FarmVille: Santa's coming soon - have you been naughty?

While Winter Wonderland might offer FarmVille players more than enough content to last them through the month of December, the Christmas holiday and beyond, we'll apparently be receiving a visit from the big man in red himself: Santa! Santa looks to be coming with a new feature, if we can take a new gameplay loading screen seriously.

While it's no secret that Santa will indeed make an appearance in the game - "Guess Who's Coming to FarmVille?" pretty much guarantees it, it's what role Santa will play in the game that remains to be revealed. We're asked if we've been naughty of nice, with that text presented above a pile of presents. Could this mean that Santa will be part of an in-game gift exchange? Or, will we be able to complete a set of goals to prove to Santa how nice we've been, so that we'll be given more presents? At the very least, it looks like we'll likely end up with a Winter-themed collection event in the game, (most likely) bringing some limited edition goodies with it.

The possibilities here are endless, but we'll make sure to stay on top of things to make sure you're the first to know when Santa himself shows up on our farms.

Check out the rest of our Holiday 2011 coverage right here.

Are you excited that Santa will be making an appearance in FarmVille? What sort of feature do you think Santa will be involved in?

FarmVille Winter Holiday Items: Holiday Cookie Tree, Wreath Chicken and more

With tonight's FarmVille update, we see a slew of new items being released in the current Winter Holiday limited edition item theme. While these items would look great on your new Winter Wonderland farm, if you're waiting for free rides before heading to the game's new snow-covered farm, you can still purchase these items on your other farms, giving each of them a touch of the holiday spirit. Here's a look at what's available (hint: get your Farm Cash ready).

Trees

Holiday Cookie Tree - 6 Farm Cash
Big Holiday Cookie Tree - 12 Farm Cash
Snowflake II Tree - 8 Farm Cash
Big Snowflake II Tree - 14 Farm Cash

If it still needs to be said, remember that if you're a tree collector, you'll only need to purchase the first two trees in each pair, as the "big" versions of each can be earned for free from Mystery Seedlings grown either in your own Orchards, or claimed from friends.

Animals

Snowflake Mini Horse - 24 Farm Cash
Holiday Light Cow - 20 Farm Cash
Holiday Bell Ram - 16 Farm Cash
Wreath Chicken - 18 Farm Cash
Mini Candycane Pony - 26 Farm Cash
Black Caribou - 2.5 million coins

Unfortunately, if you're an animal collector, you're in for a pretty expensive time with this release. Even the Black Caribou costs a pretty extreme amount of coins, if you don't save them up routinely.

Buildings

Holiday Clock Shop - 15 Farm Cash

This building is a fairly small one, with just a few natural elements sitting around its base (a tree and some flowers). It's still a cute building, even though it's not very large, and at least its lower price tag matches its size.

Decorations

Holiday Forest - 4 Farm Cash
Caroling Gnomes - 12 Farm Cash
Holiday Birdhouse - 50,000 coins

If you purchase nine of the items in this week's release (including all four trees), you'll also be given a free Cider Waterfall. Although, after all of the Farm Cash you've spent to earn it, it wouldn't exactly be free anymore... Either way, these items will be available in the game's store for the next two weeks. Remember, you can purchase them across all four farms, but if you want one item on each farm, you will have to purchase duplicates separately.

Check out the rest of our Holiday 2011 coverage right here.

What do you think of this newest batch of Winter Holiday items? Will you purchase them just for your Home Farm, or will you use them to further decorate your new Winter Wonderland farm?

Want a sneak peek at FarmVille's Winter Wonderland? Use Discover

Well, not literally, but you can if you want. Following promotions by Capital One and American Express, Discover--the credit card company--announced a partnership with Zynga through FarmVille's soon-to-be-released (for free, at least) Winter Wonderland expansion. (Who's left, Visa? Maestro?) This marks the first FarmVille expansion to receive an official sponsor, and there will be plenty more to do than just visit some farm.

Starting tonight, players who log into FarmVille will be greeted by a friendly orange yeti who needs help using his Discover card to do his holiday shopping. (How cute.) And beginning tomorrow, players can visit Discover's farm to get a three-day-long sneak peek of what Winter Wonderland will look like, if they haven't already coughed up the Farm Cash. (Hey, we never said that there wouldn't be a farm to visit.)

FarmVille Winter Wonderland AnimalsAnd when Winter Wonderland opens to all of you FarmVille fans on Dec. 5, you'll be rewarded with a special in-game item from Discover just for checking out the new content. And through Dec. 14, you will have the chance to earn up to three more Discover-branded items for completing special quests during their time in Winter Wonderland. (Of course, "Liking" the Discover fan page will provide extra details on how to unlock these three items.)

If players are so inclined to pick up some Farm Cash within the next two weeks, Discover will provide card-holding customers with double their value in CashBack rewards if they use it on Farm Cash. (Essentially, you can turn $25 CashBack into $50 worth of Farm Cash.) Folks who sign up (and are approved) for a Discover card by Dec. 14 can earn a $100 Zynga Game Card after their first purchase.

Zynga's also giving back this holiday through FarmVille to three different Save the Children campaigns. Pick up a holiday pony, teddy bear tree or license for a limited peppermint lollipop crop for Farm Cash, and Zynga will provide money to campaigns benefiting healthy snacks, stocking libraries or breaking the cycle of poverty. This charity promotion starts Dec. 8.

In short, if you didn't feel up to paying Farm Cash to hop into Winter Wonderland early, you have Discover to thank for your sneak peek this weekend. We've seen Zynga partner with credit card companies before, and found it somewhat odd, but now it finally makes sense. What do you buy Farm Cash with other than Zynga Game Cards? Boom.

Check out the rest of our Holiday 2011 coverage right here.

Have you already dove into Winter Wonderland when opened up this week for Farm Cash? What do you think of the sound of this Discover promotion