Christmas is coming -- in fact, it is happening this very Sunday, and you can be sure that many people are excited during this holiday season, being full of hope and anticipation that things will be better in the year to come. Well, Pokemon GO trainers were certainly disappointed by the recent update that revealed far less than a hundred new Pokemon, and whatever few which were revealed had to be hatched through eggs. Certainly not the generation 2 of Pokemon as expected, which left many with a deflated feeling. There might be some hope left in the tank though, as Pokemon GO could end up with an in-game Christmas event, but caution is warned yet again: do take what you read here with a pinch of salt, since nothing has been confirmed as well.

The good people over at The Silph Road have been rather accurate so far with many Pokemon GO leaks and rumors, and the latest rumors to emanate from their site point to the very real possibility of a Christmas in-game event happening for Pokemon GO. This is not based on gazing into a crystal ball or pulling out a random wish list item from their hat, but rather, they have taken a closer and more detailed look at the game’s code to come up with such conclusions.

In the latest code “review”, so to speak, there are at least three hints discovered which would lean towards a Christmas in-game event for Pokemon GO, but a disclaimer had been put up by The Silph Road themselves, citing that they are “grasp[ing] at some straws”. The first of those three hints would point in the direction of the “present/gift” graphics. These various images that you can see above have been introduced into the game, where the gift boxes come with carefully tied up bows for that neat look. The gifts will arrive in various tiers, ranging from Bronze to Gold. Not only that, there will also be Special/Great/Ultra variations -- at least this is what their file names have revealed.

Another clue right up the alley would be a mention of “HasHolidayItems” in the shop’s game code. This might have been in place so that Pokemon GO will be able to switch holiday items in the game shop on or off, functioning as a kind of toggle, depending on the availability of the holiday items.

Apart from that, yet another clue discovered would be the new graphic for its icon. Rather obvious from some points, the new graphic points to a gift with a red bow located right on top. This might end up to be nothing more than a new user interface element, but the color red tends to point toward a Christmas setting more than anything else. Until something official comes out from the folks over at Niantic Labs, we will have to continue reading all of these with fingers crossed. At the end of it all, it is just a matter of time if the rumor or speculation is confirmed or denied, so why not find out for sure this coming Christmas?