"I'm well aware of the Arab Revolt," Adi said to the Animalia PR guy as they overlooked the "Great Snow War" where Animalia and Lyre kids got to enjoy throwing snow balls at one another. "A lot of that is part of Syria's history and was part of what brought the British army to the region. It was not something that relates to Christian religion or anything that its holidays represent. The Arab Revolt was pure politics instigated by Britain to secure the Middle East for Britain and France. The Arabs did want freedom from the Turks, but they didn't want to exchange the Turks for the British or French... Syria fought a series of revolutions in the twenties trying to kick the French out. It is not as though we don't have schools in Syria."
"I apologize," the PR guy said a bit sheepishly, "though a big part of the "Great Snow War" really relates more to the unofficial Christmas truce in 1914. Most of the other things we've added since we started this has been more just to add to the fun of a snowball fight, which a good many Lyre kids have enjoyed."
Adi couldn't deny that as she looked out to see the kids in the open field filled with artificial snow brought in provide a deep and soft surface for them to run around in. The kids, both Human and Animalian laughed and played as the scooped up snowballs, balled it in their hands and threw it around. It was something that struck Adi as fun for them. A part of her was still a bit perplexed as to why they were playing to one of the twentieth century's most violent periods as part of the celebration for Christmas. The story of the Christmas truce in 1914, but Adi knew enough that it didn't end the war and it wasn't repeated. If they were wanting to inspire fun with the kids, that was fine and a part of her supposed a snowball fight was fine, so long as no one got hurt, but they could have still gone for a generic winter theme.
"There is more two the First World War than the Christmas Truce," Adi reminded him.
"True," the PR guy answered, "but it does stand out as a moment goodness and humanity overcoming all the horridness that was part of that war."
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By Christmas morning others were enjoying some moments that were always expected on Christmas morning for Richard, Clara, and their cubs, even if some things were a bit unexpected which created some chuckles among all involved. Their cubs Robert, Michelle, Hilary, and William were over two now and could easily walk and talk and that had brought with it their fair amount of adventure and excitement, though for Richard their interests always seemed to be different from what he remembered growing up. As a child, Richard remembered decorating the tree and enjoying opening the presents and to a certain extent Clara enjoyed a lot of that in their first Christmas together, but their cubs were a bit different from that.
"Tree!" William stated as he moved into the living room with Michelle to his left and Clara close behind. He then reached for one of the outer branches but was held back.
"I still don't understand why they're so into the tree this much," Richard commented, "I mean before Animalia... did you really see a lot of trees, at least trees like this?"
"No," Clara admitted, "the Browns even said that most of what they gave their horses and cattle regarding food before Animalia was feed bought from outside the state and much of their water was provided by channeling water from the creek. At least part of the city's drinking water was picked up the same way, I think... the area was otherwise too dry for large scale forests. And even if the area was good for forests, because the wolf population in this general area was low and outside of those that were in the zoo the bear population was completely absent... I had no real reason to climb trees. I wasn't competing with that much and thus it was safer and easier to be on the ground..."
Hillary and Robert entered with Richard and like their siblings they largely ignored the brightly wrapped packages at the base of the tree and were more fascinated by the tree itself. Clara and Richard did both manage to herd their four cubs to the couch and they did sit calmly together, getting nuzzles from both parents. It wasn't typical Mountain Lion behavior, as Clara knew that in the past, once she was pregnant the male left and once her past cubs began to reach sexual maturity or at least the later stages of puberty in mundane Mountain Lions, she'd left them to go off on their own. As Animalians, her four cubs would grow up in ways more like Humans did than mundane animals. And to an extent that was a good thing.
"Well... I suppose it is good they like one thing about Christmas," Richard commented.
"Chris Mass," William repeated, as though Richard had said the name of a person rather than a holiday. His siblings soon repeated it when they noted their father sighing at the comment. It was like they knew it "got" to Richard and decided to mess with him for all it was worth.
"It's a good thing you four have been good this year and are cute," Richard said to them while shaking his head, "Now... you need to be good for your mother while I get you some breakfast. Then we can open presents and you can marvel at the tree some more."
"It pretty," Hillary commented as she looked to the tree as she climbed onto the couch and then pointed to the tree.
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And in Lyre, another family enjoyed a quiet end to the Christmas holiday, even if certain things weren't quite as expected.
"It was certainly mild this December," Anton commented as he looked out the window to note the brown patches of grass poking through areas where the snow had melted.
"It's still been cold at times," Marlysa commented from the couch as their hatchlings sat watching a Christmas special on the television.
And there had been one storm that had come through earlier in the month that had given the WSA students from Lyre and Animalia a "snow day," but it was largely limited to that one storm that blew threw. After that, as Anton implied with his comment, things had been rather mild for their part of Nevada when it came to temperature. Things weren't always super warm but they weren't super cold either, and more often than not the temperatures were above freezing. This actually let a lot of the snow melt.
"Yeah... I know," Anton commented, "and in a way... as Iguanas... that's better. Not having to bundle up so much to stay warm and moving..."
Marlysa looked up to see Anton sigh again as he looked out the window.
"But despite all the travelling I did during my body building career... some things like snow at Christmas always seemed normal," Anton then finished slowly as Marlysa got up and walked over to him, "the fact that things have been warmer in an area that can be cold in the winter... takes away from those things."
"Maybe," Marlysa said softly and hugged him from behind, "but you'll still have me and our hatchlings... that's more important that a little snow, don't you think?"
"Well when you put it that way," Anton smiled back, kissed Marlysa on the cheek and then walked with her back to the couch.