Re: Seasons callendar whoopsie

@riobunny That's awesome! :eahigh_file: I'm really glad you shared also, as someone else may want to try that method also to see if it works for their game. Ya, I removed all of those annoying gnome invasions that were ruining holidays for my large households. 😕

@riobunny& @SheriGR , I have yet to alter the calendar length, so thanks for the heads-up and tips to deal with it! 😎  Even though I often tinker with the actual holidays themselves (I hate the "neighborhood brawl" 🤒 since I like most of my Sims to be nice, though it did come in handy for one family I had 😃 ).  Also, I often have large families with all ages of children so for Love Day I usually cancel the "date" and instead have teens and older watch romance on TV!  ❤️

Sheri, you said that the gnomes were ruining your holidays, but I've only ever encountered one (Harvest Fest) that came with gnomes as a default.🤨  So, is it just that you hate the gnomes so much that they seem to happen more often, or is it that you've actually found another holiday that comes with them?🤔  I actually like the gnome invasions!  🧙  Most of my households have at least a small garden, so the extra seeds come in handy. 😉

@PugLove888  Well... at the time seasons came out I was knee-deep in a large family with two couples who had toddlers and fighting the annoying glitchy highchairs trying to orchestrate the dinner <**breath**> and did not expect the gnomes (or if I noticed anything about them I assumed it would be something cute (I like gnomes!) and it really rather creeped me out that I had several times where I was trying to track down a sim in the house to have them do their holiday thing and there was a gnome or two randomly re-appearing or asking to be appeased and doing things I didn't expect (which did not seem to be friendly) and getting angry anyway  even when I thought I had appeased them. I began to feel rather panicked and feeling like I was in the middle of a sim-gremlin horror film or something, so I started deleting them.

I made it through, then I had another few holidays in that or another family that had them appear and I just went on a mission pausing and selling the gremlins...oops, I mean gnomes...when I would spot them in the houses. I did not pay attention to which holidays, but it seemed like more than just Harvest Festival. I began to dread and try to cancel holidays to avoid the chaos (I truly hated dealing with those gnomes - sometimes I would not cancel the holiday quite fast enough and still had to deal with them).

So... I did some googling and read awful stories of sims being burnt up by them, struck by lightening from them, brawling with them, etc. So...When I found I could 'revamp' my holidays I eliminated any trace of gnome invasions in them and finally started celebrating some holidays, depending on the family. In my big families holidays are mostly a pain in the butt and stressful unless I make them simple, like the day off from work/school, maybe a special meal, tv program, etc. For example, If I make a 'date' goal, I usually have 2-3 couples and there is no way for them to all have a nice date without me having a stressful time of it.

If I liked or had a household that the gnome nonsense made more sense in I would play it, but that's not my play style. I did notice less holidays that had the gnomes at one point after being shocked to run into them a few times. Not sure if they reduced the number of holidays they were initially in or if it coincided with me shortening the seasons for a bit (so all holidays came more often then) or what. Sorry I don't have a more factual response, as I was mostly getting my bearings and trying to just not play holidays for a bit. I think there was some back and  forth between households and season length that threw me off more too.

@SheriGR, thanks for your reply, even if you didn't have a definitive answer! 🙂  I've only ever seen the gnomes with Harvest Fest, with the exception of if I added the gnome event to another holiday.  But I do know that some of the lesser holidays don't show up in every game or in every year, so I was wondering if there was another gnome-related holiday that I haven't seen yet! 🤔  (But I'm also aware that if you really don't like something, it seems to last longer or occur more often 😉 )  I also haven't seen any reductions in gnome holidays because I've only ever had the one. 😃  It seems like the gnome activity is one that people either love or hate!  I'm so happy that EA gave us the ability to alter the holidays!  I do manage to prepare and eat the Grand Meal for most of the holidays that have that activity, but it is very difficult in larger families!  I usually try to have them dress up too, either in party clothes or formal (Formal for Christmas Winter Fest, and party for Thanksgiving Harvest Fest) 😇  I don't even bother with the highchairs unless I'm taking pictures.  I just have them as decoration.  I always just have them grab a meal from the family plate, for pretty much all meals.  😃  I hate the highchairs because if you have more than one Sim that is old enough to pick them up, they will all try to put them in the highchair at the same time!  Mom needs a nap, teen needs to do homework, and dad is free and in a good state, but dad can't feed the toddler because mom and the teen decide they want to do it! 😬  Then, by the time I get that straightened out, the toddler has peed themselves and now needs a bath, but they are so tired because we wasted Sim hours trying to get them fed in the highchair, and they are now angry because they are so tired! 😠😞 😮

Yes, my Love Day "date" activities are usually reserved for single Sims in a relationship or married couples with no children or who maybe only have an infant.  I real life I think it is necessary for parents to have a "date night" but in the Sims it is more about filling their needs! 😃 I don't want to send them out on a date with 4 kids who stopped doing homework the minute the parents went out, and when they come back the children still need a bath, sleep, food, and/or homework at 3:00 in the morning and the toddler not taken care of to boot!!! 

