Posters around the school advertise a variety of holiday activities taking place over the coming week.


Yule Ball

The Yule Ball will take place on Saturday 12/20. Students of all years are invited to enjoy this evening of dancing and delicious foods. The posters mention that some of famous(in the wizarding world, anyway...muggleborn students may have no idea who she is!) wizard chef Georgina Waderman's creations will be featured among the usual Hogwarts fare at dessert.

The Yule Ball will feature the traditional voting for Yule King and Queen. The winners will receive 5 house points each.


Gingerbread House Competition

The annual Gingerbread House competition will return this year. Entries may be constructed and submitted as soon as the construction stations are present in the great hall((as soon as the hall opens, which should be soon!)) and voting will take place at the Yule Ball. You may enter even if your character will not attend the Yule Ball.

Prizes are as follows:
1st Place - 15 house points, coupon for a candlelit dinner for two at the Bakery and Sweets Cafe in Diagon Alley.
2nd Place - 10 house points, Sparkling Mistletoe Cutting
3rd Place - 5 house points, box of Honeydukes Holiday Sweets.


Secret Santa

Any students wishing to enter the Secret Santa gift exchange should sign up below as soon as possible! Students will be randomly assigned other students to buy a small gift for. Gifts should be owled by no later than Christmas Eve, and may be anonymous or not as the secret santa prefers. Gifts should be relatively inexpensive, no more than (($20)) in cost.

EDIT: Multiple characters per player may be signed up for this! Don't go overboard and sign up 10, but 2 or 3 is fine.
EDIT2: Rules update:
I just realized(shush) that not all characters will know all characters posted. So I'm going to retcon the sign-up and say that the professors required that the students list their house, year, and two interests they have to help their secret santas. If you've already signed up, please edit your post with the new information!

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Karen Bonoa - Ravenclaw Alumni
Madeline Ingleman - 2nd Year Hufflepuff
Niven McLaren - 1st Year Slytherin
Sam McKinnon - 6th Year Ravenclaw

Jabari Nwosu * Joshua Tannerman * Lenora Hollings * Lillian Stewart * Maria Bonoa

Peran Wricken signs up for the book exchange secret santa.
House: Ravenclaw
Year: 6th
Interests: HP Lovecraft stories, arctic ursine creatures, and long walks on the beach

Sam McKinnon(Ravenclaw/6th year/quidditch/astronomy) and Lenora Hollings(Slytherin/3rd year/writing/cosmetics and nail polish) signed up for the secret santa exchange.

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Karen Bonoa - Ravenclaw Alumni
Madeline Ingleman - 2nd Year Hufflepuff
Niven McLaren - 1st Year Slytherin
Sam McKinnon - 6th Year Ravenclaw

Jabari Nwosu * Joshua Tannerman * Lenora Hollings * Lillian Stewart * Maria Bonoa

Cray Fencrow
Year: Seventh
House: Gryffindor
Interests: Any sort of metal, in any form (as in iron, gold, aluminum, etc), medieval/antique stuff.

and

Xabriel Raventongue
Year: First
House: Gryffindor
Interests: Books, any books, as long as they are good books. Astronomy.

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~ShalynArater~
..... Cray Calcifer Fencrow - Xabriel Seth RaventongueGryffindor - Gryffindor

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Karen Bonoa - Ravenclaw Alumni
Madeline Ingleman - 2nd Year Hufflepuff
Niven McLaren - 1st Year Slytherin
Sam McKinnon - 6th Year Ravenclaw

Jabari Nwosu * Joshua Tannerman * Lenora Hollings * Lillian Stewart * Maria Bonoa

Ruoy Trams, Ravenclaw, 5th year, books and artsycrafty stufs.

Jade Celine, 6th year Ravenclaw, interested in space, games, and coolness.

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Corinne Beckett - Inherited flower shop and eventually relocated to Diagon Alley.
Michael Draufy - Went to America to study native magical creatures. Still visits Anastasia.
Jade Celine - Married Peran and became a magical archaeologist.
Ana Celine - Took her revenge and vanished into the night.
Space Dog - Some say it still roams the halls of Hogwarts in search of petting.

