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This puzzle is part of the Puzzling Stack Exchange Advent Calendar 2022. The accepted answer to this question will be awarded a bounty worth 100 reputation.

< Previous Door Next Door >

Christmas has many sides: Trees, dinners and presents. Family, faith and fire hazards. (Just in case I did not draw any candles). But then, did I draw a Christmas tree with weirdly placed garlands and balls?

enter image description here

I hope you get on the other side what is on the other sides.

PS The text is probably more confusing than helpful; the best hints are in the picture.

Hint (clearly not needed to answer the question, since unused in the given answer):

enter image description here

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1 Answer 1

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The message from the other side(s) of Christmas is:

Happy New Year

First, see that the tree has some suspicious gaps that almost divide it up into six hexominos. (Apologies for the banding, that's just my printer playing up):
enter image description here

And all of them form the net of a cube, with faces with one, two and three baubles each. So let's make some cubes:
enter image description here

Now, if these were dice, what would be on the 4, 5 and 6 faces?
At first glance, just some random bits of tinsel/garland, but with a bit of rearranging, we can make:
HAPPY:
enter image description here
NEW:
enter image description here
YEAR:
enter image description here

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    $\begingroup$ Wow, love the effort you've gone to here! The perfect way to demonstrate the solution - great job :) +1 $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Dec 11, 2022 at 12:36
  • $\begingroup$ Wondering: Did you brute force the last part (last spoiler) or did you see in-picture hints to make it easier without mentioning that? $\endgroup$
    – Retudin
    Dec 11, 2022 at 12:47
  • $\begingroup$ @Retudin I guess I brute forced it. I assumed the "best hints are in the picture" was referring to the initial step. I've had another look, and can see what you are referring to. Oh well, it's not the first time I've taken a harder path through a puzzle. $\endgroup$
    – fljx
    Dec 11, 2022 at 13:04

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