The Animalia Christmas Exposition was supposed to start one day later, but because most Animalians didn't understand the significance of the Winter Solstice, it was decided to start it one day early to help both people and Animalians understand it in general.
---
"One of the silliest things related to the Winter Solstice was how conspiracy theorists interpreting the Mayan calendar thought that the Winter Solstice of 2012 would mark the end of the world as we know it." said Rick to Clara during their anniversary dinner.
"That's not how it goes in the Mayan culture." said the South American grandfather of one visitor, sitting nearby.
"Yup," replied Rick, "After reexamining the Mayan calendar, it turned out that the calendar was resetting on that day."
"I heard that some people thought that Earth would collide with a hidden planet called Nibiru on that date." said one person.
"Well I heard that some people thought there would be great catastrophes related to planetary alignment." said another person. On seeing many uplifted Animalians confused looks, he explained, "That's when all the major planets of the solar system are roughly in a line."
---
"In my grandfather's time," said Daniel Richardson, "people would leave sweetmeats, such as cookies, on leafless trees to feed the spirits of winter, a.k.a. snow angels, though I never asked him why."
---
One surprising visitor to the ACE was John Bunell from World's Wildest Police Videos, though why he was there was soon explained.
"Simon's uncle was an officer of the law who was killed by the treacherous black ice. I'm here to show you that he was not the only, first, or last to fall to such a hazard." he said. After that, he showed countless videos of how black ice was indeed one of the most dangerous winter hazards ever since asphalt was used to build roads, both to officers and civilians alike.
---
It wasn't all about either information or seriousness at the start of the ACE. There were also several amusing instances of public intoxication in Animalia, such as someone who had drunk too much eggnog at a party tried to walk home, and ended up colliding with an APD officer.
One of the things that was most amusing was the start of the Great Snow War, which was recorded for the newest commercial for Absolut Vodka. It involved the Serbian assassin, rather than causing the assassination that sparked WWI, yelling a particularly rude comment in Serbian while beaning Archduke Ferdinand with a particularly slushy snowball and getting his wife as 'collateral damage', and Archduke Ferdinand declaring "Of course you realize that this means war!" in Austrian. At that, the signal was sent to the snow trenches to begin the war. The people of Absolut Vodka decided to get the required scenes for their commercial over several days and only show the commercial publicly during the Super Bowl of 2018.
"I still don't understand why these people are interested in this?" said Clara, as a cameraman recorded several allied soldiers gathering snowball ammunition before rushing headlong into enemy fire.
"Because, apparently, 'In an Absolut World' a political protest becomes a pillow fight rather than a riot. At least to them, it seems. And this, it would seem funnels into that kind of thing." explained Richard.
"Actually," said a representative from Absolut Vodka coming over after hearing what Richard said, "the phrase goes, 'In an Absolut World, All of Our Conflicts would be resolved in peaceful and fun exchanges.' So you're not completely correct, but not completely incorrect either."