The first Sunday in December brought with it the first snow of the season to Lyre and Animalia. While some would look on this as a negative thing, especially those who were cold-blooded, there were some changes that could be considered positive.
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"So what happens if you don't have enough snow for this year's Great Snow War?"" asked Jen-Jen for a recent news story.
"We use the same snow-making machines that ski slopes use when they don't have enough snow for their slopes." said one of the engineers who was designing the snow bunkers.
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Diego and Patty were more interested in the newest event, the snowboarding events. While it was shaping up to be a lot of fun, especially with big names in snowboarding showing up, the biggest problem was with snowboard durability, mainly to prevent Animalians breaking them. There were some jokes about snowboards being made out of metal, due in no small part to Zelda: Breath of the Wild introducing Shield Sledding. While metal wasn't ruled out outright, there was research going on for light yet durable materials for snowboards.
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There was also a new subdivision for Horizon's uplifting. Partly it was inspired by those Animalians who help raise awareness for their endangered, feral cousins.
One that was placed on the "list" for later was the gharial. This crocodile subspecies was considered because it was both endangered and harmless despite it's appearance. It was also one that was considered because it was an Asian crocodile subspecies.
One that was considered to be a "maybe" was a basking shark. While it wasn't as big as the whale shark, it was considered because many modern "sightings" of megalodons were actually misinterpreted basking sharks.
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The Ice Haus was closed down, or "entered hibernation for the winter", according to the notice on the front door. But the Brumation House was facing its biggest boom, mainly with the colder-blooded members of Animalia. While there were some that were warmer-blooded, The Brumation House was the "biggest" place for winter foods, sweetmeats, and drinks, which were basically anything hot.
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The final thing that was considered more of a novelty was late night skinny dipping. While it was one of those "it was inevitable" things, the first two that got it started, so to speak, were Luke and Marge. What helped it gain some notoriety was Marge's comment on it:
"I haven't felt this free since they invented elastic waistbands."
But what was one mandatory thing was a "membership card" of sorts for the Midnight Polar Plunge Club. You could only get in after getting the required punches punched out, similar to certain bus passes, and it was all participation, no voyeurism allowed. So you couldn't go in just to watch, you had to take part. This feature helped cut down on peepers.
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While the first snow of December was a little annoying, there was enough to keep it from being as bad as some people make it.