More Awesome Than You!

40 new holiday objects

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1280&Itemid=2

EA is hoping to attract gift-givers this year, by creating a new Sims 2 SKU with added Holiday content.
Due to be announced later today, the Sims 2 Holiday Edition will be priced identically to the existing Sims 2 SKU. 40 new holiday items will give players the ability to decorate their houses, serve dinner and sort out a Santa visit.

The package is a nifty marketing angle for the holidays that will provide a nice incentive for retail to promote and for consumers to pick up as a gift.

For existing Sims 2 players, a stocking stuffer in the form of a Holiday Party pack will provide the same new content without paying for the main standalone game. EA will be making this content available via direct sale from its website.

so this means no holliday content for people from other countries?

Hmm, I wonder how much they will charge for the Holiday Pack. 40 items isn't very many and these items are very seasonal, you'll probably only want to use them about one month out of the year. :p

I imagine they will be available from their UK website, although I never actually go there.  But I never play Christmas or Halloween anyway (Bah! Humbug!)

What's the "existing" Sims 2 SKU?

Was just about to ask the same question!  I don't even know what an SKU is.  Something Kinda Useless probably, if it's made by Maxis.

And I would rather that if they were going to announce something today, it would be a patch.

Is there a simmer anywhere within a million miles of Maxis who doesn't agree with you, O wise ancient one!

Stock Keeping Unit.

Sku is generally referred to the barcode on the product you purchase. So a Sims SKU is simply another "unit" or component of the Sims.

That article is worded weirdly. First it says that content will be free for people who own TS2, then it says "direct sale" from the website. I wonder if they just mean "downloadable?"

I think they mean that the base game will be relabeled as "Sims 2 Holiday Edition" and will be packaged with the new objects, and people who already own the base game can simply order the upgrade directly from EA.

New link: http://thesims2.ea.com/about/holidaypp_index.php
EDIT (links): http://thesims2.ea.com/about/holiday_index.php

The new content had better be free for existing Sims2 players.  Otherwise there are going to be some very angry mobsters on the official BBS.

 MK made a post about it  (http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/messages.php?&openItemID=item.2,item.43,item.61,item.41,item.23&threadID=7bc7b5eb6d277ac24dd29e14327a13df&directoryID=2&startRow=1#b1954ee9e75e1fa20dd74dae9a497c06)- 12 objects will be available for download free, if you want everything else (new year's eve parties, visits from Santa, and who knows what else) you're going to have to fork over the cash.  ::)  No price set yet, so they must be still trying to decide how much they'll be able to squeeze out of us.

LOL, I just wrote all that and saw that you posted it before I could, katenigma. Oh well. Maxis is trying to bleed us dry, but then again what more can we expect from them. Just wondering how many bugs the new content will have.  ::)

Marketing, stupid marketing.  They know they have a large enough base of rabid fans who'll just bend over backward to buy everything that's put out they pay no attention to those of us who only buy what we feel is both a good offer AND enhance our gameplay.  I don't know how many posts on the BBS I read before Uni came out by people saying, 'Of course I'll buy it!  I buy EVERY expansion pack, whether I really want it or not!'

Trouble is, of course, if you don't buy an EP, or in this case the add-ons, you have to be so careful what you download, as so much custom material uses these bases.

Unless the new pack is around $10 US, I think my little Simmys are going to keep living in godless communist land. No holidays for them!

Well, anything more than that would be a rip-off!

While I could go for $10, I suspect the price will be $19.95.

Anyhow, 10 to 1 someone either on purpose or unwittingly uploads a lot with all that junk to the exchange. That's how I got the hotrod. ;)

When you consider that when we were all playing sims 1, we could get a whole lot of great extras from the official site, and all free!  Obviously it's due to EA policy!

And that's just one of the mentalities they count on.  When I had TS1 I bought all expansions with the exception of SuperStar.  Mainly I bought them because I came into the game late (Vacation was the last expansion that had been released when I started playing) and they had come down quite a bit in price.  When it came to the last 3 expansions I was very choosey.  I bought Unleashed and Makin' Magic because they were things I really, really wanted.  I'm not that big into magic but I still had a blast with that x-pack.

Because I didn't have SS I learned to be careful when looking at downloads.  Most people will note when they need x-packs.  Once you get used to watching, it's not a real problem.

