Welcome to the December edition of Teahouse Newsletter!
You're in for snow and Christmas and fairy lights. Enjoy!
Correctly answer the trivia question we post each week for a raffle ticket!
But be quick, only the first 10 members who answer each question correctly will receive a raffle ticket. A total of 30 raffle tickets will be handed out. At the end, raffle tickets will be drawn for prizes! Every member is guaranteed a prize.
--> Christmas Raffle (hosted by ishiwong and Stine)
This theme for the December Pixel Contest is Merry Christmas!
Make your own little pixel relating to this theme for your chance to win some tealeaves! Entries close on 24th December.
--> December Monthly Pixel Contest (hosted by Cazx)
You have the chance to have a header you have made, featured in the Januray Newsletter! There are also some other awesome prizes including custom avatar and siganture sets, pixelled avatars and tealeaves. The theme is New Years, and you have up until 23rd December to submit your headers.
--> December Newsletter Header Contest (hosted by Cazx)
In this activity, members design their own gift box, using a template, or their own creation. Other members may place the gift box in their extended signatures, and by December 24th, these gifts will have unwrapped into a surprise gift!
--> Suprise Gifts (hosted by Cazx)
If you love to solve puzzles then this is your chance to have some fun and win some prizes!
We made them from word searchs to sudokus and all Christmas themed! Come and join us ^_^ This activity ends on December 15th.
--> December Puzzles Activity (hosted by alexandra and Mizuki)
Secret Santa signs up may be closed but that doesn't mean you can't participate - if you would like to give a gift to someone, feel free to do a generous act of kindness and post in their wishlist thread with your own account.
--> Secret Santa (hosted by Kara)
This huge tree needs some dressing up!
It needs tons of pazazz and flair! It definitely needs to be spiffy! It should be shining brightly! It can't be all bare, right? So, my fellow Teahousers, let's make our tree the best there is! Deadline is December 24th.
--> The Huge Christmas Tree Event (hosted by ~kim)
All of the presents have fallen out the giant present sack!
Can you find them scattered around Teahouse before Christmas? This activity ends on December 25th.
--> Christmas Present Scavenger Hunt (hosted by Claire and Celina)
Design and decorate your own gift by using one of the templates.
The entries with the most original and creative wrapping will win tealeaves or a gift!
--> Giftwrapping Contest (hosted by Cam)
Do you like to take pictures? Join the Photography Competition!
This month's theme is, of course, Christmas. Click below for more info.
--> December Photography Competition (hosted by Danielle)
In this special holidays contest, members will decorate their very own gingerbread man using a template.
--> Gingerbread Man Contest (hosted by Danielle)
Nominate and vote for the member you think deserves the title Member of the Month!
--> Member of the Month (hosted by Christina)
Applause for Amy (ishiwong) who won the Newsletter Header Contest! Aren't her graphics just lovely?
*Amy (ishiwong) also won the Candy Wrapper Contest - with her gumball machine candy. I just want to take a bite out of it!
Woo, Katie! She won the November Writing Contest, here is her lovely entry:/
Image Credits: 1
it's three seventeen in the morning
and it feels like it's three seventeen
in the morning for the first time in
our lives. your pajamas are polyfiber
flannel-cotton-wool blend and the
cat is on someone's drycleanonly
jacket at the foot of the bed. you
roll over like there's somewhere you
really should be at three seventeen
in the morning and you flip your
pillow over to the side without the
indent. you say my name like it's
urgent and you ask me if it's raining.
not really, i say, just a little bit here
and there, and you grunt in
appreciation and now it's three
eighteen so i guess you're running
late. the cat's ears twitch. i shift
around and my legs search for the
cool spot of the sheets they'd
had before you woke up.
morning is late for you and early
for me. the light is lazy. it dodges
questions and makes excuses. i
don't bother with the coffee because
it always winds up weak and that's
the way you like it anyway. you
mention how lonesome a morning
it is, your intentions good but your
tone too naive, too saccharine to
be taken seriously. let's go out
to the garden, you say, and we go
out to the garden but we don't do
any gardening. i sit in the grass and
you sit in a tree and we wait for
someone to say something but we
usually wind up like this, with all
the words used up before they're
really used.
lunch is cold cereal,
like we're young and broke again.
you're still wearing your pajamas
as you waltz around the kitchen
leading the milk carton through a
box step and grinning compulsively.
you never smile. you always grin.
we read afterwards, in the living room-
we wait for each other to catch up.
you don't smell like soap anymore.
now you smell like pine needles
and bran flakes and daytime. and
you can't feel the kinds of things
that people in these sorts of books
can feel but you can try and wish
and make do with the kinds of
things you can feel. that's enough,
you say, and you get up, and
you close the curtains i didn't know
we had, and now you're walking down
the hall and it feels like it's enough
for the first time in our lives.
