In case you've missed them due to holiday celebrations both in-game and out, the Lord of the Rings Online team has been fleshing out the game's Middle-earth with a bunch of articles exploring various locations in the virtual world.

The two most recent exploration pieces focus on the Forges of Khazad-dûm and Nimrodel. These are fairly short pieces that make for a quick read, so check them out if you only have a few moments to spare.

If you have a little more time on your hands, then consider reading their newest hero's guide, which takes you through Zelem-melek, the western half of the heart of Khazad-dûm. It contains six pages of in-depth information, which can also be found after the jump.

The Allakhazam team would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas today, as well as a safe and happy holiday season. We hope you're all able to spend some time with your family and friends. Also, if you get some time to log in to your game of choice today, we hope you get the chance to participate in its holiday festivities. After all, the grind never stops, but in-game events like these don't happen very often.

Holiday cheer is also being spread in most of our forums, so feel free to visit them and continue in the discussions. For Final Fantasy XI fans, members of the Allakhazam community have written "The 12 Days of Vana'diel." As I mentioned in a previous news post, the World of Warcraft community wrote "The 12 Days of Winter Veil." I'm sure somebody out there must have a decent singing voice and a microphone...

For you Star Wars Galaxies fans, Instigator has posted the official Allakhazam SWG holiday picture. If you have any festive in-game screenshots, we'd love to see them. Also, let us know if you got any good loot, both in-game and out.

Happy holidays everyone!

Are you enjoying the Yule Festival ? Well, if you're looking for another holiday activity to try out during the event, you're in luck. Turbine is hosting a Yule Festival Fashion Contest until Jan. 16.

Send us screenshots of your best or worst festive outfit in LOTRO, and you could win a custom forums title and avatar for the LOTRO forums! Entries will be accepted in the following categories: Most Festive Individual, Unfashionably Festive Individual, Most Festive Couple, Unfashionably Festive Couple, Most Festive Kinship.

Entries must be received by Jan. 14. Twelve winners will be selected throughout the course of the contest. The rules and more information can be found here or after the jump.

The Lord of the Rings Online team has found some known issues in the Skumfil dungeon and the Yule Festival that will either be addressed in an upcoming patch or already have a fix in place.

We have identified an issue with the dungeon Skumfil where players may be unable to loot the chest at the end of Hard Mode. The issue stems from players releasing during the fight, then re-entering the fight by re-opening the door to Hwandrin. If the door is re-opened it can cause the fight to finish incorrectly and not allow the loot to be opened. The best way to prevent this from happening is to either have your entire party release, which causes the fight to reset, or to be resurrected within Hwandrin’s chamber. This will be addressed in an upcoming patch.

Keep reading for the Yule Festival issues, which affect snow globes and the quest Dwarf - Ice.

Ever wanted to work on Allakhazam? Are you a strong writer with knowledge about what makes the gaming industry tick? We're hiring!

The Editorial team is hiring two part-time editors to help improve the overall quality of our content. If you're interested in finding out more about the requirements, check our job opening page.

The beta preview of the all-new my.lotro.com will be open until Friday, Dec. 12, so head on over now if you want to catch a glimpse of the searchable database while connecting with your friends from Lord of the Rings Online.

A free benefit for subscribers, the all-new my.lotro.com features a searchable database of players, characters, monster characters, kinships, and tribes. Subscribers may sign in now to start your own blog, create a custom profile, or start making your new web friends list. Search for new friends and reconnect with old ones while you explore the millions of characters available on the site.

Subscribers will be able to utilize all the functions of my.lotro.com during the beta preview this week. Here's the FAQ, which can also be found after the jump.

We're hitting that time of year when in-game holiday events will be popping up left and right, and Middle-earth is no different. The Yule Festival is set to begin on Thursday and it will bring all new quests, races and items to the world of Lord of the Rings Online.

Yulemath is celebrated by all the free peoples during the last month of the year. With traditional decorations, warm cider, rich feasts and other, more mischievous, pursuits; Yule is a time of hope across Middle-earth even as the shadow of the Enemy continues to grow. Visit all the homelands of the free peoples to enjoy all the festival has to offer. You might even earn a new four footed friend for your efforts!

More information on the festival can be found here or below.

The Lord of the Rings Online team has posted a short article exploring the Twenty-first Hall of Khazad-dûm. Straight from the pages of Tolkien lore, the hall is a popular gathering spot in the Mines of Moria expansion.

The Twenty-first Hall of Khazad-dûm lies on the Seventh Level of Moria, leading away in many directions including toward the Second Hall and the Bridge of Khazad-dûm. Off to one side, a passage leads to the Chamber of Mazarbul, the dwarves’ hall of records, though it passes now for the tomb of Balin, son of Fundin.

The full post can be found here or below, as well as a screenshot of the hall.

With the first Mines of Moria patch now live, the Lord of the Rings Online team found it to be a good time to publish its newest hero's guide, which takes us through the Silvertine Lodes.

Deep in the belly of the great Misty Mountain peak called Celebdil by the Elves, Zirak-zigil by the Dwarves, and Silvertine by Men, one of the great quarries of Khazad-dûm lays in shadow and dust, waiting for its restoration, waiting for the echoes of pick-axes and miners’ songs to fill its empty caverns and tunnels once more. This deep place, known as the Silvertine Lodes, once glittered with ore and shone with the light of crystal lamps glinting off raw mithril . Now it gapes like a hole not just in the earth but in the image of Khazad-dûm.

These guides are always entertaining and full of lore. While it's informative when the dev diaries focus on gameplay, it's post like this that bring Tolkien's amazing world to the forefront. You can keep reading here or below.

The first Mines of Moria patch will be applied during maintenance on Dec. 1 from 4 a.m. to noon EST.

All game servers will be offline. The websites, forums, wikis, and myaccount.turbine.com will be intermittently available.

We have already posted the upcoming patch notes, so check out our previous article for what you can expect in Patch 1.