When I started out with TS2 I decided then and there I wasn't going to bog down my computer needlessly with expansions that offered nothing more than a couple of new concepts and a couple of new objects I wouldn't mind having.  I remember in the TS1 days I would go through what was new in the expansions and basically the only time a lot of that stuff was used was when I downloaded objects cloned from them.  I wished then as I do now that I could just disable about 75% of the in-game walls and floors because I much prefer using custom-made.  (I'll admit, TS2 thankfully has what I consider many more usable objects than the original game did.)  I was hugely disappointed when the first EP was University but it didn't break my heart.  Although the funny thing is now I'm actually considering buying Uni because of how NL enhances it. LOL

Well I'm one of the "buy everything" people - I bought Uni, even tho I wasn't big on the idea as I knew I'd be sorry if I didn't (and I'm glad I have it) but danged if I'm paying $20 *more* to get something that people who are just now buying the original game get for free (it doesn't add anything to the cost of the game and ships with it) - so either it's VERY inexpensive or they can forget it, I'll look for people to upload the stuff and I'm going to be very unhappy. Asking for more money from me because I bought the game earlier really t's me off actually - loyal fans are bread and butter to the company, not someone that should be cheated. bah.

I am very disappointed with this announcement.  With all the crap we put up with from EA, we should get this add on content free.  And just who is working on the patch(s)?  It seems everyone is busy making add ons and expansions and no one is really working on what matters - correcting the bugs that they sent out in the previous packs!!   >:(

I'm a "buy everything" person as well.  I've just always been too excited about new EPs.  The only EP I didn't buy for TS1 was Makin' Magic and that was mostly because the allure of TS1 wore off by then.

I can't see myself spending more than US$10 total (including s/h if applicable) for this or ANY pack containing only 40 items.  I downloaded five times that many items this afternoon during my lunch break!

I don't have any problem with them charging, but I have a sinking feeling this wimpy excuse of a booster pack is going to cost $20 and the sheeple will buy it like candy, setting a precedent for larger booster packs to cost as much as an EP.

It doesnt sound like it will be just new items, but will also have new behaviors and interactions.

I'm thinking that they haven't announced a price yet to see what people are saying about it, and they will base the price on what they figure will get the most sheeple to buy it.

I came to the TS1 right before Unleashed, and I bought all the EP's except for House Party, and even that, I eventually got used, right before MM came out. And as stated above, I am a complete nut about Christmas. But even I am not going to spend $20+shipping for only 17 objects they aren't offering for free.  :-\ At least I hope I'm not.  ;)

If more news comes out, and there's more to it than that- and there really are new parties and interactions, I'll still be stupid, but they'll get $20 out of me.  ;D

I'm just *not* paying $60 for a game other people can buy for $40. Heck, maybe I'll start waiting 2 years to buy the games until they finish putting all the stuff in it :p by then it might work right too :p

(sorry, I'm still being annoyed by the whole concept - I shouldn't be penalized for spending my money sooner than someone else and keeping the company in business for the last however long it's been.)

Oh gee, I took the survey about that and definitely said no to such package since I feel it is a rip off.  They mention a suggested retail price of 19.95$.... they should be out every 3 months.

I would prefer they give it away on the Sims 2 site or simply include them in a new ep but no... they have to reach in our pockets again, can I scream please!!! :o

Nightlife should be (unless something else sounding way more interesting than business or non-stop request fo pets comes out) the last expansion pack I ever purchase.

God they drive me completely crazy and I honestly never thought they would go to that extreme to make money upon us.  Put me in a cage please and throw away the key  :P

And for those who might wonder, yes I am Missdoh2 on the "official" bbs.

Now look sad and say "Doh!" (quoted from Homer Simpson)

You know... I must be weird. Because I actually don't think that $20 US is too much to pay for a bunch of new items, special features and interactions.

I used to justify spending out on Sims 1 paysites by looking at the amount of enjoyment I got from The Sims compared to the amount of time I spent playing it. Let's forget pleasures like eating out or going to the theatre, because they are too expensive for most people to do often. Even cinema is expensive - £7 per person for a typical film in greater London (more in central London). Let's take renting a DVD as an example. Now, renting a new release for 2 nights costs about £3.50 - for 1.5-2 hours pleasure. That's £1.75 per hour.

