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The Christmas Challenge
EnkiSchmidt
Posts: 5,341 Member
A short (4 sim weeks) challenge written by Aislynne. The objective is to save your town’s Christmas Fair by completing a series of thematically related tasks.
You can find the rules and original story here: http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=567508
For this playthrough I’m changing things up by using a child sim (and an adult helper).
You can find the rules and original story here: http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=567508
For this playthrough I’m changing things up by using a child sim (and an adult helper).
Currently playing: Journey to Batuu & Horse Ranch mashup
1
Comments
“Are we live yet? Yes? Okay!!! – Hello, my name is Peggy! And this is my family, the Reeds. We’re all “occults” of some kind, but I’m going to leave that part out, cuzz it’s crazy complicated when you hear it all in one go. You’ll see in time who flexes wings, who grows fur, who becomes a fish and who doesn’t change shape, but still does cool eldritch stuff.
The man holding my hand is my father, Daniel, he teaches at my school, but next year I will go to a different school, so it won’t be so awkward anymore.
On my other side sit my granny and gramps. They live across the street with Aunt Tina. The man next to Tina is my other father, Gavin, and he’s a police captain and Aunt Tina is a regular cop.
The boy on the right (your left) is Aunt Tina’s and Gavin dad’s accidental son, my brother Jin, he’s a literal Genius who works at the MIT.
And the boy to the left (your right) is my other brother, Hendrik. Can you believe he is the president’s son? Because he isn’t. Ricky is only President Fowler’s offspring, but he is my dads’ son forever!”
The family tree (an outtake) looks like this (Colors denote the household the sims are in):
But all you really need to know is this: Peggy is ten years old and her school has just announced that there will be no Christmas/Yule Ball this year. We cannot let them get away with that, can we?
Detroit, November 2050
It was ten in the morning when Police Captain Gavin Reed returned home from a grueling nightshift and work overtime. All he desired now was to cuddle with his partner. But Daniel wasn’t to come home from his teaching job for at least four more hours, and so Gavin expected to enter an empty house.
However… Daniel was at home, watching the ornamental fish.
Gavin: “Tell me you caught something incredibly exotic, that will set us off to another quest to a newly introduced world and grants the paltry rest of the team that is still mundane an occult lifestate, too.”
Daniel: “Tempting, but, no, I’m not ill. Only suspended for the rest of the year.”
Cuddles cannot cure everything, but there is little they won’t soften.
Daniel: “They’ll let me teach remotely during December, and pay for those hours, provided I apologize.”
Gavin: “No one can apologize like you, Danny.”
It was true. A hot-headed sim, Daniel threw himself equally deep into both his anger and being sorry.
Gavin: “What’s there to apologize for anyway?”
Daniel: “Dunking the principal’s head into a toilet.”
Gavin: “That’s an improvement over the incident from last fall, when you shot the president’s portrait in her office - she should give you credit for that, haha! – What was your argument about this time?”
Daniel: “That’s where this stops being funny. The school has canceled this year’s Christmas Party.”
Gavin: “What? You kidding me? The Snowflake Gala is the biggest, most magical event in Newcrest every year! Plus, it’s Peggy’s final year at your school before she transfers to Henderson. They cannot take her last Snowflake Gala away from her, she’s entitled to four!”
Daniel: “Nope, not kidding. The parents’ committee claims the decorations are too expensive, all the good bands have been hired already and the kids aren’t in the mood anyway.”
Gavin was looking back at eighteen years as a police officer, and part-time work as a private eye before that. He had worked on his share of cases in Detroit, abroad and in one especially weird case also inside of a book that had come alive. He had accidently split his soul, too, so the man wasn’t a stranger to high stakes operations. But never before had the stakes been this high.
Hm, looks like the game isn’t supporting Peggy’s future career as a middle school menace…
I gave her Goofball father the Mentor trait so that he could advice Peggy on the finer points of internet trolling, but he wasn’t able to tutor her despite having his own Mischief skill maxed. Peggy can learn it on her own, just not from her father.
Gavin: “What your principal said, about you kids not being in the mood for the Snowflake Gala, what was that about?”
Peggy: “Oh, that. You know when you tell people “No, thanks, my kids don’t want 3D printed candy”? But what you really mean is “I don’t want the children to snack on printercandy”. Some parents got into an argument about whether we should call it Christmas or Winterfest and in the end neither side wanted to even celebrate it anymore. It’s really silly.”
