It had started to snow in Nevada a week ago, and by the time of the start of the Animalia Christmas Exposition, it had piled up enough to be just right for snow sculpting.
The ACE kicked off with Christmas cooking classes and Christmas craft classes. When people entered the main foyer of the Great Hall, they found it to contain the largest synthetic Christmas tree ever seen. Both Giraffe and bird Animalians were already at work decorating it. Two days before, after the tree had arrived, and was fully assembled, they had already started putting lights on the tree. Now they were putting various ornaments on the tree, the birds placing ornaments where even the giraffes couldn't reach them.
The Christmas cooking classes were held in the large kitchen in the Great Hall. Although there were no chocolate recipes, there were a lot more "alternate" Christmas treats being made, such as rainbow Rice Krispies treats, or All-Natural Christmas Rock Candy (which didn't have anything to do with real rocks, much to the Animalians surprise). Part of the reason why the economy was on an upswing after the creation of Animalia was the creation of new products for Animalians. One of those were "all-natural" foods, free of anything artificial. There was also a plan for a massive Christmas Feast on Christmas Day, with many different kinds of foods.
There were also many Dioramas of how Christmas was celebrated around the world. It was a surprising thing that St. Nicholas, or Santa Claus, was very different in different countries in Europe alone. There were also displays of religious holidays that were also celebrated in December, not just Christmas.
Also there were the result of this current batch of Project Phoenix volunteers. Mike, the fourteen year old who had been in a coma for six months, had successfully woken up as a new Otter Animalian, and "bonded with Mary, an uplifted otter from the initial outbreak in the forest. Tom, a professional speed breaker martial artist who had been diagnosed with ALS, also had fully recovered from his condition, and had "bonded" with an uplifted zoo cheetah named Brittany, who spent part of her time learning about her namesake. Clara had helped Richard with both his doses, nursing him like a cub for his first dose, then mating with him for his second. A picture of Richard nursing from Clara and becoming a puma would become a kind of advertisement for Project Phoenix, including the caption, "Everyone deserves a second chance at life." There was also announced a group wedding st St. Francis of Asissi church for Robbie and Martha, Tom and Brittany, and Richard and Clara on Friday as part of the festivities.
The ACE Arts and Crafts workshop was a way for both humans and Animalians of all ages to both make Christmas themed artwork, and also make ornaments for their trees. In the room where the Arts and Crafts workshop was, there were also showings of various Christmas specials, such as "A Christmas Carol", "A Charlie Brown Christmas", "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", and others. It was also a place where stories about the magic of Christmas could work miracles. One such story told was about a young boy who admired a train set in a toy store, and how different members of his family bought different parts of the whole train set for him, without anyone knowing what the others were thinking.
There were only one or two minor incidents during the celebrations, but they were quickly turned to Animalia's advantage.
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Bennie and Marina were having a stroll in the park when a snowball beaned Marina on the shoulder. It was shock more than anything else that made her flinch. Bennie quickly found the source of the surprise attack, a group of college kids trying to have fun with each other.
"So you think you're funny, eh?" Said Bennie, mischievously, stooping down and scooping up snow to make basketball-sized snowballs with his bare hands. Fortunately Clara, all upbeat about her new mate, managed to happen onto the scene. So did one of the few remaining World War I veterans alive. After some discussion, they all managed to hit upon a solution.
Not long afterwards, there was a snowy replica of the Western Front of WWI, but instead of real munitions and artilery shells, it was just one big snowball fight/war. The snow was perfect for making trenchworks and fortifications out of snow. The no-mans-land was only ten meters apart, and there were no tanks, machine guns, land mines, or poison gas, just snowballs. The Great Snow War, as it would be called, would continue for the entire ACE, but would stop on Christmas Day, representing the Christmas Eve Truce of 1914. Animalia would only take part in the last three days of the ACE, which would represent the arrival of the Americans that brought about the end of the WWI. The reasoning for the creation of the Great Snow War was both winter fun and "if you don't know history you will repeat it" mentality.
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The ACE was, in a way, a great way to show the world that Animalia wasn't just about lust and innovation. The Great Snow War was the best way of teaching college students about what would lead up to WWII, and about "peace on earth, good will to all" that had the power to stop a war, at least for a little while.