In comparison, my Sims 2 game cost £30 for the base game, plus £20 for University. That's a total of £50. I spend 15-20 hours playing it per week. I've had it since April, easily 6 months. I can't be bothered to add up exactly how many weeks, but let's say 4 weeks per month x 6 months - that's 24 weeks. So Sims 2 has cost me £2 per week - for easily as much pleasure as I'd get from watching a DVD, if not more, because the game is interactive. Although video games are expensive to purchase initially - by the time you've played them for hours, they work out as about the cheapest form of entertainment you can get, excluding completely free things like library books, and free-to-receive television channels.

I know that within the Sims 2 community there are people from all income levels - from the professional classes right down to people on benefits (or worse, if you consider the mess that is the US "welfare" system) and that for some people, $20 US is a large amount of money. But when compared to other forms of entertainment, when you consider the number of hours of pleasure you'll get from an EP, it just doesn't seem that much. £1.75 per hour for the DVD rental up against 10p per hour for Sims 2... and many people have had their games longer than me, and play for more hours a week than me.

I do wonder how much of the complaining about the cost of EPs is due to people simply not thinking about how many hours they'll play for, and how much is a wry acknowledgement that the EP will come with 40 new objects, 5 new NPCs, 10 new interactions, and 20 new bugs ::). 

I don't see where the interactions are anything all that special or there's that many of them. There's what, a New Years party, which is basically a house party called something else with "fireworks" (a little cinema scene I am guessing), and a visit by Santa. I didn't see anything else that would be considered a new interaction unless you count food. Maybe there's more stuff, but I doubt there's a whole lot more to it. I know they sent out that survey a while back about doing mini packs that contained mostly items based around a theme so this sounds basically like that. Considering that the full expansions are $30, yes, I do think $20 is a bit steep for a small pack of very seasonal items that generally won't be of interest for most of the year.

What he said.  ;)

Well, I don't mind the idea of extras which you have to pay for, but they should be extras for EVERYONE!!!!  They certainly shouldn't be included free in a revamp of the base game!  (And once you have EPs, the only time you ever use the base game again is when you have to do a total reinstall, so it's not as if getting an extra copy would ever be worth it!  Unlike an EP, which you may have running on a desktop and a laptop with all the hassle of constantly switching CDs from one to the other, and it might be worth buying a second copy!)

They did, of course, do exactly the same with Sims 1 when they brought out De Luxe!

Apparently they decided to split the difference between (barely) reasonable and totally outrageous, and the cost will be $15.  Oh, and free standard shipping via the slow boat.  :D

Why couldn't it have been done as a download?  Then the buyer could just put it on a CD and store it with the original game themselves.

If this was a set of regular items (or items that have any use to me), I would probably be willing to blow the $15 on it. I am an item junkie, after all. However, for just holiday items? I don't even use those, or feel the need to use them. Still, I will give some consideration to it, and hopefully a list of the items and possible interactions and special features will come out on a Sims 2 website somewhere. Chances are, I won't be buying it, unless it REALLY lowers in price.

So more of the stupid Fart in Someone's Face and Fling Water At stupid interactions? No thank you. And it's pretty much guaranteed that it'll be riddled with bugs. It's just the kind of gimmicky thing they'd make in a hurry, with dollar signs in their eyes, and not bother to test.

It's impossible that they can give this stuff away for free -- in that case it'd be classed as a virus and they'd be sued. The only things I'd pay money for as add-ons are the missing clothing, hairstyles, and object colours that were seen in the preview shots for the original game.

I agree, hell even Prima is doing direct downloads these days and passing along the savings. I'd rather download it for $10 then pay $15 and have to wait for it to be shipped. :p

I'd much rather have it as a download.  Assuming they would even ship to New Zealand (and I notice at the moment they say they'll only ship to US and Canada), it can take up to 4 months for surface mail packages to reach here from the US.  Christmas would be well and truly over by the time any of us down here got it! ::)

I think I'll wait and see exactly what's in it before I decide whether to waste my money, anyway.

I've had some reasonably interesting (and frustrating) discussions about this on the BBS. I gave up due to sheeple stupidity. They seem pretty divided, one hand rip off, other hand over excitied and thinking more of it than there is (I think we'll have some disappointed sheeple).

Minus the 12 free items, you have 28 items - Twain said something like $0.53 per item, that's £0.29 for me and others here (the whole thing working out at about a £8 in the UK, however I'm sure they'll market it at £10 - I don't see why we wouldn't get it here).