That argument again. Gavin sighed. He was living in a time where science had proven the existence of souls and an afterlife, but what exactly it looked like, whether there was an entity controlling it, or the nature of said entity, was still unclear. Perhaps some mysteries couldn’t be solved at all. Not that this would stop people from defending their favorite theory about the matter.
Come to think of it, what if the parents’ behavior wasn’t the cause, but the effect? The people of Detroit were indeed acting a little strange lately, they seemed sadder and angrier than usual. The cops had noticed that, but written it off as people blowing small concerns up to large proportions, now that life was so much easier than it had been twelve years ago. Gavin would have to keep this in mind when he returned to work tomorrow.
Peggy: “Anyway! I’m going to convince everyone that they should not listen to their buzzkill parents! If enough of us kids DEMAND the Snowflake Gala to happen, then it will happen!”
Gavin: “Sounds like a plan.”
Gavin didn't say "Call us when you need us." The girl knew that, and stating it out loud would only have undermined her self esteem.
Christmas Challenge - Week 1 tasks:
Calm down angry sims (using the specific interaction)
Cheer up sad sims (using the specific interaction)
Assist families with children or elders (give gifts & do chores)
Level your Comedy skill (Charisma in Peggy’s case, since for some reason she cannot unlock Comedy despite having Child Social maxed out)
Each goal is worth a maximum of ten points, but to pass Peggy needs only 15 points.
If she helped families with children and elders, that should improve both the families’ happiness and increase Peggy's reputation. Maybe afterwards the principal would listen to her and the parents’ committee would re-think their decision in favor of the Snowflake Gala!
Only problem: After the first task, raking the leafs in the Andersons’ backyard, this felt less than activism and more like detention.
Still Peggy didn’t give up. She cleaned her grandparents’ chicken coop, fed and entertained the residents...
...dusted and de-bunnied the whole Archer residence...
...did the laundry for the police cadets’ living community...
...and helped the neighborhood children with their homework.
Each of those tasks was performed in Newcrest. Except for the laundry task, Peggy didn’t even have to leave Michigan Drive. But now that she had finished her tour up and down the street, tomorrow she’d strike out into the wider Detroit!
Peggy could have had a snowball fight with the neighbors’ kids, but, no, she was on a mission to help younger children and the elderly!
This time Daniel accompanied his daughter, but strictly as a bodyguard only. The adult had to promise not to lend a hand.
Ready to see the real Detroit, little mouse?
Like your dad’s co-workers standing in the narrow floor, because they have displaced their apartment keys? (Vanishing apartment door bug did strike again.) Sergeant Murakami seemed to take the situation with grace, and Detective Pauls decided to keep her company, but Macky Murakami looked like he dropped where he stood.
"No, that's not it! I'm totally doing pushups here!"
While the adults were waiting for the lockout service, Peggy took Jayna Murakami and the Allen twins treasure hunting.
Daniel watched his daughter from afar. He couldn’t help but think of how this had been his husband’s lifestyle when he had been Peggy’s age. But those times were past, and now dumpster diving was just a funny game for the next generation of Reeds.
The girls quickly noticed that Kendra was wearing the matching trousers to Peggy’s jacket. It had to be fate! Surely they were meant to become friends by the powers that were!
The only hindrance was Archibald Allen standing vigil between his sister and Peggy. After all, this girl was the daughter of his and Kendra’s late father’s sworn enemy, Daniel Reed née Phillips. (Meanwhile said Daniel was standing out of side behind an advertisment poster, keeping an eye on the children from there.)
Kendra: “But can’t you see, Archie? Peggy and me are meant to be two sides of the same coin! We will be friends forever and one day we will fall in love with the same boy and we will duel for him, but our weapons will refuse to strike at each other because of our bond...”
Archibald seemed to be able to get behind that, or maybe he just wanted to shut his sister up, in any case next thing he hugged Peggy.
(Daniel Phillips' and David Allen's children hugging is a big thing in this chronicle. For purpose of the challenge it is only important insofar as that Peggy has to choose two agemates for a week 3 task later. Kendra will definitely get chosen.)
Kendra: “That’s MY fated mate, Archie! Don’t dare stealing her!!!”
