so you never miss a thing in A Traveler’s Library‘s fourth year, AND so that you can win a prize during this month’s Giveaway.

As usual, to celebrate a birthday, there are presents. YOU get the present if your name is drawn from the comments, tweets, Google + or subscribers.  See all the contest rules  about four ways to enter here. Today’s prize to one person who comments, subscribes, tweets or mentions us on Google+ is a copy of  Lonely Planet’s fantastic book, Great Journeys, which was one of my recommended 10 Perfect Gifts for Travelers Who Read. (You can comment on this post or on an earlier post. Just do it before Thursday 1:00 a.m. MST. If you already subscribe by e-mail and want an extra entry as a subscriber, be sure to tell me that in the comments.) Disclaimer: The book Great Journeys was provided by Lonely Planet for review, without any expectations on their part. Photos here are linked to the Flickr page they came from so that you can learn more about the photographers who graciously allow their work to be used via Creative Commons license.