The air was crisp and cold, festive presents and garlands festooned the city, and laughter and snowballs flew with wild abandon -- Frostfell had arrived in Norrath amidst a snowy jangle of sleigh bells.

Niami DenMother was dearly hoping she could pull herself out of her midwinter slump with some Frostfell cheer, but so far, it wasn't working.

Things had started off nicely enough, with Santa Glug gifting her with a lovely new snowglobe, but then a troll roughly shouldered her out of the way, almost squishing her and her precious snowglobe, in his hurry to get his own gift. Apparently, the incense burner wasn't to his liking, as he immediately started ranting and raving about it being the same as one he learned to craft the year before.

Mum eyed it, and him critically for a moment. "Pish. Th' one ye can make has cold snowflakes coming out o' it, an' this one has hot smoke. Besides, free gifts are free. If ye don't like it, ye can regift it or summat."

She rescued the incense burner from a snowbank after it had rather rudely bounced off her skull, and tried to find more Frostfell spirit.

A voice in the distance sent that aforementioned Frostfell spirit hiding before she could get a firm grip on it.

A flighty young wood elf skidded across the ice, nearly plowing into her. "Mum, I want to make the new gingerbreads, but I can't find a couple of the ingredients anywhere. Hellllllppp!"

Deep breaths. It wasn't her fault that Bristlebane gave the lass less common sense and memory than a gnat. Deep breaths.

"An' what did I tell ye last year aboot th' harvesting here, lass?"

"Ummmmm ... I can't remember. Can't you just give me some sugar 'n spice mix, pleeeease?"

"I need my harvestables frae my own uses. I thought ye were going tae upgrade yuir pack pony during th' year so ye'd nae have such a crafting crisis on th' first day yet again."

"Oh, I forgot! But you have your pony, so couldn't you just trade me something for some sugar 'n spice? I only need a dozen!"

Mum held back a sigh with an effort. "Nae. Now, listen carefully this time. Th' red boxes all by themselves are frae th' scholarly type recipes, th' ones wi' th' blue box on top are frae th' outfits an' loom-type stuff, an' th' ones wi' th' small red gift on top are frae the foodish-stuff, BUT ..." Mum waggled a finger, and the lass practically went cross-eyed following the movements of the finger. "Ye need tae harvest ALL o' th' presents, nae jus' the ones ye need right now. Not only may ye need th' other stuff later, but if ye only harvest one or twa of th' present types, pretty soon all that's left is th' stuff ye don't want. It is easier, an' more courteous tae yuir fellow crafters, tae harvest it all tae clear it frae respawn."

"Ok, harvest the ones with the red gifts on top. Got it!"

"Nae! That's nae what I sa-" Too late, the wood elf was gone, skidding across the ice and knocking down two fae and a gnome along the way. "Och."

Sure enough, ten minutes later, Mum found the self-same wood elf whining to an aerakyn about there only being blue presents left to harvest. Hoping that she'd not been seen, Mum quietly backed away, found an icy lamppost, and thunked her head against it a couple times. "I mus' remember tae be charitable an' kind during th' Frostfell season. I mus' remember tae be charitable an' kind during th' Frostfell season." She really tried to live that year-round, not just during Frostfell, but her patience was short at the moment, and she didn't want to ruin anyone else's holiday with a redheaded hissy fit.

Normally, she'd just harvest off the bad mood. With harvesting arguments heating up on several islands between the clear-cutters and the cherry-pickers, she needed somewhere less populated, though. The pinnacle where the great tree now resided sounded like just the thing, and the view from up there was spectacular as well.

Rather than fly directly to the top, she slowly worked her way up the spiraling ramp, harvesting every Frostfell present as she went. As expected, the view from the top was phenomenal, so it took her a few minutes to realize that a frantic Frostfell elf was trying to get her attention.

"Oh no, this is just ... terrible! Our candy cane surplus! It's been ... stolen! By E'ci cubes!"

Mum had heard all sort of things attributed to cubes, but this was the first time she'd heard of them having a sweet tooth! "But ... how?"

She could swear the tiny elf's hands were going to fall off, she was wringing them that hard. "I don't know! It's like the essence of E'ci has gone mad! Just went and slurped all the candy canes up!"

