Sometimes it's hard to keep up with the news on a day to day basis. Here are the highlight from the Neopets news page for this month...

Today is the start of the Neopian Advent Calendar! If you're new to the Advent Calendar, they've created a handy little FAQ to answer your questions. (December 1, 2005)

Armin has been given an entry in the Gallery of Heroes. (December 2, 2005)

Why not wish your friends and family a happy holiday season with one of these new Neogreetings? (December 6, 2005)

They just wanted to let everyone know that they are working on some of the HTML filters for the code that you can submit to your shops, User Lookups, guilds, etc. If you see anything out of the ordinary, this is probably why, and problems that persist for more than a few days can be reported by clicking here. (December 7, 2005)

The Battle Faerie is back and now she has set up her own shop in Faerieland selling all kinds of awesome Faerie themed weapons. (December 14, 2005)

Two new Holiday Greetings are available to send to your friends and family. (December 16, 2005)

Pound Changes! - From now on, Neopets that are above level 2, are limited-edition species, or have been painted with certain rare or expensive paintbrushes, cannot be adopted by any account younger than four months. This will prevent these pets from ending up in accounts that are abandoned shortly after creation, and instead help them find homes in established accounts. If you're a caring owner currently under four months, not to worry. You'll find time passes rather quickly in Neopia. :) (December 16, 2005)

At midnight tonight, Neopets enters year 8. Happy New Year, everyone! (December 31, 2005)

Special Days for these months were:

• Dec 5th - Bruce Day
• Dec 12th - Wocky Day
• Dec 15th – JC enters Neopia
• Dec 20th - Borovan Day - Everybody likes to drink a hot cup of borovan on this day!
• Dec 25th - Day of Giving - Gifts abound as all Neopia gets full of festive spirit
• Dec 28th - Ogrin Day
• Dec 31st / Jan 1st - Neopia enters the Year 8!

Pets are painted at the Rainbow Pool (on the Main Shops page) with special magic paint brushes. Click here for a list of all pets and their available colors.

v      Jetsams can now be painted Snow at the Rainbow Pool. (December 2, 2005)

v      Bruces can now strut their stuff in new Darigan and Maraquan forms. (December 5, 2005)

v      Xweetoks can now be painted Starry at the Rainbow Pool. (December 6, 2005)

v      The new Snow Chomby is now available. (December 7, 2005)

v      The Neopian Royal Family just got two new additions. The Royal Poogles. (December 8, 2005)

v      The Christmas Yurble appears to be quite jolly. (December 8, 2005)

v      The Xweetok can now be painted with the Mystery Island Paint Brush. (December 9, 2005)

v      Wockies can now be transformed into Invisible and Ice versions. (December 12, 2005)

v      The Spotted Xweetok is now available. (December 15, 2005)

v      The Bori and Bruce can now be turned Invisible at the Rainbow Pool. (December 19, 2005)

v      Your Usul can now come in this cool shade of Ice. (December 21, 2005)

v      Quiggles can now be painted Christmas at the Rainbow Pool. (December 21, 2005)

v      Xweetoks also are now available in Ghost versions. (December 22, 2005)

v      The very festive Christmas Techo is now available. (December 23, 2005)

v      The Ogrin enters Neopia. The 28th of December will become the official Ogrin day. This new Neopet can now be yours in one of four fine colours. If you want to find out more the Ogrin, click here and here!

(December 27, 2005)

v      The Ogrin is also available in Shadow and Electric right out of the box. (December 27, 2005)

v      The Invisible Flotsam may be disappearing near you. (December 29, 2005)

v      The new Camouflage Scorchio is well hidden for local hot spots. (December 29, 2005)

v      The Ogrin is also available in Spotted. (December 30, 2005)

For those of you looking for the Petpet Puddle, it is part of the Rainbow Pool. When you are on the Main Shops page, click on the Rainbow Pool. At the top of the next page is the link to the Petpet Puddle. Click here for a list of all petpets and their available colors.

q        To get everyone into a wintery mood, Yullies, Candychans, Firs, and Raindorfs all can now be painted Snow at the Petpet Puddle. (December 1, 2005)

q        Snorklins now come in Fire, Pink, Red and Rainbow. All that's required is a Petpet Paint Brush and a trip to the Petpet Puddle. (December 2, 2005)

q        Xweetoks can now be painted Snow. (December 2, 2005)

q        The Gangee, Gremble, Arkmite, and Baby Fireball can all now be painted Snow. (December 7, 2005)

q        Snowickles can now be painted Christmas, Faerie, Ghost and Sketch at the Petpet Puddle. (December 9, 2005)

q        You can now paint your Ona, Fangy or Snowbunny a very nice shade of Snow. (December 13, 2005)

q        The Gangee can now be painted Red, Green and Yellow at the Petpet Puddle. (December 15, 2005)

q        If plain ol' White doesn't suit your Snuffly, they can now be painted Black, Pink, Darigan and Mutant. (December 20, 2005)

q        Two more colors are now available for the Snuffly: Snow and Dung. (December 23, 2005)

Both the avatars and Game Reviews pages have been updated.