Oh - and Amy (ishiwong) also got first place on the Drawing Contest. Here is her picture, A wind full of leaves.
Click for full size.
There have been no new themes this month.
If you want to submit one, please check the instructions here. Next month, your theme will be featured on Teahouse Newsletter!
A very happy birthday to all December babies!
- December 2nd: Reita
- December 4th: SAMM
- December 5th: Amyconda
- December 6th: iRein
- December 6th: Emm
- December 7th: Christina
- December 23rd: SkullCandy
- December 27th: Cazx
- December 31st: ~kim
Staff's Favourite Things About... Christmas!
"My favorite things about christmas are things like having mybrother down from UCLA, enjoying a delicious christmas dinner
with my family, making pannetone bread with my dad, and
drinking eggnog!"
- daniellee
"One of my favorite thing of Xmas is probably decorating the
house and the Christmas tree with my family. I really enjoy it! :) "
- Cam
"I love the quiet of Christmas, after all the hectic Christmas
shopping. Just peace for those three days, and Christmas
concerts on TV, and the smell of cinnamon."
- Christina
"Christmas mornings are often cold, but it's so warming to
know that my family can be whole on Christmas. I love
opening presents from them in front of 'em, and I absolutely
love seeing their reactions when they see the gift I got for
them. It gives my tummy a warm & fuzzy feeling that stays
with me for a long time. (:"
- ishiwong
"My favourite things about christmas are getting a vacation
from school, decorating the house and christmas tree, drinking
hot chocolate with marshmallows after playing outside with my
siblings, baking cookies for santa, watching the snow fall
through my window, waking up early to open presents with
my family and getting to spend time with my family. "
- Danielle
"My favorite thing about Christmas is the atmosphere - the
decorations and lights are so pretty, stores and radio play
Christmas music, and everyone (well most people) are happy
and enjoy this time of year. I also like putting up our tree and
spending Christmas day with my family."
- stine
"My favourite things about Christmas are being able to spend
quality time with my family and friends and exchange gifts. I
l
ove decorating the entire house with decorations and just
getting into the spirit of Christmas."
- Cazx
"My favorite thing to do during Christmastime is to ride around
the city looking at Christmas lights drinking hot chocolate from
Starbucks with my best friends !"
- alexandra.
Last Minute Gifts
Oh dear. You still don't have a present for Auntie Berta and it's almost Christmas! What to do, what to do? Here are some ideas for last-minute (mostly) homemade gifts. Auntie will be so happy.- a custom decorated oven mitt or slippers
- a stack of "free massage" coupons
- a christmas popup card
- a tissue paper wreath! Everyone knows that wreathes are a pretty way to remember christmas, so why not make your own to have year after year after year?
- make a little scrapbook or book of all the photos and memories you have shared
- a jar of homemade lucky stars - hide a cute little keychain inside!
- movie theatre gift certificates - at most movie theatres you can buy them as either tickets or gift cards, and they are valid for any movie
- homemade chocolate pretzel rods
How To Pass The Time Until Christmas
Oh, don't you wish it would be Christmas right away? Here are some ideas how to pass the time.- Decorate your house
- Decorate you Christmas tree!
- Find good receipes for Christmas Supper
- Try to guess what your friends and family got you for Christmas
- Buy (or of course make) gifts for your family and friends
- Draw little Christmas cards to give to your closest friends/family
- Play in the snow
- Snuggle in a nice corner and read a good book with a cup of hot chocolate
- Bake some cookies for Santa
- Watch some classic Christmas movies on TV
- Give your parents a massage; they're buying you presents, afterall~
- Make a hat for your pet(s) and have a photoshoot
- Hang out with friends & do something Christmas-y like eat froyo (even though it's cold..)
- Fall asleep in warm snuggly blankets and make a wish
- Sit by the fire
- Do a secret santa exchange between friends
- Make gingerbread cookies or a gingerbread house and decorate them
- Go for a sleigh ride
- Make your own wrapping paper
- Build a snowman
- Have a snowball fight
- Go ice skating
- Make origami ornaments for the tree
- After christmas, string popcorn or cranberries on some thread and wrap it around your un-decorated tree. After that, put the tree outside for the birds!
- Make a Christmas list
- Go out for a walk or drive and look at all of the houses decorated Christmas lights in your neighbourhood
- Make some stockings for yourself, family or friends
- Go on Teahouse MB, of course! :)
- thanks to Christina for writing & coding the Newsletter
- thank-you, ladies, for participating in "Staff's Favourite Things about..."!
- Amy (ishiwong), Claire, Caz, alexandra - a big hug to you for the present ideas
- A gigantic thank- you to Cam, Amy, Claire and Caz for thinking of the things to pass the time until Christmas