The whole thing is a way to rerelease the base game and get some more interest (do they need it!?) however, as it's based mostly on Christmas - which a lot of the world don't celebrate - I don't know. I had a point, but I'm getting sleepy.

The price isn't that bad - if there are some extra things in there other than decorative objects. I'll probably do what they expect people to - put it on my Xmas list if it is available in the shops here. If not, well my student loan doesn't stretch to decorative objects that I can download or make myself... I think we need more information.

I would have rather had the patch, which I now is due out any moment, but still, the announcement of this was a little disheartening. When a corporation's main objective becomes souly to make money - they lose the creative spark that started it all. (I know, I know, businesses want to make money, however in a perfect world it shouldn't be their main objective and I can dream :P)

Did anybody notice the picture of the toddler climbing on Santa's lap?  Sorry, but I can't believe that's a real screenshot.  Probably more along the lines of the things we saw in the preview CD, with kids swinging from ceiling fans, sliding down bannisters, and the like.  It's too bad, because I would love for parents to be able to sit holding their babies and toddlers.

About the pack itself:  this one holds zero appeal for me.  I'm Jewish, and all I see in this "holiday" pack are a bunch of Christmas decorations, Christmas skins, Christmas objects, etc.  (Plus the token menorah which has been available for download from the official site for nearly a year.)  I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Christmas-themed objects etc., it's just that I see very little if anything in this pack that will be of interest to non-Christians.  

Karen

No doubt you're next in line for the rip-off when they do a Passover add-on!

How they can justify making the new edition cheaper than the original, and then charging us who have already got it (and after all, we're the real fans who'll go on buying new EPs long after most of the kids who get it for Christmas have lost interest) is beyond me, and they need to look long and hard at this!

Karen

I hope you and yours have a peaceful Yom Kippur.

I ain't buying it! All my sims will be godless communists!

Seriously. Christmas depresses me. It's all about stuff. This is basically everything I dislike about Christmas. And I'm not even Christian, I'm Unitarian Universalist, although my family celebrates Christmas as a basically secular holiday. (Which it is, at least in the modern US.)

Now, if this "mini pack" was something actually nifty, like science fiction or some such (perhaps more aliens for abductions? it's a simple code change, and there are new skins in the Holiday thing) then I might be interested. But only if it was less than $10. $20 will buy a sourcebook for Dungeons and Dragons, worth way more than some idiot faux EP.

I'll bet that the new holiday themed base game is only available on CD's and not on DVD's.

I mistakenly bought it in DVD, but I'm glad I did since I only have to put 1 disc in to reinstall rather than have to hassle with 4 discs. But that may be why it's $10 cheaper, because it only comes in CD version.

Of course I could be wrong about that, but I haven't seen anything about a new DVD version.

I've never been able to find anywhere that sells the DVD version in the UK, and I'd prefer that for my laptop!

ZZ - Amazon has it. (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0006IGNKW/qid=1129151545/sr=8-18/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i18_xgl/026-2361334-2512459)

My local HMV had the DVD version of The Sims 2 last time I was in there.

Thanks, I'll get back and have a look on amazon, maybe I just looked in the wrong place.  A while back, i asked in Game about it, and they'd never even heard there was a DVD!

I stopped buying in the shops a while back as preordering is cheaper, so I haven't noticed. That link should take you straight to the DVD version.

Thanks a lot, I'll get it when I have the spare cash!  (I never buy in the shops now, for the same reason.  When I got the original sims2 from Amazon, it wss miles cheaper than the shops!  and even with the free delivery (2nd class) it only took 2 days to arrive (one really, as I ordered it on a sunday and it arrived on the Tuesday!

I just wish supermarket ordering was cheaper, instead of that £5 delivery charge!  Then I might use that too!

Hmmm, and by the time it reaches Blighty I feel that it will have a mark up of £19.99. Not that I'm even remotely cynical about marketing, you understand.

I am not Jewish, but I did notice the "token" menorah, for sure. That is a pet peeve of mine. :P I think this pack will be of interest to people who like Christmas. I am not Christian, but my family celebrates Christmas (gift-giving, eating like fools). A pack like this could also be very popular in Japan, when Christmas is very popular and embraced as a commercial holiday, while less than 1% of the population identifies as Christian.