...where Julia Wright lived, a private attorney and influential member of the parents’ committe. Mrs. Wright was therefore a prime target for Peggy’s campaign.
This was the first occasion where her father had to help the girl: Daniel did the spraying, while Peggy plucked the weeds.
Daniel: "What exactly are we tending to here? Those plants smell like trash!"
Peggy: "I think they really are called trash plants."
Daniel: "For real? Wow. That's Detroit for you, I suppose. We cannot get rid of the garbage, so we cultivate it..."
Peggy: "Maybe? Or maybe instead of getting rid of something bad, we make it better!"
Daniel solemnly nodded. His hometown certainly had improved a lot in the past two decades, not just economically, also in the way people of all life states were treating each other. How strange that for once the big picture was the nice one, but the small things, like the Snowflake Gala, were in jeopardy.
Daniel also took care of the roaches and flies at the junkyard Julia’s father in law made his living from. It took a few tries, but eventually the buzzing and scuttling tenants agreed to move out.
(Flys: Killer androids! They’re sending killer the killer android after us now!
Roaches: Yeah. Have you SEEN what that thing did to the greenflys next door? I don’t know about you, but me, I’m outta here, mate!)
It really was a chocolate themed restaurant with a small exhibition dedicated to the invention and smuggle of the original Selvadoradan Xocolatl. Opening day was reserved for local politicians and celebs as well as the management of Urban Farms, CyberLife and Great Lakes Trading, the city’s major taxpayers.
Also on the guest list was one Mr. J. Reed-Chen, one of the country’s leading occult researchers. The invitation stated that he was allowed to bring family members...
Host: “Welcome to the Chocolate museum, Mr. Reed-Chen!”
Daniel: “Just “Mr. Reed”. Jin Reed-Chen is the one in the checkered sweater.”
Waiter: “Oh, our apologies, Mr. Reed-Chen! So you’re some kind of child prodigy?”
Jin: “Yeah. With all the downsides being underage in Natural Sciences brings. Like, about the only reproduction method the professors felt comfortable teaching me about was parthenogenesis.”
Waiter: “But why did you draw on the placemat like a kid?”
Ricky: “Let him think about that for a while, Mister! Pretty sure him BEING a kid cannot be the reason...”
Jin: “Haha, that shut him up! Thank you, Ricky!”
Ricky: “No biggie. Adults can be so dumb at times...”
Jin: “Lol, what does he think I’m doing at the MIT? I majored in Occultism and Marine Biology, not Visual Arts!”
Jin: “Hey, is that the crimson mutation of Prionace glauca you’re drawing there? Kewl! I wouldn’t have dared casually doodling one in public, considering the ongoing debate regarding their Threatened status. It would look like taking sides, you know?”
Ricky: “Marine biology major checks out.”
The Reeds had a fun afternoon at the Chocolate Museum.
The next day started even better with Daniel finding an unexpected package in the mail:
Look who got a teaching award! What do you say now, evil principal lady?
(Daniel is at the top of the teaching career now, but in-story he is employed at a primary school and not interested in working a different job.)
Mid November Michigan Drive was covered in snow already. The residents could hardly see their neighbors across the street.
Ricky: “Pip says in Pleasantview the children get Snow Days when it’s as high as today.”
Peggy: “Pip says a lot of things.”
Ricky: “Yeah. One day she tried to tell us that the witches in her old hometown were color coded. Evil ones turn green, good ones golden!”
Peggy: “Uncle Connor once was pink-blue-yellow for several months. What alignment is that?”
Ricky: “I don’t know?”
Peggy: “That’s the stuff they should teach in school! They’re totally leaving us in the dark about the real world!”
That morning Peggy reminded me of her police captain father:
“Sooo tired of all this 💩... I can’t function without my morning "coffee" (cocoa).”
Despite having a teacher and a police detective for parents, Peggy had a stash of so-called vacation days, basically an agreed-upon in advance number of parent-approved school skipping. Some of those the girl now used up to focus on her quest.
That’s not me becoming responsible, right? She wondered. Using up my school skipping days to work on a charity project? No! Can’t be! I’m actively rebelling against Mrs. Prescott! That’s it! I’m still myself! Untamed! Beloved! Feared! All kids will still love me and despair!
