ICE AGE SWITCHEROO
A HERD'S CHRISTMAS
HEY, GUYS. THE SEASON OF CHRISTMAS IS ONCE AGAIN HERE. IT'S THE TIME TO SPREAD GOOD CHEER AND GATHER AROUND WITH THE ONE'S YOU LOVE. IT'S ALSO THE TIME TO READ AND WATCH CHRISTMAS SPECIALS, SO I WISH YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND SO DOES MY CO-WRITER Kenneth0. MAKE SURE TO GIVE MY CO-WRITER A SHOUTOUT.
ENJOY!
The snow was falling to the ground in the Ice Age. Mammals of all kind were outside hanging decorations and wrapping presents. It was the day before Christmas. The most nagical time of the year. Popping out of the snow was Scrat and Scratte, who were searching for acorns. They saw a horned beaver place an acorn in a centerpiece for his decoration. They wanted it more than anything and snuck over there to get it. They started grabbing all the nuts they could find in plain sight. Once they had too many, all the acorns toppled over the two squirrels, crushing them under nutty goodness.
Passing by is our favorite female sloth Brooke and her kids, Stephen and Rose, who were holding their mother's tail to stay with her. Brooke was carrying an empty wooden stump with Christmas decorations inside. She and her kids made their way over to the herd. "Okay, everyone. I've got them."
Ellie gasped in delight. "The Christmas tree decorations."
"I just got them out of storage. With some help from my two little sweetie pies." She kissed her two children on the foreheads.
"I hope you two have been helping mommy not be so clumsy," Shira said.
"Oh, please," Brooke said, "I stopped being so clumsy since your kids turned into pre-teens."
"She does have a point there," Ellie said, "That was around the time we let her help clean up the cave. She only broke one vase throughout that whole time."
"I don't think it counts when you're two months pregnant with twins and you have more junk in the trunk than usual," Shira said.
"Be lucky that I don't have mood swings anymore," Brooke said, "If you had told me that when I was pregnant, it wouldn't have ended well."
"I will admit that I was scared of your mood swings."
They heard a crashing sound from down the trail and looked to see Earnest had tripped over Gladys' foot, dropping all the Christmas decorations he was carrying.
Earnest shot up to his feet. "Woman, you saw that I was carrying all those Christmas decorations! What was the point in tripping me?"
"I felt like it," Gladys said.
"Would you guys stop fighting for once?" Sid asked.
"Sid's right," Manny said, "It's Christmas Eve. This is the holiday season where we should be settling our differences. Not fighting with each other."
"Hey, guys," Cheril said, making her way over to the herd with Roshan following, "You will not believe what new Christmas tradition we found out about over at the human village."
"I thought the other humans hated you guys," Diego said.
"Well, we were able to make friends with this other human couple," Roshan said.
"Our new human friends Olena and Bastar introduced us to a new Christmas tradition," Cheril said, "They said the Christmas Cupid made this." She tied a piece of mistletoe on a branch. "Which loving couple wants to kiss under the mistletoe?"
"What?" Crash shouted.
"Disgusting!" Eddie yelled.
"I believe she meant couples that are either dating or married," Buck said.
"Still, though. That's disgusting."
"Well I think it's a beautiful Christmas tradition," Ellie said.
"You know what else is beautiful?" Snow Belle said, "Knowing that Santa will be coming here tonight and placing gifts under the tree. A tradition he has every year. I'll never forget that one Christmas we had. I was only a little cub."
"You mean the Christmas that you were trying to prove to your mom that Santa was real," Laurence said.
"That's a Christmas I've always remembered and have never forgotten," Brooke said, "It all happened on this very day ten years ago. The year I thought that Santa had placed me on the Naughty List."
Rose gasped. "Naughty List?" Stephen was shocked as well.
"Oh, but he would never put you sweet little angels on there. You've been good all year long."
"Yay!" the tiny sloth twins cheered.
"Oh, please," Shira said, "I thought I made it up at first."
"It would've never been made if you hadn't of said anything to Santa about it," Snow Belle said.
"We should've never said he wasn't real," Junior said.
"I have a feeling that Santa is still holding a grudge against us," Stripes said.
"Oh, come on," Sid said, "You all still believe in Santa? That fat guy only exist in people's imagination."
"There's no Santa?" Stephen asked.
"Of course there's a Santa," Brooke told her son, "Your father's just being a Scrooge."
"A Scrooge?" Sid said, "I'm just stating the truth. There's no such thing as Santa."
"Well, you don't know that," Bethany said, holding her baby boy John in her arms.
"Of course I do. I haven't seen him, so there's no reason to believe in him."
"Just because you've never seen him before, doesn't mean that he's not real," Louis said.
"I feel like nobody's listening to me," Sid said, throwing his paws up in the air, "Am I talking to myself here?"
"Where's your Christmas spirit, Uncle Sid?" Peaches asked.
"Probably went down the drain like everything else in his life," Gladys said.
"How do you know?" Earnest asked.
"I'm his grandmother. I practically raised him his whole life."
"Come on, you guys," Teddy said, "I've been around for over three hundred years. I may have never seen Santa before, but I know he's doing a great job every year placing a smile on people's faces when Christmas morning arrives."
"Believing makes the season shine brighter," Terrie said.
"So you guys actually saw Santa?" Julian asked.
"We certainly did," Ellie said, "Years ago when these guys were little kids."
"I don't think being a pre-teen was considered being a kid," Cheril said.
"How can a ten year old be considered a pre-teen?" Shira asked.
"She was older than all of us," Snow Belle said, "Animals just grow up faster than humans."
"She does have a point there," Roshan said, "I'm practically sixty years old."
"And you don't look a day over eighteen," Cheril said, wrapping her arns around his tough slender body.
"Why don't you guys just tell us the story?" Laurence said.
"What an excellent idea!" Brooke exclaimed, "Gather around, everyone! It's time for a Christmas story that you'll never forget!"
"Alright!" Julian exclaimed.
"This is gonna be awesome," Crash said.
The herd sat around as the mammals who were there ten years ago began to tell the tale.
"It all started ten years ago," Shira said, "It was our second Christmas together with the kids. Back then, we had just invented the first Christmas tree, but we still wanted to continue using what we called the Christmas rock."
A flashback started to appear from the Christmas ten years ago.
THE STORY
Shira: It was a beautiful Christmas Eve and Diego was bringing out the Christmas rock.
The story begins with Diego pushing a heavy rock over to the rest of the herd. Once he finally got it in place, he looked over at his wife Shira.
"Okay, Shira, I got her," Diego called out to his wife.
Shira had placed the last crystal decorations on the cave. She gasped when she saw what her husband had brought out. "The Christmas rock."
"Just got her out of storage. I wanted to surprise Snow Belle and the boys. Where is our sweet little flower and our crazy boys?" A snowball was thrown at him. Make that two snowballs. He looked up to see his sons, Junior and Stripes, the cutest little cubs, up on a snow hill.
"Incoming!" Junior and Stripes exclaimed, sliding down the hill and ramming right into their parents, knocking them to the ground.
"There's your crazy boys," Shira said.
"Sorry, Dad," Junior said.
"We're just having too much fun," Stripes said.
"Yeah!" Crash exclaimed.
"Whoo-hoo!" Eddie shouted with glee.
Junior and Stripes started throwing snowballs at their uncles. Crash gave them the look of winning. "It's on!" They started throwing snowballs at the saber boys.
Stripes scoffed. "Is that the best you can do?"
"We do whatever it takes to win," Eddie said.
"You guys need to chill out," Junior said. He looked over behind the bushes. "Now, Peaches!"
Peaches jumped out of the bushes. "There's nowhere to run!" She sucked up some snow into her trunk and blew it at the possums. They froze in it, standing still like statues. Peaches laughed. "I love playing this game."
"Boys, have you seen your sister anywhere?" Shira asked.
"I'm over here, Mama," Snow Belle called out, "I'm learning a new ice skating move from Cheril."
"I've been teaching her everything she knows," Cheril said, "It's only the basics, but she's improving."
"Well, you can work on skating lessons later," Shira said, "You're father and I wanna show you something."
Snow Belle gasped. "The Christmas rock!"