The only religious themed object I saw in the pics was the menorah.  Everything else was secular.  There doesn't appear to be a single relgious themed Christian object there.  Those who don't believe me are invited to speak to any Jehovah's Witness on the subject. :)  (Don't try this at home, kids;  find neutral ground.  You'll never get them to leave.)

I have a Jewish friend who puts up a "Hannukah bush" every December.  I'm not convinced this is a common Jewish custom tho. :)

Hook

I believe that quite a lot of Jewish families in the UK do sort of do Christmas things - after all it was a festival long before christianity, and really, most people in the world have some kind of celebration at the winter solstice, just to make the winter more bearable!

Well, seeing as we in Australia celebrate Christmas in the summer months (and believe me it gets bloody hot here during this time), our usual celebration for the coming 'winter solstice' is usually a rain dance to the gods and a huge collective sigh of relief followed by the usual greeting of "thanks god winter's here" Woohoo  ;D

Well, I'm afraid I was thinking Northern Hemisphere!  Yours is obviously the summer solstice, which used to be celebrated in pagan times!  And of course, still is by druids etc.  since you don't have proper winters, I don't suppose you feel the need for festivities at the winter solstice!

Only those mentioned above ZZ  ;)

Oooo, Aussieone!  Very few people in the northern hemisphere have any idea about how Australians celebrate Christmas.  You should describe it a bit.

I've heard Santa arrives wearing shorts and carrying a beer, sometimes in a limo.  And something about white kangaroos, which I think is from a song there.

Hook

Funnily enough Hook, you've almost hit the nail on the head with some of your comments/questions.

In some areas, Santa will indeed arrive wearing running shorts (or stubbies as they are called here, but that's a story in itself) and thongs ( the flip flop shoe type not the thong where your butt hangs out type), carrying a beer or three and usually arrives in the back of a ute (2 seater car with tray attached for the uninitiated) on Christmas Eve.

He will usually be intoxicated (we Aussies do love our beer, especially in Summer) and he will attempt to slur "Merry Christmas" to all of the kids that have run up to aforementioned ute and throw presents to the children that gather around (lollies (candy) in plastic bags and cheap small toys seem to be a favourite of Aussie Santa).

On Christmas day itself, we have the traditional lunch of Turkey, Ham, Pork and all the trimmings that I'm sure our Northern counterparts are familiar with...however in doing this, we usually make up for having a hot roast dinner on a 40 degree celsius day by plying ourselves with more beer, wine and alcoholic soft drinks than should be safely consumed on any given day. Thus resulting in the odd family fight or two, usually between Aunty Mary and Uncle Tom over who gets to finish off the last beer left in the fridge/ last piece of pork crackling left on the tray etc.

After the 'family fun and friendly banter' is over and all and every last drop of alcohol and food is consumed, we then contentedly flop into the nearest armchair/sofa and watch whatever sport might be on until we fall into a contented slumber.....only to arise a few hours later and do it all again for dinner  :)

P.S: Yes we do see the white Kangaroo after Christmas lunch, but I think it's akin to your pink elephants  ;)

We also of course combine the Christmas roast with that other great Aussie tradition... the backyard barbie! (barbecue)

Turkey/chicken/pork/lamb, we'll throw em all in the webber - or multiple webbers... No Australian home is complete without at least one Webber (brand of barbecue).

Lunch begins at approximately 4am, an hour after rolling out of bed to check out what has been chucked under the plastic christmas tree with all the trimmings.  We swim out from under the pile of wrapping paper that has mysteriously appeared from nowhere, and consume a healthy breakfast of chip sandwiches (potato crisps?).  Meat is safely in the bbq, cooking away, while we finish frying rice, baking potatoes, making coleslaw, potato salad, tuna mornay, and trifle.

Then, the family arrives, with their presents and contributions to the food effort.  We could feed a small village for a week on what we serve up.  Oh who am I kidding?  My family by itself is a small village.

Snacks consumed while waiting for the main course to be served include more chips, nuts, stuffing sandwiches, party pies and pasties and anything else we can get our grubby mitts on.

Main course is served, buffet-style, with beer, wine and soft drinks.  Want anything else, get it yerself.

Presents brought by family members are distributed as we all adjust our clothing in the vain hope they will fit better.

We plop into a chair in front of the TV and hope for something other than the Queen's Message or the Prime Minister's Message or That Bloke Down the Road's Message.

Pass out.

