With Christmas only 13 days away, Christmas prep went into an upswing. For some people, this led to one of the twelve things that people hate about Christmas (at least according to the satirical song): no parking spaces. But Christmas prep and/or shopping wasn't the only thing that was going on.
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As part of the Animalia Christmas Exposition, there were also going to be exhibits on Hanukah and Kwanza, which was part of WSA's Foreign Affairs Office's plan to include other religions from other nations, especially for Ellie's sake and the sake of The Five Elements.
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While some would think that Miss Vivian's Intimacy Boutique would be slowing down with the Christmas Season, on the contrary it was still going strong, especially because a number of girls and female Animalians wanting winter-themed lingerie.
There were also some guys who wanted to get the lingerie offered at Miss Vivian's for their girls, but Miss Vivian had a rather embarrassing add-on for them. Whenever they went to the cash register with their purchases, they also got a free mesh bag, in the general shape of a Christmas stocking, filled with genuine anthracite coal, much to the amusement of the onlookers.
There were also some girls who were getting new lingerie because their old sets were sold out, but also knew how to use IPhones to take selfies, and did so of somewhat erotic poses to send to their boyfriends. Miss Vivian didn't want them to cause a disruption in the store, but allowed them to use the dressing rooms as makeshift model rooms. Because some of them were Animalians, there was some discussion at the PR-MD office over a request for an Animalian adaptation of America's Next Top Model, due to the fact that there was now at least 22 recorded seasons of said show, but that was something to consider after Christmas.
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While some of the "naughtier" aspects of Animalia were indulged, the "nicer" parts weren't neglected.
Kara had discovered that not only did she have a good talent at baking, she was especially skilled at pies, cakes, pastries, and similar desserts. While she was working off her $500 debt to the liquor store she had also started a correspondence course with the Le Cordon Bleu Schools in baking. While a little worried about tuition costs, her little "alcoholic rampage" (as one comedy news show put it) helped her out quite a bit at the Fall Bake Sale, selling more of her baked goods than she, Raj, and Fran anticipated.
Other things that were being sold due to it being halfway to Christmas was early childhood learning toys made especially for Animalians, partly due to the relatively new members of Animalia. One popular sell was an early childhood book designed to teach young herbivore Animalians which plants are safe to eat and which are actually poisonous. Some of those were a bit more surprising than others, especially for humans. While the intent was to teach uplifted Animalians about which plants were safe to let their new kids eat, it also had an unintended effect of teaching people about plants and trees they had no idea were deadly.
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There were also a small "family" thing about watching videos of people/Animalians from the past. One such thing was like this.
"This was taken when we went to Grandma Edna's house for Christmas back when Malice was six months old." said Sarah to the rest of Animalia Ambassadoria (not counting the newest reporters) as they watched the old video. It showed six-month-old Malice, as a feral puppy, encountering snow for seemingly the first time. She leapt off Enda's back porch and ended up buried up to her chin in snow, much to the amusement of the onlookers, but not much to Malice.
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With 13 days to go until Christmas, everything was getting busy, especially in Animalia.