The December Issue of Animalia Magazine also marked the final countdown to Christmas and the Animalia Christmas Exposition. Because of this, the issue included common (Animalian-safe) holiday recipes, what to look out for this holiday shopping season, and the origins of various Christmas Traditions. There were also ways of avoiding common health problems that often crop up around this time, such as hangovers.
There was also a list/article of things that people hate about Christmas, much to everyone's surprise, though partly that it was inspired by a satirical song about what people hate about Christmas set to the tune of The Twelve Days of Christmas. One of the more confusing ones was "Facing my in-laws", partly because most uplifted Animalians didn't understand why people would hate/dread that. One that was more understandable was "Breaking out the lights", as illustrated by one famous Christmas-themed Garfield comic labeled as "the annual hunt-for-the-one-bad-bulb-in-the-string-of-five-zillion-that-makes-the-others-go-out.", and also talked about the origin of such a thing.
There was also a really amusing article about punishment/gag gifts that were more about funny than mean. One such thing was an Animalian adaptation of the infamous cone-of-shame, while another was from a local mother that found out her 16-year old had the Dead or Alive Xtreme series on his game system, because he was trying to impress a female Animalian with his gaming skillz, and punished him by getting him only clothes for Christmas this year.
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But just because Christmas was getting closer didn't mean that there were some headaches going around, and not all of them were alcoholic:
One such headache was a "donation" seized by US Customs. It was a female northern white-lipped python that someone tried to smuggle inside a cooling vest alongside the phase change cooling packs. What tipped off the Customs officials was that the person was neither a sufferer of multiple sclerosis, an athlete, or any other that would require such a thing. When she was uplifted, the newly named Prisma, due in no small part to the effect that light had on her scales, was now one of the more beautiful snakes in Animalia.
Another headache was a request from the PR-MD for Buford and Aleta. While a little worried, they were a little glad they were.
"Apparently another thing was found that we need some confirmation on." said the PR-MD agent, showing an image of what appeared to be Buford wrestling a feral shark.
"No way that's real." confirmed Buford, "That's a still from an advertisement I made for the next IAC."
"It was inspired by a similar ad for a summer event by WWE." said Aleta. "That shark was actually a complete rubberized prop."
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A similar one was of a kaiju-sized Elly seemingly raging over the Moscow cityline, but fortunately Yuki and Sora were able to explain what it was.
"That's our art project!" said Yuki.
"It's inspired by a Japanese movie released in '07, called Big Man Japan, that we have on DVD back home." confirmed Sora, "It's a sci-fi comedy romp that's about a guy who can transform into a giant super hero and DOES do so to fight against... you guessed it, monsters invading Japan."
"What is it with the Japanese!?" cried out one PR-MD agent, "The only one who comes up with more giant monsters than them are the Irish."
"Really?" asked Yuka, "I didn't know that."
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There was a few things that were a little disturbing but were actually quite natural. One such thing was a female snowy owl Animalian, recently uplifted, that was still capable of turning her head 180 degrees, and even more so without using her new arms and hands, which most humans have to use when they have that ability.
Another one was Allura, who made her first appearance in a video update about Animalia Abyssus. Hir verbal quirk was what made hir a bit more interesting than the current herms in Animalia and sometimes caused a lot of laughs. Her most amusing act was seemingly being capable of carrying a two-way conversation with hirself, like Gollum from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies.
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With only nine days left to go until Christmas, there was plenty to get ready for, especially with last-minute Christmas shopping.