I used free delivery and got it and NL on the day it was released, university one day later. I was very impressed, and I do like Amazon a lot. I've had to quit though, I get too click happy in the books section ;)

Sounds a great deal like my holiday family dinners here in Northern California, except for the weather of course! Toss in a few card games (to which "Uncle Tom" and "Aunt Mary" will get into shouting matches because someone's cheating) and you get the general idea. Lather, rinse and repeat for Easter, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, etc. It's quite entertaining.  ;D

As for the holiday pack, I'm still thinking about it. $15 is not too bad an asking price but I have quite a few non-sims items on my wish list this year.  ;) I can get click happy with books at Amazon too, and my wish list there is pretty huge. Mind you, we already have three huge bookcases filled (two in the upper hall and one in the family room) and will need to buy another before we buy more books. I can't seem to read enough books, hubby and daughters are much the same. 

I love Amazon, the majority of my Christmas shopping is done there (why hassle with cranky crowds and lines?). The book section of Amazon is almost impossible for me to resist....I'm trying though since my husband "commented" (nice way of saying he was totally bent) that Amazon packages show up at our house almost as often as the daily mail.

Love Amazon... Spend WAY too much, goddamn it! My loft is filled with books, and I have two bookcases full in my bedroom, and one in the sitting room. But still, I keep buying. What's wrong with me?  ??? Oh well.

Christmas? Bah... What really gets my goat is the relentless advertising aimed at the kids who become convinced they NEED the latest piece of plastic junk from *Matel (delete and add company name as wished), and that to deny them would be tantamount to abuse. I'm not certain who has the most psychological damage from it all anymore? Parents? Kids?

Point of distress: I took some of the youngsters I work with bowling about 3 weeks ago and the bowling alley had Xmas Trees (pagan symbolism  ;D) everywhere. Tacky, cheap and nasty. Plus it had the effect of making all the kids go instantly into "how long to Xmas?" and giving me greivous harm to the earhole! Sigh...

Bet the "Holiday Pack" version of TS2 will have the blur disabled from the start, to appease the Republinazis...

I have no bookcases, so all my books are in piles all over my room :) The first time I went to my university library last week, I flipped out at all the books. I could quite easily live in it!

I have no interest in the holiday add ons. Maybe in the future but the idea does nothing for me at the moment. Maybe if it was $10..I'd consider...but $15 or $20..nah that's getting to much for some add ons and new interactions.  Could possibly be different if it wasn't a holiday pack...however I really have no interest in creating little holiday moments for my sims at this point.

Hey, now, not all republicans are nazis. Just the extreme religious right. I'm a conservative and the blur drives me nuts (of course, thanks to Quaxi, it's gone.) .In fact,  I would consider paying money for a pseudo-expansion thingy if it was something that adultified the game a bit. Marketed toward the adult players with an M rating. And I don't mean porn, but you know, barbie-nudity? Sheesh. If I'm an adult, I most likely have seen real naked people before, so it would be nice to add that touch of realism to the game, as well. Won't happen though. The children would feel left out. And it is all about the kids, isn't it?

Liberal/Conservative Left/Right isn't the problem.  There's another dimension that should be added describing how much personal freedom you're willing to allow OTHER people.  At the bottom are the totalitarians, at the top are the anarchists.  Not all extreme religious right groups fit into the bottom right corner of that graph along with the Taliban and various TV evangelists.

Hook

I gave up xmas about a decade ago. No withdrawals, no pain. I organise to spend the day on my own, buy some yummie treats, make sure I have a wad of good books and my computer games and I'm happy. I say a little prayer for all the women in kitchens all over the world as I recline my laziboy and sip my iced drink. mmmmmm

I did do xmas when my son was small, then he started spending xmas with his father when he was about 10 onwards. His dad happy, him happy, me happy. :)

I buy people presents when I want to, when I can afford them and when I see something that just suits someone perfectly. 'Just because' presents. Just because I love them and not because bloody hallmark or coca cola tell me to. (Coca cola pretty much invented the modern santa though he's not as fat now as he was initially).

I enjoy the irony of celebrating a pagan midwinter festival which has been appropriated by christians, but it is ludicrous here in New Zealand. 30 degree (86 fahrenheit) heat and people spend the day making roast dinners! (Not the blokes of course - they're usually outside drinking beer and playing with fire on the bar-b-ques). Poor santa is most often seen purplefaced and streaming with sweat.  ;D ;D

You're right. I stand corrected.

