This is assuming you go for Thor, decorate the suggested trees I highlighted, and *not* taking into account the freebies, which should lower it by several passes at least, I hope.

1st goal=reach 90 skills for Bristlecone tree>>>Decorate Oriental tree 8 times. I say 8, because even though you can reach 90 by decorating the Vintage Apple twice and the bonnet once to get 96, you're having to progress through each prior level which is about 8 steps. Or you could just do the first level 8 times to pay an easy 1 pass for auto decorate. However, this estimate could decrease by a pass or two as I can't remember if Blitzen gets skills from doing the tutorial, but I'm estimating the higher amount to be on the safe side.
Cost=8 passes
Blitzen's new skills=96

2nd goal=reach 120 skills for Love Tree (we need 24 more skills)>>>Decorate first level of Bristlecone Tree 2 times.
Cost=2 passes
Blitzen's new skills=120

3rd goal=reach 200 skills for Plant Tree (need 80 more skills)>>>Decorate Love Tree 5 times
Cost=5 passes
Blitzen's new skills=210

4th goal=get 11 divine ornaments (possibly less depending on freebies.I have gotten 1 from Advent Calendar) from Plant Tree's 3rd level.
Cost=33 passes because you're decorating 3 levels 11 times.
Blitzen's skills don't really matter now, because you'll easily get the skills needed for the Thor's Nordic Tree by getting your divine ornaments

5th goal=decorate the 4 levels of Thor's tree
Cost=4 passes

This brings my total (not counting freebies) to 52 passes for Thor.
Taking Blitzen's freebies into account it looks like we get 2 baubles, 1 tinsel and 1 ornament a day. If it's a 19 day event or so that's 38 baubles, 19 tinsel and 19 ornaments, which is at least the equivalent of about 6 trees you can fully decorate, yeah?(meaning any tree that requires no more than 3 decorations each on a single level). I've only gotten 6 baubles and a divine ornament from the Calendar so far, so I can't make any good guesses based on that, but with freebies that brings us down to maybe 46 passes.

There will be 3 star polos, cloths and ear bonnets.

3*** Ear Bonnet
Bonus
Stamina: +3
Speed: +3
Dressage: +3
Gallop: +3
Trot: +3
Jumping: +3

Thor's cost will be quite as expensive as early predictions are making it out to be.
This is a set I would like to keep up with, but I am still rebuilding my reserve from the Mine and Thor, as pretty as he is, and as nice as Z. bolts are, is just not worth that high a cost.
I could understand a Balios being that pricey but not Thor with his perks.

I do hope we get a look at Loki's perks before packs go live. Howrse has yet to get me to spend money on it over Christmas though. The one year I was going to my bank froze the transaction and I never talked to them so it fell through.

We'll see. I made out like a bandit the year I got my Balios and Winter, and again the second year when I went after Cernunnos and used ALL of my additional decorations just going after Hestias and a few other high tier gifts. I didn't spend extra after getting my divine that year and I still walked away with a LOT of goodies I had been able to choose.

I would say for those tempted to spend passes on this event, I am not sure how it will be with the net set up, last years it has been superb.

I personally think that the best divine to go after would either be Sequoia ( this depends on your dropping reserve, because Sequoia needs a LOT of droppings), or Taranis. Sequoia is mainly usefully for getting the companions, and making passes off of that (though it might be hard, because players aren't willing to give up passes all that much), but Taranis is better for getting luck items, and thus divines in luck items because of TCs can be exchanged for other luck items, if players are willing.

I Love You divine gives 20 diamonds, or 2 passes, which is a good guarantee for diamonds, Tangaroa gives the 5th element water, or the bonus and coat, and Thor is Z. bolts.

Again, it probably depends on the player's preference, and possibly the time. Is it possible to get a divine, not Blitzen, without spending passes? Obviously, I'd rather not....

A divine without passes. Extremely unlikely. However if you have received passes via the Loyalty meter and pass horses you could theoretically get a divine without spending real money.

I have always suggested you do the above and spend them only when you have a good shot at the divine.

I love you but it gives you 2 diamonds but is one of the easier divines to get this Christmas.

Sequoia takes a lot of droppings and if you have other plant divines it can be rather expensive ( droppings wise).

Taranis does not drop its perk often enough for my taste to go for it.

Tangaroa's perk does not interest me.

Thor is worth it if you want to get the full Nordic collection.

I feel I have enough resources to go for Thor and I love You but those are my preferences.

