The field that was set up for the "Great Snow War" was filled in with light and powdery snow that would be thick enough that it wouldn't hurt anyone when the snowballs made from it but had enough wetness that it could be formed into balls and to a degree could the support the weight of young humans and Animalians as part of fake charges to throw their snowballs and so on. The engineering of it worked out quite well, particularly as the temperatures began to drop lower as Christmas got ever closer. Much of the snow had actually been procured from ski resorts in California that had "snow machines" that would essentially make an artificial snow, and that served to provide the depth that filled the field set aside for the Great Snow War.
And the fun of a big snowball fight was something that attracted a lot of young children to even those in Middle School. Most of the Animalians at this age were those who had been uplifted as there were few human children that young who had been allowed to convert into Animalians. However, that didn't stop children, Human and Animalian from arriving at the field. The Human children came in their jackets and snow pants, as did some Animalians that were animals that weren't normally used to such winter weather. Those Animalians that were more adaptable to the cold didn't wear much more than their pants and a shirt, earning some jealousy in that their fur or feathers were enough to keep them warm, but things weren't too bad. The gathering made for a great assortment of colors, as many of the jackets and snow pants that the children wore were often bright and a few had cartoon characters on them. They didn't reflect the uniform colors of the First World War, but the point of the Great Snow War for Animalia was more about the fun and remembering the truce on Christmas in 1914 as a reminder of what good people could do, even in the midst of a rather horrific war.
Picking sides for the Great Snow War was done by a raffle at both WSA and at Lyre Elementary and Lyre Middle School, and each school had an equal number of tickets for each side. It went along with some of the other Christmas pageants and programs as well and was handled easily. Students signed lists at the start of December to indicate whether or not they'd participate in the Great Snow War, and by the last day of school before Christmas the tickets would be drawn and the students who had signed up would know which "team" they were on. High School students were offered posts to serve as a sort of referee and make sure that the rules from the previous year would be followed, with there would be no ice balls, no rocks, or anything that would add weight and make the snowballs dangerous. And now as Christmas vacation started, everyone showed up on their respective sides, though they were herded toward the center of the field and once the snowball fight started, they'd retreat to their trenches and things would go from there.
But the start was be a brief set of theatrics as the Social Science teachers from both Lyre and WSA provided the introduction and start to the Snow War. The Lyre History teacher and the WSA Government teacher walked together in very nice looking winter jackets and the Lyre teacher wore long snow boots over his jeans. The WSA teacher, being a converted Snowshoe Hare went barefoot and her jacket was made and colored to match her presently white fur. The two walked between the two sides and waved to both rows of children as they walked toward the middle of the field.
"Ach, liebe Sophie, schau dir diesen schönen Tag an. All diese helläugigen Kinder hier, um unseren Spaziergang zu beobachten," the Lyre History teacher spoke, playing the role of Franz Ferdinand and rehearsing lines put through Google translate, which meant, "Ah, my dear Sophie, look at this pleasant day. All these bright eyed children here to observe our walk."
"Ja, mein lieber Ferdinand. Sie wünschen sich wahrscheinlich Weihnachtslieder, findest du nicht?" the WSA government teacher nodded, also playing her role. Of course, she knew the actual assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie had happed in late June 1914 and the armies wouldn't move until August of that year, but they couldn't have the snowball fight raging through summer and fall and thus the lines were edited a bit to reflect on the season to say, "Yes, my dear Ferdinand. They probably are wishing for some Christmas carols, don't you think?"
The kids on both sides watched with some eagerness as they watched the two walk toward the center of the field near where there was a small sort of snow hut that sat in the middle of the field. Polly stood on the eastern side of the field, as she'd drawn the Central Powers side for the Great Snow War. She noted that there were tracks that looked sort of like a dogs going into that snow hut but she didn't know for sure if anyone was in it. And that held her interest a bit more than the German that the two teachers were speaking in.
Then as the two teachers reached the little snow hut in the middle of the field, it exploded as a Coyote Animalian, one of the high school level history teachers at WSA jumped out of the little hut. He wore a set of wind pants and a windbreaker, but both looked a bit worn and borderline dirty. He held two snowballs in his hands that looked like they'd been dyed brown and held one at the Lyre history teacher and then spoke his practiced lines.
"Ah ... ti austrijski pas! Ne želite da ova deca proslavljaju Božić! Hoćete da se trude u vašoj učionici tokom zime! To neće stati i bacam snijeg na tebe!" the WSA history teacher spoke, though privately sure he'd butchered the pronunciation. Google translate had the ability to put together the lines and even provided some pronunciation, but it was still a computer program and he had no way to know for sure how right he was when trying to say, "Ah... you Austrian dog! You don't want these children to celebrate Christmas! You want them to toil in your classrooms all winter! That won't stand and I throw snow at you!"
And with that he threw the two snowballs and making a "splat" against the jacket of both the Lyre history teacher and the WSA government teacher. The WSA government teacher gave a gasp and raised a hand to her head, as if looking in horror at the snowball that had hit her.
"Oh ... meine Bluse!" as she feigned to faint into the Lyre history teacher's arms who caught her easily as she said, "Oh... my blouse!"
The Lyre history teacher looked to the WSA history teacher and said calmly, "Natürlich, das bedeutet Krieg" which essentially meant "of course, you know, this means war," though he knew a little bit of German and thought the word "Naturlich" meant "naturally," but he wasn't going to argue with his computer and it essentially served the same purpose.
The Lyre history and WSA government teacher then moved gesture the children on the eastern side of the field toward their respective trenches while the WSA history teacher urged the children on the other side to their trenches on the where he was joined by the Lyre government teacher and Anne Cumbertin. All the adults soon raised their hands as the children watched.
"Möge der Große Schneekrieg beginnen!" the Lyre history teacher spoke still playing his role and lowered his hand as the signal to let the snowballs fly in saying, "May the Great Snow War begin!"
Across the field, Anne did the same but said a different line, "On les aura!" The line she used actually came from a later battle but saying "we will have them" made a bit more sense than France's historic reasons for fighting in World War I.
And with that the Great Snow War started as the children, Human and Animalian alike gathered their snowballs and threw them. The sound of laughter soon followed.