Finished this, I liked the mystery surrounding it all. A few observations though - I often knew what to do, but the game wouldnt let me do itm so I had to keep going to the HINT system (thanks for that btw) to find what the actual words I had to use were.
And exmaple might be that I knew to use the ladder in a certain place, but leaning it, climbing it, putting it etc. didn't work. Had to rely on the hint system to tell me to drop it, which didn't feel quite right.
Same with another scene involving the knife, and having to be very specific about what to cut with it, even though any of the synonyms for the thing I was supposed to cut should've worked.
Still, despite all that, good xmas mystery, nicely done with a great atmosphere.