As a side effect of her efforts, Peggy had to buy her cocoa from a vendor stall, it wasn’t the good one the Chocolate Museum was supplying the school and workplaces with as part of their advertising campaign. Sacrifices had to be made…
Although she had strived as the Schoolyard Bully for 3 1/2 years, Peggy also had the makings of a Popular Girl (not that those two would be mutually exclusive).
During the first week of the challenge she commendably cheered up sad sims and calmed down angry ones, both agemates and adults. It didn’t always work, in fact, about half of the time Peggy’s attempts failed. But what counted was getting seen doing this, because it might inspire others to do the same, with better results.
The Christmas Challenge - Week 1 results
Comedy (Charisma) Skill: 5 pts.
Sad Sims cheered up: 1 pt.
Angry Sims calmed down: 2 pts.
Families with children or elders helped: 10 pts.
Total points: 18 of 15 required
Lots of fluff/slice of life in today’s posts, but some of what I mentioned will become relevant for the challenge later.
Winter came and with it the need for warm sweaters - I picked colors Daniel and Gavin don’t usually wear.
However, when they played with their cats later, they chose their favorite colors for their laser pens:
Daniel: “At least I’m matching Wolf now.”
Gavin: “Yeah, and also the doors and the floor and the wall paint... My husband’s gone camouflage, haha!”
Teasing.. cuddling… helping Peggy with her project… Life was good. Even the vampire attack that night wasn’t related to the Landgraabs’ conspiracy, but a perfectly normal burglarizing attempt where the burglar in question was a vampire.
Gavin, too, perceived himself as a member of his nation and culture first, and as a vampire second. Most modern vampires experienced their condition as a chronic illness. Tales of powerful mentors from previous ages of magic were the stuff of urban myths.
Looks like I forgot to adjust Gavin’s Dark Form for the change of seasons. Oh, well, he likes snow and hardly feels its effects, so why not.
Will be joining you shortly, just testing out a few things with my sim.
Instead of making the flirty cupid drinks - how about make silly gummybear pancakes? Making cupid juice requires Level 3 Mixology and The gummybear pancakes requires Cooking Level 3.
That would indeed be child friendly, but the Reeds are not the most responsible characters, that's why I opted for Emotion Drinks with their unpredictable results. Peggy can make them herself at the chemistry table.
When Peggy returned to her room at the end of the week, she found it changed. Now the girl had complained that the room she was sharing with Ricky was a bit too childish for a ten year old, and the parents had promised to do something about that, but... THIS was a bit TOO mature! (Even though the parrot skeleton was a nice touch.)
Daniel: “Hi, little mouse! What are you doing in Gavin’s and my study?”
Peggy: “Your study...? That’s down the floor to the left!”
Daniel: “No longer! We moved the furniture while you two were at school. Oh, and we also decided to get rid of Hendrik Fowler. He never really fit in, with his surname sounding like a holiday meal.”
Peggy: “Uh… really? But I thought… Oh. Well, bye, then, Ricky, I guess…? Oh my god, what am I saying here?!”
Ricky: “Yeah, bye, Peggy. ‘twas nice knowing you.” *giggles*
Daniel: “Say “Hello” to Hendrik Reed instead!”
Peggy: “Oh! The adoption papers finally came through! A new brother for my collection, haha!”
Ricky: “That’s right! Trial’s over, now you’re getting me as the full version with all features unlocked, haha!”
Naturally, if Ricky was here to stay for good, he needed his own room. There were two to choose from, the former study and the former master bedroom, both of the same size and offering the same view. Nevertheless the discussion who’d get which one turned a bit heated.
After expanding the house and furnishing the children’s new rooms, there was still money left for an extra:
With full moon around the corner, things turned a little rough, but the neighbors ascribed the howling and hissing to the strays.
Ricky: “Why can’t treasure hunting work in real life, too! I heard the news, the children and parents now all are in favor of holding the Snowflake Gala, but the principal said the school has no money left. How much does the gala cost, anyway?”
Peggy: “38,500 dollar. But I’m going to raise that, just you wait!”
Ricky: “How?”
Peggy: “For starters I’m going to sell holiday themed handcrafts!”
This... could take a while.
Those days Peggy displayed an uncharacteristic interest in chemistry...
Gavin: “What’s that you’re brewing?”
Peggy: “An emotion drink! It makes you feel a random emotion for a couple of minutes!”