Because the Lost Desert was totally re-worked, it has taken longer to update that page than I originally planned. All the other Tour pages have been updated and uploaded, however, so I hope you enjoy them.

Work continues on the upcoming museum. This project is rather large, but at least you can get a quick look at it here. Note that these pages are still very much under construction. If you have anything you’d like to contribute, please send it to: Naomi_Tran@baylor.edu

Avatars have a broad based appeal that touches almost every aspect of life in Neopia. These are the avatars that were added this month. For a complete list, drop by the avatars section of the Chat FAQs. If you know of one that is not listed, simply fill out the automatic comment form.

Games on Neopets are in a constant state of change and these changes are often not listed in the news. Here are the changes for this month:

Here are the new games that were added this month:

a    To start the new sponsor game blitz - PBS Kids Go: Pop-Up-Palooza, why not give it a whirl. (December 5, 2005)

a    Next on the new sponsor game list - Test your brain power with Rubik's Cube: Toss-Up. (December 5, 2005)

a    And one more new sponsor game: There is a new racing game called Hot Wheels®: Grand Prix for you to try your hand at. I tried and failed miserably...hate those types of controls :P (December 5, 2005)

a    An all-out snowball war has broken out on Terror Mountain! Can you take down your opponents quickly enough in Snowball Fight? (December 7, 2005)

a    A very keen eye is required to play the latest sponsor game - Kronk: Crowd Patrol. (December 9, 2005)

a    Jake has just made a fascinating discovery... Caves & Corridors: Mystery Island! Can you help him on his quest to find the golden idol? (December 20, 2005)

a    Play as Lucky and collect as many Lucky Charms as you can in this new sponsor game, Berry Lucky Charms: Triple Track. (December 29, 2005)

a    Play Jubble Bubble and help Kelby rescue his JubJub friends in this new game. (December 29, 2005)

These games were taken off the site this month:

Ø       A Return to Planet Tamagotchi

Ø       Charlie: Matching Madness

Ø       Crash Tag Team Racing: Drive-By

Ø       Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi: Twisty Text

Ø       Kermit's Look-Alikes

Ø       Kidz Bop: Wheel of Words

Ø       Kronk: Crowd Patrol

Ø       PBS Kids Go: Pop-Up-Palooza

Ø       Polar Express: Ticket Chase

Ø       Rubik's Cube: Toss-up

Ø       Sky High: Flying Shooter

Ø       Spyro Shadow Legacy: Magic Attack

Ø       That's So Raven: Pair Compare

Changes to existing games:

World Challenge Updates! There are now more ways to win in the World Challenges. You can now win by having the highest tally, the highest score, or the highest total of scores. No minimum number of scores sent required. (December 16, 2005)

A new location has been added to Kacheek Seek for the coming Day of Giving! (December 21, 2005)

As always, play safe and have fun!

~StaggPub~

Name: Chocolate Smore
Available: From the Advent Calendar on December 28, 2005
Neopet’s Description: Melted marshmallow and chocolate sandwiched between a biscuit.
TNE’s Description: This tempting treat is as much fun to make as it is to eat.

Ingredients:

·         2 Graham crackers

·         1 Milk Chocolate Bar

·         2 lg Marshmallows

Directions:

1. Break graham crackers in half. Break chocolate bar in half; center one section on each of 2 graham cracker halves. Top each with marshmallow. Place on paper towel.

2. Microwave at HIGH (100%) 10 to 15 seconds or until marshmallow puffs.

Top each with another graham cracker half; press gently. Let stand 1 minute to soften chocolate. Serve immediately. 2 snacks.

CONVENTIONAL METHOD: Center half of chocolate bar on each of 2 graham cracker halves. Place remaining 2 graham cracker halves on cookie sheet; top each with marshmallow. On middle oven rack, broil 30 seconds or just until marshmallows are golden brown. Immediately invert onto chocolate-topped graham crackers; press gently. Let stand 1 minute to soften chocolate. Serve immediately.

A great way to keep up with your avatars. It gives you the option of storing a list of those you have currently found/earned as well as seeing which ones you still need.