The Christmas tree consolidates my most and least favorite things about Christmas into one not-so-tidy package: the light-hearted fun of decorating the tree, and the supreme annoyance of cleaning it up later. This year I'm pondering a plastic tree, just because I don't want to have to scrape pine needles out of my brand-new carpet. However, an easier way to have my way and eat it too (have my tree and keep it, too?) is to just make a virtual tree in Flash. Not only can I have fun decorating and re-decorating it in a million different ways, there's no mess to clean up when I'm done!

The busiest shopping season of the year has descended on us, complete with ads touting gifts for mom, dad, grandma, sister, brother, son, daughter, and the neighbor's dog (who could probably give you the best gift of all this holiday season and stop yapping at 3 in the morning). What you don't see, however, are ads telling you just what to get for that animation enthusiast in your life (and aren't we supposed to be your top priority, anyway?). Never fear, for Animation@About.com has come to the rescue with not one, but two lists that should help you in your holiday shopping extravaganza.

• From Gouache to Gadgets: Shopping for the Animator on Your Holiday Gift List
• 10 Essential Animation Supplies

Recently we've had a rash of people replying to an extremely old blog post linking to a tutorial for creating text effects in Flash MX and lower, pointing out that the method is outdated. Since the tutorial's over 2 years old, I figured it was time to create a new one addressing the new, much easier ways to create text effects in Flash CS3 and higher. The old tutorial's still there for those who still use MX, but for those who've upgraded and moved on, check out the new tutorial on creating text drops shadows in Flash CS3.

The lesson on falling snow in Flash doesn't have to remain confined to the space alotted by an embedded Flash video. You can actually combine wMode with the Flash falling snow script to create background transparency for a Flash movie layered on top of your existing content, so you can make it snow on your text, your images, and everything else. As the song says - let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!