My only hopes are that the divines are available another time, but I figure that won't be anytime soon after the Christmas promo

But that you for the info on the divines! I confess, I was slightly afraid for the Taranis not giving enough TCs, but thought that at least two TC would drop by the end of the year (figured that was better than the diamonds from I Love You; otherwise, I'd totally go after I Love You).

Honestly, I'd prefer being able to have a divine that drops a GF, though I think there is only one divine that does that, and am positive it is an Egyptian divine.

I might think about Taranis. I have Cernunnos and Epona. C has given a WOY every month, Epona has been a little less generous with the HOP. Only 8 so far this year, #9 should be soon though. Maybe #10 just after Christmas. I don't know if Taranis would have a longer interval though, since a TC > HOP > WOY. Definitely not Sequoia, I already have two Plants but can only keep up with one. I choose pass seeds over diamonds.

I'm not trying for any complete sets of divine, but I would like to get at least one from each. Not going too well, though. I'd really like one of the Norse divines because of my ancestry, but so far they're looking like they will be terribly expensive.

If you want at least one Nordic, look at the possibility of getting one of the Christmas packages that include Loki. We do not have any info on its perks yet but this could be a roundabout way of getting a Nordic divine.

I found my Taranis was dropping the main gift approx every 2 1/2 months. This is a bit long for my tastes but others may find it ok.

I'd like to try for the I Love you divine. Is there good price calculation on it yet? I haven't been on here for days so I have no idea which page may content the info...

I Love You Divine is 6 divine ornaments. = 10 + 5*3 = 25 passes
Sequoia or Tangaroa needs 7 divine ornys = 10 +6*3 = 28 passes
Tanaris needs 9 divine ornys = 10+ 8*3 = 34 passes
Thor needs 11 divine ornys + 1 more packs worth of ornaments = 10 + 10*3 + 1 = 41

the divines are looking quite expensive. However, Legacy Ann says she has gotten at least 1 divine ornament from the advent calendar and every one of those you get will decrease the pass cost estimated above by 3 passes. So hopefully we will get a few making the I Love You divine less than 20 passes and bringing Thor down to well under 40.

Also if we manage to get about 18 of each ornament type from Blitzen then that is another savings of 6 passes. This one at least I think sounds pretty guaranteed. And if we are getting twice the number of baubles then of the others, then our strategy should probably shift to the Sitka tree instead of the Oriental tree to save on tinsel and ornaments.

Assuming we will get 6 passes worth of ornaments and 1 divine saving another 3 passes then the new divine costs become:

I Love You = 16
Sequoia/Tangaroa = 19
Tanaris = 25
Thor = 32

This starts to look a bit more reasonable for sure. Though I still think Thor shouldn't be more than 30.

And for those asking for a free divine, yes, you are getting Blitzen completely for free and there will be a chance to get divines for free from the Advent Calendar. There does not appear to be a drawing after the event ends this time though.

oh wow! I just logged onto the test server and I got a divine ornament from winning a Skijoring competition with Blitzen. That is another 3 passes off. I wonder how often we can get that!

Info on Blitzen? Not sure what everyone is talking about.

You will get a free divine named Blitzen with the christmas promo. You can take it for a ride, do a special competition and feed it candy canes instead of carrots and it will give you decorations to be used on the christmas tree promo every day.

Anyway, Taranis moved in April 10th 2017 and gave me 4 TC so far.
Lug: 22nd of February 2017, 6 Zeus Bolt
Morrigan: 27th of November, 2016, 7 M. Blood
Anubis: 8th of April, 2016, 10 H. Gifts

Is the next promo the Advent Calendar?

For the divine Blitzen, will everyone be given a Blitzen with the same amount of skills, or will it somehow depend upon the horses you already own? Does Blitzen come fully skilled or do you have to skill him yourself?

Blitzen comes with 0 skills when you get her as you have to *gain* skills in order to unlock new trees. To gain skills you have to decorate lower level trees.

It currently appears that whatever skills you gain with her throughout the contest she keeps when it's over, as everyone's Blitzens kept their skills after the event ended on preprod, but we'll have to see if that holds out when this goes live

getting the divine Blitzen. It would be awesome if next year for the Christmas event we get a male reindeer-horse and the two can breed to make like a Rudolf or something! It would be cool to have a whole collection of reindeer-horse divines too!

Blitzen is a mare that helps you for the My beautiful pine trees event by giving you decorations when you take care of her.

This mare cannot be sold.