Gavin: “Let me guess, Jin gave you the recipe?”
Peggy: “No, Emma did. It’s Alchemy, not Mad Science.”
Daniel (seriously): “Ah, good. That’s reassuring.”
Gavin: “Sooo... major prank coming up?”
Peggy: “No, not this time. I’m going to sell the drinks, to raise money for the Snowflake Gala!”
Peggy: “And I was thinking we could get ourselves a food cart and sell hot cocoa and teas, too!”
Daniel: “A basic foot cart costs 16,323 dollar. You’d never break even, let alone make profit, in time for the Snowflake Gala. It would be more sensible to straight up donate some money.”
Ricky: “Sixteenthousand... and three? That’s an oddly specific sum, dad...”
Daniel: “Well, yes. Caroline has a food cart up for sale right now, that’s how I know. But that doesn’t concern us."
Gavin: “Oh, c’mon, you know you want that foot cart!”
Daniel: “Maybe...?”
Gavin: “Food cart! Food cart!”
Daniel: “You must admit, it IS the ultimate toy kitchen. Toy kitchen for adults.”
Gavin: “Exactly!”
Daniel: “Weeeell, I could ask Caroline to rent it... With an option to buy it later?”
And with that we are in Week 2 of the Christmas Challenge!
Objective: Fundraising
Scored tasks:
- Sell 5 playful paintings (Peggy cannot use the easel yet, that’s why I let her create holiday decoration instead)
- Sell 15 Cupid Nectar (Emotion drinks from the science table will do)
- Sell 5 My Sims figurines
- Run a bakery (1 pt./100 $ profit)
- Take loans (1 pt./1000 dollar)
- Freeform task (I tend to use photography here, Selfies with Santa or postcards)
The Challenge rules say “Run a bakery” at this point, but they were written before Dine Out, so I’m going to take a creative license here and play a restaurant this time.
The rules also state that we can cheat for the bakery’s initial cost, and originally I had planned to let Daniel run the Chocolate Museum for a week, but then I remembered that I still had the long neglected food cart lot and changed my plans. The Reed household funds were at 45,000 dollar before expanding the house, and even afterwards they could still comfortably afford to buy the food truck, so it’s theirs to keep after the challenge.
Caroline apparently had thrown in a day long use of her weather machine when she sold the food cart to Daniel, because it was mild and the streets were free of snow all day.
The first customer was Kate Lynx, the Reeds’ vet (in the company of a Strangerville officer).
Also memorable was the Snyde-Rendall couple, consisting of the troubleshooter and the head of research of Urban Farms. Despite working for a biofood company, they tend to show up at every possible Fast Food place in my game. Case in point: they were not at the chocolate museum during the opening, only their boss was.
At the end of the day Daniel had actually made a small net profit: 487 dollar. That translates into 4 points for the challenge.
The customer verdict was “Barely edible, and unprofessional service, but for the price it was okay.”
Meet Elfie Jingle
But maybe it was destiny that Elfie had been sent there because while he was there, he heard some gossip from his friend Decker, about some sims in the Simworld. These sims lived in a town called Willow Creek, and had lost the Winterfest spirit. They were angry and mean, (even worse than that angry elf, Grumpy), and had even cancelled the town's Winterfest Festival this year! From what Decker had told him, the naughty list was getting longer everyday with more and more names of these Willow Creek residents being added. And, according to his other friend, Jangles, it was getting worse. This ho-humness was starting to affect nearby towns. Elfie's other friend, Snowflake, had overhead the conversation and whispered that even Father Winter was getting worried and had refused to eat some sugar cookies this morning! Oh my gumdrops! This was terrible! They had to do something!
And so, after elf detention, Elfie and his friends went to the reindeer barns. They decided that one of them had to help! But who? They decided to draw candy canes from a bag, and having drawn the smallest candy cane, (which he promptly ate), Elfie was chosen to go.
Elfie knew he could do it, and with his elf friends cheering him on, Elfie headed to the magic portal and was whisked off to Willow Creek. Whoosh!
Notes:
Doing this rags to riches style, so Elfie will start with no funds and no skills in Willow Creek. I had originally made Elfie as a YA, but then changed my mind and decided that he would start as a teen to do this challenge. He is up in the gallery as a YA.
Good luck to Elfie! (I wonder if we'll see his friends again in week 3 or will he recruit humans?)
