Another Post-Christmas Post

Remember that nice snowy pic we started our post-Thanksgiving post with? 

I wish we could say it looked like that on Christmas morning, but this is what we got instead:

Oh well, at least it hadn't all melted away! 

We saw quite a bit of snow here in December, but you wouldn't know it now. It's supposed to be above freezing through the end of the month!

Before we get to our Christmas Day recap, here are a few noteworthy pics from earlier in the month. 

Darby, the dog on the right, has been in the family for 24 years now. Mom's been thinking about getting his female counterpart, Darla, on eBay for years, and this December, she finally did. =) It was one of the most fun packages to arrive ever: it jingled! 

Grandma surprised Mom out of the blue with Sonic! Mom used to have a similar Sonic when she was little (she enjoyed the cartoon) and very much regretted donating him when pressured into downsizing her stuffed animal collection years ago. This one will not be going anywhere anytime soon.

Santa and Mrs. Claus took a carriage ride through the neighborhood again this year!

One of the benefits of Mom primarily working from home: she can decorate her office for Christmas however she wants. The little tree and cardinals are new this year - Mom bought them on clearance from a rustic home goods type store that was sadly closing.

Okay, now on to Christmas Day. Here was the view out Mom's bedroom window... once the sun came up. (It was still dark out when she got up around 7:00 am.)

And here's the tree, surrounded by a sea of presents ready to be opened.

The winner of this year's prettiest present award:

And the most interestingly packaged:

The bag may not be a toy, but what's inside is.

He was supposed to look like this...

So... not quite what Mom was expecting, but still cute in a lumpy, asymmetric, bulldog-ish kind of way. Mom had asked for him because he has a microwaveable heat pack that you can add to his tummy. (She's never dared heat either of her supposedly microwaveable stuffies - what if something goes wrong? But she probably will dare heat a removable heat pack...)

Mom's entire assortment of gifts this year - wow!

Those four bundles above the dog are actually for us! We'll show you what they are in our next post.

Clara has a pretty great Christmas and lead up to Christmas on Star Stable too.

Some fun in-the-snow screenshots:

the Zony for sale by Ydris's tent temporarily lost its mane! 

(Tigertin's mane was unaffected...)

This is Snowy's favorite time of year!

Panda is loving it too.

Willow seems to have an affinity for reindeer.

Clara's been taking full advantage of the Final Flurry Discount Shop. 

So many holiday sweaters, so little time.

a Christmas ride on the giant yule goat

Two fun non-snowy competition screenshots:

Willow sandwiched between another Tennessee Walker and a Shire

Carrotcake communing with two other Haflingers

On Christmas Day itself, Clara teamed up with Scott Buttergood again to track yetis and rescue arctic foxes. 

We thought the reward might be the same as last year as well: another snowy white arctic fox pet. We were so pleased to get a different fox pet instead: one that is white with darker points. Thanks so much, Star Stable! We love it! <3

Yikes, Clara. Of all the times to roll your shoulders. XD

Finally, here's the big gift we received under the tree on Christmas!

Basil?

Basil turned out to be a chocolate brown penguin chick. =D 

Again, we were thrilled! Not one, but two adorable pets from Star Stable this year!

Have a wonderful holiday season, everybody! Talk to you in 2025!

Feeling Festive

Winter has returned to Star Stable! The snow, the Northern Lights, the Winter Village, the yule goats, the holiday sweaters... we welcomed it all back with open arms. 

One of my favorite touches is that animals (and people) leave trails in deep snow. 

This random gnome in Artie's stall is also a great touch.

There have been a few oops moments too.

That's a new one!

Not a new one, but levitating poo is always amusing.

How do you do that, yule goat? 

Uhh, that's a new look for Des...

There have been a few other weird things, like being able to carve the same ice block twice in a row and some random crippling "silver outs" in specific locations (first saw those during the Halloween event: the screen goes solid gray and black in weird flashing angles), but for the most part, things are going smoothly. At least we're not abruptly carrying chainsaws when we shouldn't be this year!

Garnetgazer taking in the spectacular Northern Lights. 

He seems right at home in the Winter Village. 

Articair roamed the area before he came to live with Clara - it truly is home for many magical wild horses.

Here's Clara cuddling one of his Brinicle brethren. <3

We've been enjoying the various activities in the Winter Village, including redecorating Snowy the Snowman:

and taking out kit-napping elves while riding various winter-themed animals on sheer ice:

Like last year, Star Stable is generously giving us a present every day under the big tree. 

The Trailblazer Track is back again already with additional goodies. Among them is a rather impractical skirt and top that reminds me of the dresses the Plastics wear for their Christmas performance in Mean Girls. Big nope from us, ha ha. A lot of the other gifts are great, though, especially the "shiny gemstones" and free stable care tickets.

Garnetgazer galloped through his 15 experience levels quickly. 

That's partly due to all the competitions Clara entered him in, since - you guessed it - the championship challenge is back with new winter-themed participation ribbons.

This has made the various championships much more well-attended than they would have been otherwise. There are sometimes so many players entered that we get auto-split into two groups. 



The wonderful thing about Jorvegian snow is that it can be toggled off whenever it's not convenient. We always do so before the race starts - no way are we making things harder than they need to be.

A few fun screenshots pre- and post- various races:

*Snickers* If there's any way to combine names inappropriately, players will find it. XD

That awkward period after you've completed a championship where you sit frozen in a cluster while waiting for everybody to finish...

Often it seems like a few lucky players are not frozen, but we always are.

Tigertin's stall is closer to the stable entrance than Carrotcake's, so she's more likely to get last-minute recruited for the Pony Championship. This sometimes results in her wearing tack that clashes spectacularly with her magenta glow. XD

The ribbons we've earned so far:

snowflake

gift

penguin

Christmas tree

Three more still to go, but we will let ourselves take our time - we're really looking forward to more free time to play over the holidays! =)

Until then, we'll happily keep up with the various daily tasks and call that good enough!