Hey Itchanon,
Thanks for all the input. I really appreciate it! I'm so glad to hear you liked the story and I hope that you like what I have in store for you in chapter 4.
As you already know, this is my first attempt at this type of project. I have come to see this as 2 separate stories. One being the obvious story called "Christmas Eve", and the other, more subtle story, is the one about myself progressing as a developer. I started this in August and already I am looking back at chapter 1 and thinking, "Man, I made some hits, but I definitely missed the mark a few times, too." I personally like that. It's like an accidental journal.
Anyway, I am still working hard, but I will not be able to meet my target release date of 2/14. I blame it on my characters. They keep hijacking the story and making me write/render/code more scenes! I'm getting to the last scene as of this morning. Hopefully I'm going to have it done by this coming weekend, but we'll see.
Thanks again for all the support. I hope to hear from you soon!
-Jonesy