The gnomes do kind of pop up like gremlins! 😃😃:eahigh_file::eahigh_file:  You are too funny! 🥳

You have heard of horror stories with the gnomes' activity?!?! 😮 I never had a problem. 🤨🤔   Sure, they would be struck by lightning, but it didn't burn them at all... they didn't even have to take a bath! I don't even think there was that long or strong of a mood associated with the gnomes striking them with lighting!  They are never burned and never brawl with them!!!  (Unless I have a backwards positive glitch! 😃 )  No wonder you avoid gnomes!  I would have too if I had read that!  But I have never encountered this.  When you fail to appease the gnome, you will get struck by lightning, and appliances will break, but as soon as they forgive you everything goes back to normal.  The lightning and broken items are more for effect with no lasting harm or damage!  You might get struck many times in a row by lightning, but they eventually will forgive you and no harm is done, and some of my sims have been struck something like 11 times in a row! 🤨  The lightning is more like the shock prank than it is like real lighting.  I don't know what the chances are of appeasing them or ticking them off, but sometimes I manage to appease them on the first try!  A halo lets you know that they are happy and the flame lets you know that they are mad. You have to keep begging for forgiveness for each angry gnome until the halo appears.  Oops! I guess that gnome didn't want salad!  🤭😃

The first time I encountered Harvest Fest, I already had one of each gnome on my lot, so in addition to the 3 that usually show up, all of them played their little game of chase! 🤭:eahigh_file:  I had almost 130 seed packets by the end of the day! 😃  But I don't blame you for not playing with the gnomes if that isn't your playing style.  But if you ever get a household that you think it fits into their story and you feel like experimenting, nothing really bad should come of it, so don't be afraid. 😇

Hahaha great stories. Personally I don't like Prank day mostly because I had a stressful ecperience associated with it 😢 on one of my households that I particularly enjoy playing, I was trying my hardest (I mean jumping through flaming hoops, over lakes of lava sorta thing) to have one of the teens age up with all the positive traits. Finally couple of days before her birthday everything was going my way all my hard work was about to pay off. So even though it's Prank day I leave her at home doing scouting things while I take her sister to play some guitar in the park, cus I figure she's such a well behaved sim while her sister really isn't. Loo and behold when I get home she's on a pranking rampage terrorizing the neigbourhood! There are sims literary stacking up outside the frontdoor in a total pranking frenzie. Oh my gosh it was a mess. I reckon it might have had something to do with her having the geek trait therefor she loves Prank day 😃 guys it was awful haha all her values were a dump

I am too not a huge fan of the Neighbourhood Brawl but it has made for some hilarious happenings. Like so Bob Panncakes is a really very good neigbour to said family. He comes over all the time to help the girls with their homework, be nice to their mother when she's had a stressful day at work and he almost never comes by only to immediately go for the computer but rather sits down to chat and whatnot. THANK YOU BOB! They invite him over for all the big Holidays and they've shared some beautiful memories with this unexpected loving family friend xD Then come Neighbourhood Brawl and, I don't know how to tell you this but, it changed Bob. He was stomping around the house like a mad man! I had to lock all the doors and hide everyone upstairs! He wouldn't leave! Hahaha it looked so funny with him standing outside the dining room windows all pissed. I imagined him shouting, bemanding to settle this with fists banging on the windows. Since he was totally fine later I reckon he was possesed (gnomes? 🤔).

@PugLove888 @riobunny Oh my goodness... this was an awesome way to wake up with my cup of coffee! I loved the gnome and prank stories form you both! Lol! I am almost tempted to have some more fun with my households, but I think I would need a lot more coffee and a new outlook for that one! :eahigh_file:😃😉  Thank you both!!

@riobunny, thanks for sharing your stories on the holidays in Sims 4!  🥳😃:eahigh_file:  To funny about Bob Pancakes! 😃  Yes, I only like the Prank Day with Sims who I want to be mischievous, not with those whom I don't! 😞  How frustrating about your well-behaved teen going on a pranking rampage! ☹️  But at least you have a great story to tell! 😎

@SheriGR, glad you enjoyed our holiday stories in TS4!  These holidays are a lot of fun in the correct houses, but can get in the way of the bigger picture in some of your other houses, as we have shown! 🤨  It is more difficult to get the Prank Day and Neighborhood Brawl holidays, as they don't show up every year.  But if you're ever in a weird mood, you can always count on the Harvest Fest gnome chase (as I like to call it)! 😉

I'm playing Vanessa Jeong in Get Famous right now … after the last Harvest Fest, the gnomes won't stop giving her seeds! 😃 It is almost Summer! 😮 Usually the seed giving stops at the end of the holiday at about 2:00 am.! 🤭  Here's a few pics:

@PugLove888 Wow... those gnomes are LOVING Vanessa! Lol!!:eahigh_file:

Oh my gosh hahahahaa. I love this silly game! 😃😃😃

@SheriGR, perhaps they just love her for her celebrity status?! 😉😃  She is just as high in celebrity as Judith Ward now, but she is also tops in reputation.  She's the anti-Ward! 😃:eahigh_file:  Maybe they just like her for how nice she is,. 😇  But those gnomes are sneaky, so I think they have ulterior motives! 👿🤭

@riobunny, although I think this is a minor glitch with my save, I have to agree with you that these kinds of crazy surprises are one of the things that makes the Sims so fun! 🥳  You never know what is going to happen! :eahigh_file: