"Oh, how beautiful is the year around this time.." Sang a sloth full from his throat, while it was carrying some green stuff in the paws.
"...love and solemnity are everywhere." Two larger animals followed the happy something. One of them was a mammoth carrying wood, and the other one was a saber-toothed tiger, which also had some things on the back.
"We all get together and are really happy that we have each other, we were good and that's why Santa presents us with the most beautiful gifts."
"I've been a good guy all year, so please Santa, give me earmuffs, and I also wouldn't mind if you let me go deaf." Manny spoke to the sky and his buddy next to him laughed a little.
"You two are just jealous because you have not been blessed with such a beautiful voice." Said Sid consciously and marched on, singing.
"I agree." Diego grinned and gave the biggest one a certain look. They then ran a little slower to get a little distance from their singing buddy.
"He's been croaking Christmas carols continuously for days, and I wonder if we'll have to endure that until the end of the party, because we once laughed too many times when he lit his fur again." He added, wondering at the same time why they always had to get the decoration. Each year the male animals always got the same task.
"You could probably be right." Manfred agreed and this casually thought about why they had to make something new again and again when Christmas was back in front of the cave. You could still use the decoration from last year.
But no, if Ellie says he should go, then he had long come up with no objections. In addition, it was usually faster than starting a discussion and he spent a little time with his buddies.
"What is he doing now?" The saber tooth asked and the taller one searched for the lazy animal. This was no longer on the way for a long time, but climbed up with a few green leaves to a tree.
"Sid, what are you doing? If you break some of your limbs now, I'm not going to be the one to drag you around in the next few days. So come back down before it's too late!" Explained the mammoth clearly as it stood exactly under the plant on which the sloth had climbed.
"Oh, don't worry, I'm just distributing mistletoes." Afterwards, one heard from the branches also a happy giggle.
"That was obvious, but do you really have to climb that high?" Called up the big cat and heard already a dangerous cracking.
"Uh, Manny put your trunk up there fast." Annoyed, he did what was said and a moment later something landed on his nose.
"The rotten fruits are falling from the tree very late this year." Manfred put his friend on the ground and freed his face from small branches and the remaining fallen snow.
"And why do you want to distribute these things everywhere?"
"Have you forgotten? If two are under a mistletoe, then both have to kiss each other and..." As if on cue, the two larger animals looked up at the already hanging copy. Only to find that they were both under this decoration. As the sloth kept chattering, the other two quickly made a step away from the tree.
"As long as Christmas is, we should be at least three steps apart." Explained the mammoth sheepishly.
"Good idea." Diego added in the same tone.
"So let's not waste time and distribute more, because you want to be rewarded, too." This was conveyed with an exaggerated wink that the other two animals almost thought their buddy had something in the eye. But as he continued to humming in the snow, both sighed, annoyed.
"This year is going to be so wonderful, because I'm going to.." The sloth stopped suddenly and the other two were happy that the song finally came to an end. But then they saw that their friend had disappeared again. A few steps later, they realized that their sloth had fallen into a hole of loose snow.
"You'd think he'd know slowly how this works." The saber tooth said, shaking his head. Of course, the mammoth had to take the job and reach into the snow.
"Could you look out a little better?! I don't want to have to do that all day." The bigger one complained when he finally grabbed what he was looking for. But Sid found it a pity that some mistletoes had been lost to the mishap.
"Hey, here are two more." With that, Manny still fished some out of the snow hole.
"See, now you have enough left to beautify your cave." Added Diego to cheer up his buddy.
"You know what? You are right. I'm not allowed to spoil the mood with anything." With that, Sid wanted to jump happily away, but the mammoth seized him in time, because these rescue operations stopped them on their way.
"Stay close to us, Cupid. We don't want you to end up with anything else worse." He explained, wondering why Sid still sometimes behaved like a toddler.
"Cupid?" Inquired the big cat with raised eyebrows.
"It's such a story from his girlfriend. Cupid is supposed to be the god of love. But I didn't know anything more. I only kept that part because Ellie is so excited about these things."
"Oh yes, she always does that kind of thing on some afternoons. My sweetheart is so creative." Swarmed the sloth and the other two took another look.
"That reminds me, Brooke always invites Shira to do such a things too, but she never wants to join in."
"Hey, if she doesn't want to. Besides, I don't think she can tell stories that inspire everyone for.. well a good laugh." That would be rather scary anecdotes. With few survivors and no happy ending, Diego thought to himself. Shira and he sometimes needed their space. In addition, the tigress was reluctant to scare others more than it already happens sometimes by mistake.
"Honestly, I can understand that she doesn't want to go there." Sometimes the mammoth didn't like too many animals in his vicinity too. The female sloth seemed to be enjoying the attention. She was also happy to meet new characters after living with these crazy people for years. Thinking about it made him wonder because she could have left this crystalline place at any time.
"I'm not letting you ruin my Christmas mood either. You'll see if you don't get any presents because of this attitude." Sid said a bit cockily and continued to think hard about where he could best fix the remaining mistletoes. After all, it had to look like he was accidentally standing with Brooke under it. Just so he could say it was the fate that brought them together.
When the three men arrived at their usual meeting place, they first encountered only a single mammoth.
"Hey guys. Where have you been? Peaches said we should help you, but we couldn't find you anywhere."
"She probably accidentally told you the wrong spot." Said the big cat. This and the sloth looked at the oldest mammoth here, a little punishing. Because they both knew who mistook this place 'accidentally'.
"Well, now you have found us. But what did you mean with us?" Manny quickly tried to get out of here. He also found a bit much of his daughter that his son-in-law had to be present at every men's round. He already spent enough time with this guy. Besides, he sometimes had the feeling that he didn't speak at all when the over-excited Mammoth went off with them. His wife once said he shouldn't be jealous because Julian wouldn't take his friends away from him. On such a comment he could only give an annoyed grumbling, because he certainly didn't think like that.
"Well, me and him here." With that, the younger mammoth pulled a molehog from his back. This just looked pretty tired, probably because he had napped on the back of the big animal.
"Sorry, I woke you up." Julian said and put the prickly one back behind.
"Eddie and Crash were with us recently, but they got a special job." Manfred rolled his eyes at it, because he could imagine that the opossums have lied because it was too boring here. But he wouldn't ask why his son-in-law was carrying the little prickly animal with him. It was certainly an idea of his daughter, because she wants her husband to find a best friend or something like that.
For a while he found it flattering that the three of them were the big role model. Sometimes, when he looked at Sid like that, he didn't know if they were really such brilliant examples.
"Don't worry, we'll certainly see them again soon." The saber tooth said in an annoyed tone because he felt something cold on his neck.
"Snowball fight?" Manny inquired, dropping the collected wood, knowing his buddy could smell the striped brothers.
"Snowball fight." Was responded just as disgruntled and the tiger threw the stuff off his back.
"What? No, I'm not finished with the decorations yet." Whined the sloth in the middle. His friends wondered why this made such a theater. There were still a few days left until Christmas to decorate something.
But the three oldest animals couldn't do anything any more, because suddenly they were right in the middle of the battle with snow. Eddie and Crash fired at them from the trees. Since this happened more often, as soon as more fresh snow fell, this time even someone was prepared for it. Than as the first balls flew, which Julian dodged astonishingly flexible for a mammoth, Louis hastily dug up a small cave with ready-made ammunition.
"Serve yourself gentlemen." He added with a grin. At least, that explained why the molehog had taken a nap. But he was quick to wake up, so as not to be hit. What looked really easy with the little one, because apparently the opossums had only practice in meeting big animals.
Exactly these couldn't be asked twice at the snowball offer. Than who knew how many battles the brothers want to start this winter? It wouldn't be bad to give them a lesson now.
"Yeah, I hit one." The younger mammoth exclaimed happily as he caught one of the striped rodents. Eddie, however, only fell dramatically behind.
"Oh no! You killed my brother!" Cried Crash, pretending to reach for the other one. Of course, the possum wasn't falling off the tree, but stuck with its tail on the branch and retreated to the short theater, again up to the other. There, the two laughed together about the bigger ones.
"He really thought he had won." And then the thrower went on fast.
"Don't worry about it, they never play fair." Explained the molehog to Julian and now tried to land in a few matches. Although he was great in balls form, but throwing in the far and high he still lacked the exercise.
Diego and Manfred, on the other hand, were almost masters at dodging it, but shooting them back could be a hard time with them, because they were almost all on the same spot.
"Spread out!" Called Diego, hoping to confuse the little rodents a bit. From then on, there was a lot of confusion when Manfred actually just tried to keep out of it. Than he never really felt like playing such childish games. Unfortunately, it wasn't easy to escape from the turmoil, if you are the best target.
Then the biggest animal in the round suddenly noticed that the sun was already setting.
"Hey, stop it!" He shouted, but only Sid and Diego got it and the others continued to blubber. What Julian also didn't realize was that his little helper wasn't producing loads as quickly. Nevertheless, he reached blindly to the place where the snowballs were supposed to lie. So full of energy, a moment later, he threw a molehog through the air. Manny could just catch him like this before he crashed into something else.
"I said.." But the mammoth couldn't finish his sentence because two silly possums didn't take him seriously again. As he set the spiked to the ground, he was quick to grab a snowball in the trunk.
"Time out!" Called the biggest animal and fired the ball exactly at the two rodents in the tree. As luck would have it, he hit the brothers and even both.
"Well, who thought that? I won!" But he quickly stopped cheering when he saw the looks of his buddies.
"Sorry man, it just was full into it." With that, the younger mammoth gave Louis an apologetic nudge on the shoulder. The smaller one sighed, but then gave a smile out.
"Nothing happened."
"Well, almost not." Added the sloth and now tried to hang a mistletoe during the truce.
"Sid, would you mind if you could put those things up and out of my sight somewhere later?"
"But Manny, I want that all them hang out when Brooke shows up." This exactly rolled his eyes, but let his buddy do it, because he didn't want to constantly play the minder. He was also supposed to take a look around here, because he had a bad feeling.
"Say Sid? Why do want to hang these leaves everywhere? Not that extra leaves on the tree are wrong in the winter, but it doesn't look very special now." Julian inquired, because of course he agreed to help the sloth.
"Well, that's a beautiful tradition. If two meet under these branches, then they are destined to kiss." After that was said, the mammoth had to sneeze, as Sid tickled the trunk tip with his foot as he was up so high. The smaller animal fell down, but this time it was really lucky and landed in soft powder snow. What Manny didn't find so enjoyable was that one of the opossums had caught a mistletoe and was now standing on a branch just above him. That wouldn't be so bad, but his not so bright son-in-law was next to him for some strange reason.
"Don't you dare!" Warned the older mammoth in a frighteningly calm tone.
"Traditions must be followed by all." Crash called from downstairs in amusement while Eddie visibly waved the mistletoe.
"That's right." You heard it muffled from the heap of snow.
"Don't be like that, Bro-Dad." And with this, Julian really gave his father-in-law a peck with his trunk.
"Hahaha, when we later tell that Peaches and Ellie." The possums laughed at it, of course, up there.
"The tradition also says that you don't necessarily have to do this with men." Manfred explained clearly and that was a lie, of course, but he wanted to prevent further such scenes.
"But what if a pair of lovers consists of two men, then they can't join in?" The older mammoth breathed deeply in and out, so as not to lose patience.
"Then it's their business. But could I finally get to the point! Didn't any of you notice that we're still alone?"
"Yes, I already wondered. But I just thought the women want to be with each other for a while." Now Diego noticed with a shrug because his saber-toothed tiger could take care of herself. For the others, he thought all the time that they had given Manny a similar announcement about a women's evening or something.
"Well, nothing like that was said to me, and if I look at those two up there, then they don't know nothing either." Added the oldest mammoth.
"Uhhhh, I knew it. All that was too good to be true. She left me now." Abruptly Sid started to whine and blew his nose in a few leaves. His buddies groaned annoyed because they were glad that they didn't hear this theater for a long time.
"Don't always talk such a nonsense." The big cat tried to cheer up his friend, but it didn't help, this just howled on.
"Oh yes, maybe our ladies..buwahahaha..*sniff *..also decided together to run away."
"That's not true. Why should they do that?" Now Manfred tried to calm the sloth, but again it didn't work out.
"And that of a guy who keeps forgetting everything about our sister!" Crash complained from above and threw again with a snowball.
"Stop it now!" With that, the hit man finally got the rodents off the tree.
"If she really left me, why have you been here since then?" The brothers looked at each other thoughtfully, because the mammoth had grabbed them by the tail. Then the whining started with them too.
"We forgive you Ellie, wherever you are." Eddie gazed dramatically.
"Exactly, we know he made you leave us behind." Sniffed Crash and both fell into each others arms. With an eye roll, the mammoth tossed the striped ones in the snow heap on which Sid also landed earlier.
"Maybe we should finally start looking for them." Than the saber tooth was already irritated that he couldn't pick up Shira's track. Maybe the wind was also bad at this point too. So he started walking and the others followed him at their pace.
"He's right. And now finally behave yourself like a real man Sid, then she will not leave." Then the howl only got louder.
"Buwahhahh..Maybe she saw me like that and escaped because of it!" Only then did Manny realize that his son-in-law looked a bit depressed too.
"Are you also starting to cry now?" And there really was a little tear in the eyes of the younger mammoth.
"What if that's true? Maybe lately I was really a bad husband." The other one next to him banged his trunk exhausted in the face. But before the older one could comment on it, someone else came before him.
"That's impossible. Did Peaches feel a bit oppressed lately?" Wanted to know the molehog now who was running next to them as well.
"No. Rather the opposite. She looked happy and I almost had the feeling she would shine when I stepped near her. Also, she's been swinging less through the trees lately, but I just thought that's because she doesn't feel like it. Then she smiled sometimes for no reason, which I find a little strange, but if she is happy, then I am too." Explained Julian and the spiky one couldn't really figure it out, because for him the mammoth always beamed. He also noticed that Peaches took it easier and smiled more, but he didn't think much of it.
"Oh, no!" With that the two were torn out of their thoughts again and looked at Manfred. He knew these symptoms very well, but didn't know if he should tell his idea now.
"Ellie!" He roared loudly and ran a little faster. Because he tried so to escape a conversation with his son-in-law. Surely the women had planned this on purpose, but he thought that time wasn't ripe for grandchildren. It didn't have to be that fast.
"Judging by your face, I was right! The women really left us..ahaaahhh.." Cried Sid and the possums sighed sad again.
"It is strange that I can't find her." The saber tooth now jumped back to the man herd.
"But if that's really true, what should Shira have for a reason?" Striped brothers immediately jumped toward the big cat.
"He's probably the only one of us who really didn't notice." Eddie's voice was again dramatic.
"Or he just doesn't want to see the truth." His brother continued, patting the tiger pityingly over his head.
"You poor guy, but it would have to come at some point." The other opossum nodded and wiped a tear out of his eye.
"She wanted to be strong, but over time she just got bored of you." Then Diego threw the two silly rodents off his back.
"What are you talking about?" He wanted to know a little upset, although he knew that the two were just ranting.
"Recognizing is the first way to recovery." Crash nodded and added something stupid too.
"Maybe she would have endured it you being boring, but then you brought home also some rotten meat. Which woman can handle this for a long time?" But then the bigger one finally had enough of this talk. Because he was sure that Shira would never do that. Nevertheless, he chased now behind the two while they laughed out loud again.
However, the hunt was quickly interrupted when Manny pushed his buddy aside. Because the three animals circled around the two mammoths.
"Can we agree that none of us was abandoned?" The biggest announced so clearly that everyone heard it. All nodded to it.
"Okay, but the other day when I walked by Diego's cave, it smelled really weird and.." Started Sid with an upheld paw, thinking his saber-toothed buddy wouldn't notice. He interrupted the chatter but quickly with a hissing, in which he showed the sharp teeth. This was quickly conveyed that now no one should give out no more nonsense.
"After that has been clarified, I suggest we keep looking, because it's almost dark." Manfred explained, when everyone calmed down again.
"I wonder where the men are?" Ellie said, looking out of the cave. The sun had already reached the horizon and none of the male specimens had yet turned up here. Well, except for Teddy, who showed up with Sid's grandmother. But the two felt it was too boring and so only two mammoths, a saber-toothed tiger and a sloth remained here. Now that she was thinking about it, the four were seldom just among themselves.
"Honestly, I didn't mind spending the afternoon without them." Shira just happened to find this place a few days ago. As more snow had fallen again and it quickly became colder, this ice cave was created here. The dwelling had some holes above where molten snow could seep through in the sun. This resulted in long cones and glittering walls. If the light fell in perfectly, it got brighter in here and it looked beautiful.
Although she had the idea to come up here to spend some time together not the best, because the cave was already a bit high up. But when the other female animals heard about it, they really wanted to come here. So the tigress was glad that she could do something for her friends from time to time.
"I just hope Julian and Dad get along." Peaches was the second to make it up here. Of course she also thought of bringing snacks for everyone. Finally, she knew how some of her friends were when there was no food around.
"Your father will manage that slowly. You've been married for a while now." Ellie always tried to smooth the waves between the two men, which was sometimes not easy, because even her son-in-law often behaved strangely. But he meant it only well and he made her daughter happy. That's all she needed to know.
"Maybe they want to leave us alone for a while to use the time to decorate everything." Said Brooke, who always saw everything positively. She was thrilled when Sid's friends wanted to do something with her. Because she was always happy to get to know the other animals around her and to learn more about the sloth of her dreams.
"Yes, maybe." The tigress agreed and the mammoths nodded, though the three knew that this was unlikely to happen. Surely the men were just stopped by something else.
Or a certain mammoth didn't feel like climbing up here, but Ellie thought that only for herself.
"If the others don't show up, we can still eat something anyway." She then explained and everyone grabbed at the snacks.
"Sorry Shira, that I didn't bring a fish." Peaches apologized, because for a saber tooth it must be strange to constantly eat fruits and nuts. Usually she always went fishing for something like that. But because she sprained her ankle, she couldn't do so much. Maybe she should ask her little spiky friend to put on a bandage or something like that. Of course she could also ask Julian, but such things weren't really his specialty. She also wants it to heal quickly so she could be up and running around soon. After all, you never know what to expect.
"Hey, that's alright. I have eaten enough before because I didn't know how long we will stay up here at all. It was anticipatory of you to have brought anything at all." The big cat glanced at Peache's injured leg and the mammoth knew that her counterpart was probably aware of it. She made every effort to keep it secret. She didn't really know why, because such things can happen to anyone. Maybe she doesn't want Julian to be worried. But the tigress didn't mention it in the following talks and so she didn't even think about it anymore.
"It's still strange for me to be outdoors out here." Brooke said as they gathered all four at the entrance to watch the rest of the sunset. Some stars appeared slowly already.
"What do you mean?" Inquired the mammoth mother, but didn't look away from the horizon. The sky was bathed in such beautiful colors around the sun, they rarely saw this. First, because you couldn't see it so well from the valley, and second, because a certain grumpy mammoth didn't always like to look at it.
"Well, that's where the weather and the temperature change. Everything stayed the same in the Geotopia."
"Speaking of the topic. How long have you been in there?" Peaches has always been interested in a few things, but she didn't want to be rude and ask everything in front of her uncle Sid. He already knew that his beloved was much older than she looked at the moment, but she certainly wants to keep some secrets to herself.
"To be honest, I'm not sure." Brooke put his paw-tips together and really thought about it, but unfortunately it seemed futile, as with all the other attempts before that. Because of course she didn't worry about it for the first time.
"Then maybe you remember how you got in the asteroid?" Shira now joined in because she had also seen some things on her travels, but crystals that keep eternally young, she hadn't yet come down. The sloth shook his head apologetically.
"When you live that long, you start forgetting a few things." She admitted, feeling a bit depressed.
"This isn't that bad. The main thing is that you are fine now. And you also have a great time with Sid and I also hope with us. You shouldn't ask for more." Ellie then glanced at the other two with a look that said they should let go of the subject. They sighed and nodded in agreement, because it wasn't their intention to spoil the sloth's day.
"There you are right." Brooke smiled again and stroked her hair back, because before a few strands had fallen in the face. So the four watch the sky for a while in silence. At least until suddenly a icy gust of wind swept over them.
"The others aren't going to show up." The tigress said as she held her nose up to smell any of her friends.
"Well then we should go down again. Up here, it gets colder at night." Ellie added and so they cleaned up a bit, because not everyone had to see that someone had a buffet here.
"It's just good that the road is wide enough and the snow makes everything a little brighter." Peaches said, because she rarely walked around in the dark. And if she does then when she had her little spiky friend with her who could see much better in that time.
"You forget that we still have a saber-toothed tiger with us." The older mammoth reminded her. Although the younger had not forgotten that, she still preferred to rely on her own eyes.
"It must be wonderful to see everything as well at night as during the day." Brooke enthused and the others made her run down the hill from where she couldn't easily crash. Because the female sloth was sometimes distracted too easily. Just like the male copy. At that moment, it was the stars that kept Brooke from paying attention to her surroundings. The others thought it was because she has to get used to something like the night sky. Or again. Since the other animals weren't sure whether the oldest of them, remembered at all the past.
"If you were born with that, then.." But the silver-gray tigress broke off when she heard something.
"What's going on?" The younger mammoth first inquired, but then she also heard noises. It sounded like miserable howling.
"Who bets with me that our men are near it?" But before any of the other could answer Ellie, Peaches intervened.
"Mum!" With that the younger one marched ahead to see more.
"You are right. We'd better check if anything happened." But behind the young mammoth, Shira and Ellie secretly made a bet. The big cat was on only finding half of the boys. Because she had accidentally heard how Manny telled his son-in-law a wrong meeting place. She thought that was a bit unfair, but she didn't want to interfere. However, the mammoth mother went all out and bet that they will meet all the rest.
A moment later it happened, but the women didn't even come to their bet to discuss, because it started the big howl again just louder.
"Ellie! You came back again because of us." The possums stuck to their sister and couldn't stop crying.
The male sloth threw himself whining in the arms of his girlfriend immediately and what this gave out, could no one understand. Maybe no one really wanted. Because everyone averted their gaze as some fluids dripped from Sid's face onto Brooke's fur.
"Peaches, where have you been? I was so worried. You didn't really want to leave me, did you?" She looked at her husband confusedly.
"What?"
"Do you see? I told you it wasn't true." Louis explained, sitting on the back of the male mammoth. Nevertheless, he hid himself briefly to exhale in relief, than he also slowly believed the story of others. And being left behind with these animals didn't look very nice to him in the long run.
Manfred did the same. He sat down annoyed-looking near next to his wife and pretended not to be half desperate a few moments ago, because the others were already driving him a little crazy. In addition, his saber-toothed buddy couldn't track the females and it was so rare that he didn't know where his family was.
"Well, at least you made a warm fire." Ellie just said patting her husband reassuringly.
"Your sweethearts aren't there for one afternoon and they are freaking out like this." Shira remarked rather calmly, as she watched the group and sat next to her tiger. Only when she saw his gaze did she move even closer.
"I wouldn't just leave my softy like that." She whispered, leaning her forehead against his before she gave him a smile. Diego sighed contentedly, but before he could say anything else, Ellie interrupted him. Because she started to laugh loudly.
"Are you alright, Mum?" The younger mammoth turned to her mother, because that was just strange now. The older one got back to normal quickly.
"I'm all right, dear." Meant Ellie only, because she couldn't just reveal that her husband was just quietly asking her if her daughter was expecting a child. She didn't really know why she thought it was so funny. Probably because Manfred hasn't reacted so nervous for a long time.
"That reminds me, Sid give me one of those leaves." Julian simply grabbed a mistletoe after making sure that Peaches still loved him and headed back to her. Unfortunately, he slipped on a small patch of melted snow. Probably one of them was sitting in front of the fire before that. He stumbled, he didn't care much, because it wasn't happening the first time. But the molehog couldn't see it in that way and fell down from the mammoth, rolling around on the ground until Peaches stopped him.
"Good that you fall into my trunk like that. Could you help me with something later?" The prickly guy nodded as she made sure he was on his feet again.
"Here we have to do that, too." With that, Julian stood before them again, as if nothing had happened. He pointedly held the branch above his wife. She smiled immediately, because she found these efforts cute. The smaller one knew when it was time to step back and that's how he wanted to break away from them. He was suddenly seized by a trunk and lifted.
"You have to attach the mistletoe already somewhere so we both can stand under it. Now you just holding it over Louis and me." Explained Peaches and kissed her little friend, who wished to be somewhere else. Because he didn't like the fact, that at the time the male mammoth was watching. It took him a moment to realize that he got a waiting look. He blinked questioningly at the female mammoth. Anyhow, until Peaches held him to her cheek to make it clear.
"Friends have to give each other a kiss on the cheek. Don't you know that anymore?" Of course he still knew that and also how he tried every year to get with Peaches under a mistletoe. Since she was married, he really wanted to avoid such things.