Daniel wondered what was Caro’s game here? They had a rather rocky shared history, so this could really go both ways: Caroline wanting to help Daniel get his little project on its feet with a good review or sabotaging him with a bad one.
Daniel told the staff to prioritize this table...
... whereupon the stranger started taking notes:
“Owner gives customers he knows preferential treatment.”
That aside, everything went really well. Caroline remained sceptic a little longer than the restaurant critic did, but that was to be expected. After all, she had run this very same food truck with the exact same table arrangement for several months. Caroline could spot the smallest slip that might impede efficiency.
Wow, Judith Ward visited our food cart!
Daniel: “Robert? You’re dating Mrs. Ward now?!”
Robert: “Nope. We’ve have her in custody and she wouldn’t stop complaining about the meals, so I took her here. I figured YOUR food would satisfy the lady. And if it didn’t, you might do us the favor of shooting her.”
Judith: “He’s joking, is he...?”
Daniel: “Of course he’s joking! It’s full moon tonight. I wouldn’t be able to hold a gun straight - I’d simply rip off one of your arms to play with!”
Meanwhile Peggy helped herself to the leftovers. After having sampled from everything on the menu this way, her stomach hurt, but it had been worth it. Why couldn’t dad cook tiny servings of ten different meals at home, instead of one boring full meal!
They closed the restaurant just in time for the second night of the full moon. Well, ALMOST in time, because Daniel transformed before driving home. No patrons were hurt or even scared, but Peggy had to call her other father to pick them up. Gavin came flying over and drove his daughter home, with Daniel running alongside the car. His senses alerted him to several rodents in Corktown, that he could have went after, but a good car chase was sooo much better!
Peggy made a point of not watching her father. Her Earth/Sixam/Android heritage made Peggy near tireless and able to adapt to a wide range of environments and diets, what wasn’t something to scoff at, of course. But sometimes Peggy envied her parents for their secondary shapes. The best she could hope for was to turn purple from eating Sixam food.
But when they had arrived back home, the jealousy was forgotten. The Reed children were excited every full moon anew!
(This interaction is called “Hug cool werewolf” and it’s perfectly safe. Even during a rampage the instinct to not hurt the cubs is strong.)
Neither partner needed to sleep, but a rampage always took its toll on body and mind, and so Daniel decided to hit the hay around six o’clock.
And also the day when Gavin got reminded of this half-forgotten fact...
It was Prank Day today, a custom that the Reeds always participated in to the fullest.
Later that day - just two neighors hanging out at the snack vendor. One of them slurping a plasma pack was a rare, but not an outrageous sight. After all, in 2050 every city the size of Detroit was housing a significant number of occults. Running into one was about as likely as running into a celebrity in New York or Los Angeles, and the occults inspired similar feelings in people.
As a vampire in the modern world Gavin didn’t receive threats of holy water and stakes, but therapy to help him control the bloodthirst and plasma packs on prescription (Meaning the household has the Registered Vampire Hideout trait.).
Mischief Day was the one day where tossing vampire powers around wasn’t seen as rude or show-offy, but as funny, and Gavin made ample use of that opportunity. As a result he finally pushed through, maxed out his vampire rank and was able to learn Tamed Thirst. He is no longer at risk of autonomously biting sims when his vampire thirst is low.
I found it fitting that this milestone coincided with Mischief Day. Gavin was a Goofball long before he became a vampire, it is his true nature, the vampirism being just a mix of useful skills to help with his job and chronic disease. But there were also vampires in the world who put their occult state first, thinking of it as the cornerstone of their identity…
Is it still prank day or is this real? Unrelated to the challenge, but here we have Gavin’s other neighbor, the head of the Department for Paranormal Investigations, playing with Ricky's lego set. While wearing his full ghost hunting gear.
I picture this sim as loving to do things with his own hands, but was thinking of woodworking, not toys. Well, looks like an oversight and the Reeds now know what to give him for Christmas this year!
The fast food and handcrafts were selling well, but what made Peggy the most money was a set of four calendars that she had created.
Set 1: Snowy Newcrest (1,114 dollar)
Set 2: Corktown/Conifer Station (897 dollar)
Set 3: Magic HQ (1,697 dollar)
Set 4: Chocolate Delights (915 dollar)
(I accidently sold the photos of this one, but still had the copies in my screenshots folder.)