Already, Niami could guess where this was heading, and sure enough, there was the inevitable request for help, and the half-expected twist.

"Oh, and watch out! Earlier I saw some Humbugs leaving gifts upon the ice. I'm not sure if they'll help or hinder you, so be sure to approach them with care." As an added bonus, Mum was warned to hurry, before the frozen treats all melted.

It didn't take Mum long to realize that she was too old, and too cold, to go careening across the ice on a time-senstive chase. To be more specific, it took her two cubes, and two Hunbug gifts, before she decided to let younger and speedier folks chase after the miscreant cubes. It was, after all, only the "surplus" candy canes that had been stolen.

She had almost missed the first gift, as she slipped and slid in a sharp turn on the ice. But almost wasn't good enough, and she clipped the edge of the mostly brown-themed stack of gifts and found herself flung up into the air, with almost no ability to control her flight path or speed of descent.

Naturally, this caused her to land directly on top of one of the black and purple stacks of gifts, which slowed her ice skidding down even more. It was like skating through molasses.

"Bah, Humbugs." Humbugs were especially malicious anti-Frostfell arasai ... or something like that. She'd never asked for an official classification of them, as they were simply "trouble" in her mind, and the "gifts" that they'd left out to slow folks down were especially annoying.

She broke up several snowball fights with a shouted, "If ye young whippersnappers ha' that much energy tae spare, there's some renegade cubes stealing th' Frostfell canes. Go get 'em afore th' candy's all gone!"

Satisfied that she'd done her part to help with the problem, by delegating, Mum decided it was time for some well-deserved shopping therapy in a last-ditch attempt to find her Frostfell spirit.

She was just gathering up her purchases when she overheard a conversation that made her pause.

"Cubes ate up the candy canes? Does that make them sugar cubes? Can we eat them?" While the thought of cooking with candy-sweetened cubes sounded appealing, she suspected it wouldn't be as simple a task as the first speaker thought.

"Cubes are friends, not food!" Ohdear, she knew that voice, and that oft-spoken refrain.

"Of course they're food! Watch!" Mum turned around, just in time to see a froglok flick out his tongue and lick a passing cube. The cube, in turn, started slurping the froglok in in turn. "Mrmph!"

While the lady dark elf wearing the red Frostfell hat simply stood there, exclaiming, "See, cubes are friendly. It just wants to hug you!" Mum and another bystander worked to pull the froglok out of the cube's embrace.

Back and forth the eat vs. hug argument continued, while Mum and the human exchanged eyerolls.

Then Mum had an idea.

Beckoning the human to bend over, she whispered in his ear, and handed him one of the bags containing her new purchases. While the back and forth between the froglok and the not-a-frostfell-elf continued, oblivious, he placed set his item down, while Mum stood directly behind the dark elf, holding an owlbear ice sculpture in front of her face.

"Ahem!"

At Mum's loud and insistent noise, the dark elf turned around and came face-to-claw with the rather menacing looking ice sculpture.

"Gah!" Backpedaling quickly in surprise, the dark elf backed right into the icy bouncer that had been placed on the ground.

FWOOOOOOOOOOOP! Up, up, up flew the dark elf. Then down, down, down. Down into the gentle embrace of a theiving cube, which promptly ejected the candy cane in favor of the struggling dark elf. Several other cubes schlumphed and sklorped in that general direction as well, drawn by the struggle.

"As ye said, they jus' want tae hug ye!" Mum called out helpfully.

With that, Mum scampered off to check on the new Frostfell recipes, hoping there would be something that could be done with sweetened cubes. Sadly, there were no cube recipes to be found, but she rather thought she'd found her Frostfell spirit when she later saw a cube sklorping around with a dark-elf sized Frostfell elf hat inside it.

The above story may or may not be a dramatization based on neverending conversations in the antonia_bayle.homeshow channel. Any such dramatization of various personas may or may not be intentional. {shifty}

Welcome to Frostfell 2014, the annual mid-winter holiday event in EverQuestII! This event will run from 8 a.m. Pacific on December 11, 2014 through 7 a.m. Pacific on January 8, 2015. Whether you are a Frostfell Fanatic or a Humbug, you're likely to find something to enjoy this holiday season!

