By Bixyl Shuftan
I recently stopped by the sim of my friend Safra Nitely, Devon Dream. Every year, Safra decorates her sim for the holidays. And this year was no exception. "It's a work in progress," she told me when I met up with her, "I started it last night."
While she had only been building for less than a day, most of the work was already done. The place was snow covered and there were walkways going around much of the sim, often with short stone walls on either side and going through pine forest, the green needles with snow in the leaves. There were also streetlamps with wreaths every so often. One stretch of walkway had colorful lights on the brick walls and white lights on the boards underneath. With the sun set to midnight, it was quite a pretty view. One branch of the road led to what Safra called a crystal island, trees with colorful glowing leaves surrounding a crystal carousel. Once again, this was best viewed the sun set to Midnight, showing a rainbow of lit-up trees.
Going further, there was a pond of skating penguins. Unlike what was hinted with the penguins Strawberry Linden looked at earlier, there was no sneakiness with them. As we walked, we passed three stores, which were currently empty. Safra told me they were free to whomever wanted them, "If there is demand, we will add more." We went by another icy pond with what looked like cups large enough for a person to sit in, "We have bumper snowball cars too." There was also a Santa's workshop in which the big guy checked over a list while in one corner elves made some toys and juggled candy canes. By the largest pond is a hangout area, with a sweets stand with lots of candy and cookies on display. One can sit by a table near a stove and nibble on a jam-flavored tart.
Around the area were various smaller displays. There were reindeer, there were elves, there were snowmen, there were polar bears, some playing music, and there were piles of presents. All added to the cheerful atmosphere.
"So this is unfinished," Safra told me, "Another one or two days I think, given I started yesterday on a blank sim. So it's all gone up in twenty-four hours. Most of the time was doing the path and the walls, the rest just filled in after." Originally, she was going to take a break this year, "Some people contacted me asking if I was going to do Christmas (decorating). When I said no, they were line 'What are we going to do then?' Apparently some rely on this place to be together Christmas D ay. This level is open to the public from Monday. It will not be pony-themed, it will be for generally everyone, welcome to come sit, have a coffee or chat, take photos, or just chill out." She commented her work should be all done the following day.
Safra planned a party at the area as well, "There will be a Christmas party here from 12PM SL time to 5PM, it will be taking all of (the) EU into Christmas, with 'NORAD Track Santa. Yes, we will be tracking Santa. We'll have a contest, and fun."
A couple friends of Safra joined us, and there was a few minutes of joking around, then Safra went back to work. Dropping by later, it was evening and there was a pretty aurora in the night sky. A well-done Christmas area.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Devon%20Dream/84/97/24Bixyl Shuftan