That'll be because of the DIET cola we are so lucky to have now, eh? And I utterly agree with your sentiment.

You just described my perfect xmas! I could really do without the family element of it all really. Too much stress!

I realised after I'd posted, that the xmas rant seems a bit off topic - I was thinking 'no way am I going to put my sims through the xmas ordeal'!

So, no, won't be buying a holiday add-on pack.
I'd buy a magic one though, with broomsticks and pointy hats. ;P

I am wit' you, witch!

Why an xmas (or "Holiday") pack?  Why not a Hallowe'en pack?  I got the Christmas tree for TS1  and I think I got the one for TS2, but it was so worthless in TS1 that I never used it in TS2.

Would rather get to send my little sim kids trick or treating and have them come back with a huge bag of goodies that they eat until sick.  (Realistic, anyway.)  Would be cute to have little witch and ghost costumes, huh?  And have TOTers come to your sims' door, hand out goodies, maybe actually have the option to ask the little ones to do a trick for the treat?

And the parents could have their own costume parties.  Drink also until sick with hangover next day.  Maybe costume contests.  (Yeah, I know, I'm dreaming.)

Not really into all those holiday extras either, though I know they are popular with lots of other simmers. But, a Samhein EP? Now that would be really cool...  :D


I could too. Libraries, book shops, particularly the second hand variety, are places I haunt on a regular basis. I'm very fond of Waterstones where I can grab a pile of books and spend ages sitting on the floor going through 'em. Books and shoes are the two best things in whole wide world!

Samhein eh? Well we've already got the skyclad...

Books - when I was 21 I went to Los Angeles for 10 days. When I came home I had a suitcase full of science fiction from 2nd hand shops.  ;D Oh and a pair of jeans.

It may sound really odd but I get all jazzed over the smell of books in new and used bookstores. Gets me in a tizzy like a kid in a toy store. ;D My husband's been teasing me for years that I'm having a secret affair with the UPS guy, considering how excited I get when he shows up with an order from Amazon. Though he gets just as excited when the package includes some of his stuff. ;)

I'm sort of iffy over the whole holiday thing. We do get together with my side of the family when possible because they're very laid back and the point is just to have a good time together. There is no guilt trips for not being able to make it exactly on the holiday, due to crazy work schedules we all just get together and enjoy each other when we're able to. Sadly we avoid stuff with my husband's family because his mom is fixated on this "perfect family" image and most get togethers with them could be aptly described as "craptaculars". It makes things much easier in a way that they are on the opposite coast from us though. Much fewer demands that we attend function X with them so his mom can show my children off like some prized baubble. >:( My favorite plans for the holidays are to keep it quiet and relaxing. Hubby & I are quite decidedly pagan ourselves but we are also incredibly personal about it. I've always been content to practice on my own and to include my children when they are interested.

When I saw the other ideas for the addon packs I was quite excited for the history era idea. I really hope they'll consider doing that one, I'd love it.

LOL!  I finally got *last* year's Christmas present from my step sister in early September.  It was a gift card for Wal*Mart, and I used it to purchase Nightlife.  Perfect timing, huh?  So much for making it exactly on the holiday.

What's worse is, I really wanna visit her house, so I can take measurements so I can build it in the Sims.  It's an honest-to-gosh log house of about 4500 square feet.  Designed and built by an engineer from Texas Instruments.  Lots of interesting stuff like doors that slide into the walls instead of swinging open.  Last Thanksgiving I counted 32 people there.

Hook

I was thinking the same thing about my mom's sister's house. It's a "smart house" with remote-controlled everything, and it's supposedly huge. Of course, my first thought was, "I wonder if she'll send me the floor plans so I can build it for my sims". Which is stupid, because, as far as I know, there are no "smart houses" in the sims. 

Think you might have overdone it with the jeans...  ;D

 ;D Yeah, they were pricey too, $1.99 as I recall, could have bought more books...

Get your priorities in order, woman!

If one sim day is equal to one human year, how long woould Christmas dinner last?  :P

The same as in real life:  much too long!

That is one scary thought. My childhood Christmas' are noteable by the occurance of the huge family arguements that would brew from two days prior to an absolute explosion on Boxing Day. My, how I miss them (slight sarcastic tone here).

and all the kids fought over who would NOT sit opposite Great Uncle Bob at dinner because he had false teeth and chewed with his mouth open.  :D

Those were the days, eh?  ::)