Her publishing efforts even earned Peggy a little fame, not as a photographer, but as the girl who worked so hard to fund her school’s Christmas Party:
Not surprisingly with Daniel for her father Peggy’s first fame quirk was Refined Palate.
Run a bakery/food cart: 5/5 pts.
Take loans: 0/5 pts.
Sell handcrafts: 5/5 pts.
Sell My Sims figurines: 1/5 pts.
Sell Emotion Drinks: 5/5 pts.
Sell photographs: 4/5 pts.
Total: 20 points of 15 required
Elfie's first task was to cheer up the residents of Willow Creek. To get him in the mood, he took a selfie, which would make any sim smile. Perhaps if he could make the sims happy, they would decide to hold their Winterfest Festival after all. But how could he do that? Maybe if he explored the neighborhood a bit, he would come up with some ideas.
He passed a library, and thought that this would be a great place to get ideas on how to cheer sims up. He went inside and spoke to the librarian.
Elfie: "Do you have any books on Winterfest?"
The Librarian looked at Elfie strangely: "Well, we have a few children's books and some holiday cook books. Sims have not been in the Winterfest mood this year, and no-one has checked them out, so they are available to read in the library. You know, Winterfest used to be such a joyous time in Willow Creek, and the children would flock to the library for Saturday Winterfest stories. But due to budget cuts, we are not able to do that this year. It is indeed a loss."
Elfie saw the librarian's glum face, and decided that the librarian was the first sim he would cheer up. And pretty soon, Darsh Srivastava, was Elfie's first sim friend.
Elfie then said that he would be happy to read stories to the children on Saturdays.
The Librarian smiled at him and told him that he would bring in his own, personal Winterfest books, so that Elfie could read to the children.
Librarian: "Elfie, if you need help with anything, let me know."
Elfie then explained that he wanted to help more residents feel cheerful, but he wasn't sure how he could help out. The librarian pointed to a bulletin board and told Elfie that it listed some volunteer jobs to help the residents of Willow Creek.
Elfie thanked the librarian and went over to the board. He saw many listings from parents who needed help with small children, and elders who needed some help with yard work. That would be wonderful. He would go and do that right away!
But before he even went out the door, an angry sim entered the library. In fact, there were many angry sims visiting the library today. Well, what better time than the present to cheer these sims up. Right?
He calmed down Hilary Laurent in the bathroom...
...and Lily Feng and Tanes Ngata. In fact, while he was chatting, he saw a sim leave the library angry. Oh, he couldn't let her leave that way, and so he followed her outside and listened to Nancy Landgraab rant and rave about utility bills.
As Elfie listened to the sims' problems and gave them an encouraging word, many of the sims suddenly smiled at him and thanked him for making them feel better. Elfie was so happy and felt that he was making progress. Oh, if only his elf friends could see him now!
Elfie also met a child named Lucas Munch who was rather sad, but with a few jokes about nacho cheese, Elfie had Lucas laughing again.
As he headed towards the back of the library, an angry elder, named Agnes Crumplebottom, was muttering about improper sims and how disgraceful it was to see sims canoodling in public. Elfie didn't really know what canoodling was, but after he spoke with Agnes, she smiled and told him that he was a very respectful teen. She told him that anytime he was in Henford-on-Bagley to come and visit her at her food stall.
With the talk of food, Elfie was feeling a bit hungry and the librarian had told him that there was a bar-b-q area near the water. Now, what could Elfie find to grill? Oh, but wait, there was a sim near the grill and they had just finished grilling some fruit kebobs and invited Elfie to join them. They chatted for a bit and became friends.
Elfie was so impressed with this sim's kindness that he wished he had some type of gift to give him. Elfie didn't have his trusty workbench with him to make this sim a toy, but maybe, if he looked around, he would find some other types of gifts.
Elfie started searching the area, and sure enough, found several wonderful gifts, such as frogs, flowers and veggies, beautiful crystals and stones, and cute little statues. What wonderful treasures he had found!
His first day in Willow Creek was over and he wandered back to the library thinking of the nice, soft bench that he would sleep on tonight.
Two of the three elf friends, I got from the gallery, and the third I created. Just changed the hair, names, clothing and aged them down to teens.
Decker Halls & Jingle Belle (I changed her name to Snowflake) made by this creator.