I found this snippet:
"But the holiday miracles don’t stop there! While the big guy in the red suit has been busily working on the perfect February gift for all the closet necromancers and paladins out there, more hard-working elves have managed to bring back some favorite Holiday Gifts from years past, including a holiday wrist watch, holiday trees, snow globes, and statues - and they will be distributed early next week! In standard fashion, we’ll be releasing these to one shard first, and then all other shards the following day. Since Lake Austin is the only North American shard without access to Holiday Trees, we’ve chosen to release them Monday, Dec. 23rd CST on the Lake Austin shard. Provided there are no unexpected issues, the rest of the world will be able to choose holiday gifts after maintenance on Tuesday, Dec. 24th CST."
from this link:
http://www.gatecentral.com/ultima/uobody.php?blatt=556&ug=1
posted on 12/21/2002
I hope that helps!