Name: Xander Black
House: Slythern
Year: Seventh
-----
Interests: I like piña coladas and getting caught in the rain
I'm not much into health food, I am into champagne

Serpents, tea, puzzles, intellectual conversation.

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Shaant writes his name in "Shaant Cys'Varion, Slytherin, Seventh year. Likes: Piercing and drawing. Dislikes: Your face and your face.

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“The things you own end up owning you. It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything.”

Name: Ronni Malle
House: Slytherin
Year: Seventh
Interests: Japan, crafts(Sewing, drawing, origami....), animals/Care of Magical Creatures

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Ronni Malle, Slytherin Seventh Year
Tigger Alayne, Ravenclaw First Year

The sign-up for secret santa is over. IC owls will be arriving soon for all participants through private messages. Remember the IC deadline is Dec 24th!

EDIT: All PMs are sent. If you didn't get one, let me know. Also, I swear it was random. The only fiddling I did was ensuring that you weren't OOCly sending to yourself. Any hilarious match-ups were purely RNG.

_________________
Karen Bonoa - Ravenclaw Alumni
Madeline Ingleman - 2nd Year Hufflepuff
Niven McLaren - 1st Year Slytherin
Sam McKinnon - 6th Year Ravenclaw

Jabari Nwosu * Joshua Tannerman * Lenora Hollings * Lillian Stewart * Maria Bonoa

What's For Dessert?


This is the layout of the dessert area. Each letter denotes a different offering, with E1-E5 denoting each small dish attached to the ice wall. Each offering has its name floating above it in sparkly golden letters.


A. Cocoa Embrace

This large basin is filled with a delicious hot chocolate(a sweeter dark chocolate), with black goblets and black pearl-like objects arranged around its perimeter. The basin is charmed so that anyone dipping a goblet in to obtain some hot chocolate will not get chocolate all over their hand and the outside of the goblet. Dropping a black "pearl" in a goblet of hot chocolate will give a flavor enhancement(such as: orange, hazelnut, vanilla, mint, etc) that fits the taste of the person who placed it in the goblet.


B. Ice and Fire

This table is filled with small dishes containing a single small scoop of vanilla ice cream each. Each ice cream is burning with a colored flame, which is not hot and will impart a flavor if your choice to the ice cream according to the color the flame is.


C. Quartz Confection

This table contains a large cake that has taken the form of a crystal. Small knives are provided to help students carve slices of cake for themselves. Upon cutting into the cake it would be easy to break off small(about the size of a large strawberry) crystal-shaped chunks of vanilla cake. As the cake is broken each time, it makes a chime like a triangle(musical instrument) being struck once.


D. Crystal Spring

This large basin is filled with a delicious clear liquid(a chilled sparkling soda that tastes slightly sweet and like "cold"), with white goblets and white pearl-like objects arranged around its perimeter. The basin is charmed so that anyone dipping a goblet in to obtain some soda will not get liquid all over their hand and the outside of the goblet. Dropping a white "pearl" in a goblet of soda will give a flavor enhancement(such as: lemon, orange, apple, herbal, etc) that fits the taste of the person who placed it in the goblet.


E. Sensory Drops

These basins contain small spheres of hard candy in 6 colors. Each basin is carved with a symbol(1 - eye; 2 - nose; 3 - mouth; 4 - hand; 5 - ear) and contains a mixture of all six colors that, when allowed to dissolve in the mouth, affect each of the senses according to which basin they were taken from. Sight is affected by tinting everything white to be a certain other, more festive, color. Scent is affected by causing the eater to smell a certain thing. Taste is affected the same way as scent. Touch is affected by causing the sensation of having a particular material or sensation wrapped around the eater, including their face, neck, hands, and other exposed skin. Sound is affected by causing an extra instrument to join the music in the hall, playing a harmony heard only by the person eating the candy. The different colors of candy and their specific effects are as on this chart, though is is OOC knowledge for your own RP - ICly, it's a mystery until you FOIC:

_________________
Karen Bonoa - Ravenclaw Alumni
Madeline Ingleman - 2nd Year Hufflepuff
Niven McLaren - 1st Year Slytherin
Sam McKinnon - 6th Year Ravenclaw

Jabari Nwosu * Joshua Tannerman * Lenora Hollings * Lillian Stewart * Maria Bonoa