"I must have forgotten." With that he scratched his head in embarrassment and then did the requested thing quickly. He looked carefully at Julian to see how much time he had left to run away.
"I didn't know that. Do I'll get a consolation prize at least?" The male mammoth didn't react jealously or otherwise in any way evil. So Louis sighed calmly and walked closer to the campfire, leaving the two lovers alone. He would warm himself a bit and then go to sleep.
After Sid had calmed down, he also wanted to try that with the mistletoe. But unfortunately he only realized now that he had no more. Julian was busy fixing one on a branch above him and his wife. But he was sure he had one more. But he already saw Crash. He took advantage of the situation and took away the leaves. Of course, he immediately tried to run after him, incidentally, he told his sweetheart she should be patient. As luck would have it, or rather his awkward posture, he too fell on his nose. Because he ran before, he now slipped between the two big cats.
"Oh, that will be funny." Eddie called to his brother and the fallen sloth immediately looked up. The good news, the mistletoe hung in a perfect spot. The bad thing was that he was standing under it with two saber tooth tigers.
"How was that before? Everyone has to keep the tradition." Manfred shouted over, because now he found the matter of course also amusing, because he was out of it. But neither Sid nor Diego could say anything, because the tigress already made the beginning and gave the sloth a kiss on the cheek.
"Shira?" The male saber tooth asked a little dumbfounded.
"There is nothing to it. You also stood with Ellie under such a branch last year." Then the smile on Manny's face died and he looked back and forth between his wife and his friend.
"I'm hearing that for the first time!" The mammoth mother sighed and tapped with the tip of her trunk on her husband's forehead.
"Because you always make such a big deal out of such things. And if you go on like this, there's no such thing left for you." She pointed at Diego, who kissed the other cheek of the sloth very quickly. So the oldest mammoth kept his mouth shut and thought his part.
"So now it's our turn." Shira said, because apparently she really insisted on getting a kiss as well. No one could know that she found a little fun in it to annoy the boys.
"Lady's first." With that, Sid approached the striped tigress very slowly and very carefully, knowing that in one false move, the male saber tooth that was watching them would break his neck with his bare teeth. His mouth barely touched her fur as he gave her a quick peck.
"So and now you." Strangely enough, the sloth's fears vanished as he rushed toward Diego and smooched him. While Manny watched the whole thing, he was actually happy. Than his son-in-law had apparently forgotten that he actually owed him a kiss. Well, there will be enough to laugh at, if the opossums remember the previous event and tell her sister.
"Apparently you like to kiss sloths rather than me." Shira grinned slightly mischievously.
"Ha ha. How could you easily do that?" Diego inquired softly.
"Because I know that the good Sid washes himself at least once a day, since he is forgiven."
"Still, sometimes I have the feeling, and by that I mean my sense of smell, that's not enough." Her grin now turned into a playful smile and she nudged him slightly in the side.
"Is it possible that someone here is jealous? Don't worry, you'll get a few kisses later after that. Unless you don't want one." But before the tiger could answer, his friend the mammoth pulled all attention back to himself.
"That's enough now. Could I now find out where you have been all afternoon?" He said loudly, because it was getting late and cold, despite the fire outside.
"Well, we were up on the hillside in this ice cave." Brooke wanted to enlighten them because she didn't want it to cause trouble. She even pointed in the direction where she thought she had walked here earlier. The silver-gray tigress corrected that quickly, pushing the sloth's arm a little to the right.
"You could have let one of us know." The male mammoth sighed, because now it was already too late to get angry because of that and besides, nothing bad happened.
"I told Sid where to go." Brooke explained, looking closely at the mentioned sloth.
"Oh, that's what you meant, we're up on the hill. I thought it was a phrase like 'break a leg' something like that." Since Manny was too far away from his buddy to give this a head nut, this time Diego took over.
"Okay, let's go to bed now." With that the biggest animal wanted to run from the place.
"But Manny!" Sid complained, because he didn't get what he wanted all the time. The mammoth moaned annoyed, grabbed a mistletoe and held it over the female sloth.
"You don't deserve it." But his friend probably didn't listen, because he was already running towards his sweetheart and gave her a big smack.
"Ok, but now it's enough." With that, Manny attached the leaves to the next branch and, like everyone else, went to sleep. The decorations long forgotten.