LEGO Canada offers a nice operation on chimneyelego.ca with the possibility of building a fireplace to welcome Santa Claus as it should be, and a contest that requires creating and then placing a Christmas stocking that can accommodate the gifts. 

This contest is open to anyone residing in Quebec, and a Grand Prize worth CDN $ 1000 will be awarded to the winner (Lots to be chosen from the LEGO catalog).

The following two winners will be awarded prizes to be chosen also from the LEGO catalog for a value of CDN $ 250. Participants must validate their registration before December 20, 2012 at midnight.

LEGO Canada also provides an assembly drawing of the LEGO fireplace in pdf format. It seems that for the other fireplaces offered and which are based on the different LEGO ranges (City, Friends, Ninjago), the instructions in pdf format will be gradually unveiled in the coming weeks.

The information has already been circulated on the various forums, and if you don't know it yet, here is the code that will allow you to unlock the "Video Designer"from Elrond's minifig on the mini-site dedicated to the LEGO Lord of the Rings range, and which will also allow you to unlock a screen background on which we discover in detail the Balrog that will be present in the game.

The creature should be present in 2013 in one of the next sets of the range: 790xx - Bridge of Khazad Dûm, which should contain, if rumored to be true, Gandalf as well as a coin-based Balrog.

You just have to go at this address and enter the code A9FB4Q in the field provided for this purpose to unlock the wallpaper.

For the video about Elrond's exclusive minifig, you need to go at this address, wait for the page to load completely and enter the code.

Regulars of the price comparison Pricevortex already know this: amazon.de has just released the sets from The Hobbit range with availability scheduled for December 1st.

The prices are unsurprisingly and still high, as is usually the case for licensed LEGO ranges:

79000 Riddles for the Ring - € 12.99
79001 Escape from Mirkwood Spiders - € 29.99
79002 Attack of the Wargs - € 59.99
79003 An Unexpected Gathering - € 79.99
79010 The Goblin King Battle - € 99.99

The other versions of Amazon should soon put them online as well.

Here are some custom super heroes produced by Paul Janowski and intended to be sold as part of the transaction Creations for Charity.

I admit that the Chrome Iron Man (Chrome version ofan original design by FineClonier) is eyeing me but at $ 200, I pass my turn. I know it's for the benefit of a good work, but if I continue to blaze in the custom minifigs, it's me who will need help ...
In fact, all of Janowski's production catches my eye, and if you like the concept, go drool over his flickr gallery.

We already know that the LEGO Lord of the Rings range will continue at least in 2013 with the appearance of 8 new sets. The first rumors (information posted on Eurobricks, then withdrawn by their author who claims a reliable source), to be taken with a grain of salt, already allow us to obtain what would be the details of 3 of these sets planned for March 2013:

790xx- The Betrayal of Isengard with Gandalf, Saruman and 5 orcs - 1034 coins and an indicative US price of $ 100
790xx- Treebeard Encounter with Merry, Pippin, an orc, and a coin-based Treebeard - 583 coins and a fare of $ 60
790xx- Bridge or Khazam had Khazad Dum with Gandalf and a coin-based Balrog - 291 coins for $ 40

Obviously, all this remains to be confirmed but these 3 sets seem plausible to me. About the set The Betrayal of Isengard, it remains to be seen if we will be entitled to Orthanc in its entirety (I doubt it given the number of pieces in the set) or just an indoor scene with a few walls.