Magic closets to the Frostfell Wonderland Village will appear in every home city, transporting you to a rather icy and snowy wonderland. In addition to the Frostfell crafting instance, there are plenty of other returning quests for the avid Frostfeller, as well as one new quest - the race that's mentioned in the story above. (While Mum and Mum's human aren't keen on this type of race, many will find it a fun challenge.)

As with past years, harvestable presents are scattered around the zone, with 55 different types of Frostfell-specific resource to be gathered. Several Gigglegibber vendors in the zone will sell you recipe books (3 new ones, plus all the ones from past years), shopping bags for the Frostfell harvestables if you need them, and special Frostfell fuels. The recipes can only be crafted upon the special Frostfell equipment that can not only be found in the Frostfell Wonderland Village, but home versions of the station can also be quested.

If you're harvesting for your Frostfell crafting supplies, don't forget to use harvesting kits and the like to speed up your harvesting. The upgraded pack pony will also be a boon, as you can send him off after holiday harvests for the duration of the event.

Right about now, some of you are champing at the bit, though, wanting me to stop babbling, and start dishing out the Frostfell furniture love, so here we go!

New Frostfell Recipes

Cerulean Frost Wizard Star	Chillburn Axe	Chillburn Hammer
Chillburn Hook	Chillburn Shortspear	Chillburn Warstaff
Cold Pine Garland	Cold Pine Swag	Crunchy Gingerbread Plushie
Delectable Gingerbread Plushie	Green Frostfell Streamer	Green and Red Frostfell Streamer
Green Sheen Wizard Star	Ice Brick Block	Ice Brick Half Block
Ice Brick Narrow Divider	Ice Brick Railing	Ice Brick Short Column
Ice Brick Stair	Ice Brick Tall Column	Ice Brick Tall Divider
Ice Brick Tile	Magical Butterscotch Ball*	Magical Peppermint Swirl*
Magical Red and Black Striped Cane*	Magical Red and White Candycane*	Poinsett Flower in an Envious Pot
Poinsett Flower in a Radiant Pot	Ruby Threaded Round Rug	Sweet Gingerbread Plushie
Tasty Gingerbread Plushie

* "Magical" items have a sparkle particle effect and also rotate.

New Frostfell Buyables

Gerbi Frostfoot, the vendor that sells items for tokens of e'ci (the reward currency from various Frostfell quests), has several new items for sale this year.

Curious Beaver Ice Sculpture 20 tokens	Sitting Lion Ice Sculpture 20 tokens	Threatening Owlbear Ice Sculpture -- 20 tokens
Frostfell Icy Bouncer 10 tokens	Frosty Glow Skimmer 5 tokens	White Frostail Reindeer (blue saddle) - 500 tokens

The bouncer, well, bounces you, when you step on it, just like you've seen for Bristlebane and Tinkerfest. The glow skimmer doesn't preview properly, but has several animated effects that let it skim around and do other fun stuff in your home. The reindeer is a flying mount.

New Gifts

Once every 18 hours, you can hail Santa Glug in the Frostfell Wonderland Village and receive a gift. Items in bold on the list below are new.

• An Animated Snowpack (house pet)
• Big 'N Furry Plushie
• Bucket of Icy Snowballs
• Cinder Elk Antlers (head appearance gear)
• Daarspire Snowglobe
• Pine Scented Incense Burner
• Lime Green Gumdrop (fluff pet)
• Lucious Red Gumdrop (fluff pet)
• Malvonicus' Tower Snowglobe
• Majestic Stag Ice Sculpture
• Scarstone Snowglobe
• Ssraeshza Snowglobe
• Tiered Frostfell Cake
• Void Touched Gumdrop (fluff pet)
• White Poinsett Flower in an Envious Pot

An Animated Snowpack	Cinder Elk Antlers	Lucious Red Gumdrop
Malvonicus' Tower Snowglobe	Pine Scented Incense Burner	Ssraeshza Snowglobe
White Poinsett Flower in an Envious Pot