"Did I hear someone say the Christmas rock?" Manny asked as he and Ellie came up to everyone else.
"Yes, you did! It's so beautiful! I love it! I love it! I love it! I love it! I love it!" Snow Belle stuck out her tongue to lick it.
"No, no, no, don't," Shira said. It was too late. She already had her tongue on the rock.
"Too late," Diego said.
Snow Belle tried to pull herself free, but to no avail. "I'm stuck."
Diego pulled her free, patting her head. "This is the same Christmas rock I had when I was a kid. It's an heirloom that's been in our family for generations."
"Tonight when Santa comes by with his presents, he'll see this rock and know that a very special little girl and two sweet little boys lives here," Shira said.
"Same goes for you, Peaches," Ellie said, kissing her cheek.
Manny started singing. "Oh, Christmas rock, oh, Christmas rock, You're 30 tons of granite, And every..."
"You know you're singing to a rock, right?" Cheril asked.
"It's a Christmas tradition for the kids. Don't humans have Christmas traditions?"
. "Oh, yeah! Every year my dad would bring home the biggest, fattest gazelles he could find and then we'd all use our spears and rip into their..." She heard the adults clear their throats and pointed to their children, who shivered a bit with fear. Well, Peaches and Snow Belle were scared. The saber boys were wanting to hear more. Cheril continued, but stated it differently to make it sound baby animal friendly. "...our presents. And we'd play games with the gazelles and dance with them and not eat them. The end."
That's when they heard a voice so sweet twirling over to them. "Merry Christmas, my mammals." When she saw the Christmas Rock, she was very disappointed to see what Santa would be awaiting. "Wow! That's some crazy rock."
"Step away from the stone," Shira said, putting herself in front of the Christmas rock.
"Why?"
"You'll break it."
"Aunt Brooke can't break a rock," Peaches said.
"Don't tempt her," Shira said.
"Aunt Brooke, we need this so that Santa can find us tonight," Snow Belle said.
"Oh, not this Santa thing again," Junior said.
"What, this?" Brooke asked, "He could go right past it. You need something bigger, taller, sparklier. Something with a pizzazz. Um, a tree!" Brooke introduced them to a nice looking tree.
"A Christmas tree?" Shira asked, "Do you know how ridiculous that sounds? There's millions of trees out there, Brooke. How would anyone notice this one?"
"Well, we could decorate it. Crash, Eddie."
"Whoo-hoo!" Crash said.
"Sweet!" Eddie exclaimed.
Shira: They started decorating the tree with crystals and all sorts of things from nature. It wasn't long before they were done. It was the prettiest thing anyone had ever seen. Well, back then, we didn't know that, but we do now.
"And, voila!" Brooke exclaimed, showing a marvelous beauty.
"It does look pretty good," Peaches said.
"It'll never catch on," Shira said.
"It's beautiful," Snow Belle said.
"It needs a certain razzle-dazzle on top," Brooke said, "Something that says Brooke." She placed a wooden star on top of the tree. "And just like that, a tradition is born." Dropping the star, it landed on top of the Christmas rock.
"Hey!" Shira shouted.
Brooke saw that nothing happened and laughed. "Seriously, what did you think was gonna..." And just like that, the rock broke to pieces.
"Yep," Cheril said, "That says Brooke, all right."
"Okay, okay," Brooke said, seeing the look of anger on Shira`s face, "Let's just keep it together. It really is about the spirit of Christmas, isn't it?"
"You're about to be a spirit of Christmas, Brooke!" Shira shouted.
"Shira, calm down," Ellie said.
"Shira, please," Brooke said, "I'm so sorry."
"You know what, Brooke, I'm the least of your worries," Shira said, "You gotta answer to Santa."
"Santa? Santa Claus?"
"He is never gonna forgive this. You just got yourself on Santa's..." Shira knew she had to make something up. "Uh, ah, Santa's Naughty List."
"Santa has a Naughty List?"
"Yeah! Yeah! And if you're not good, then he puts your name on it."
"We're never good," Crash said.
"Then why start now?" Eddie told his brother.
"Come on, Mom," Stripes said, "Stop making stuff up."
"What happens when your name is on the Naughty List?" Brooke asked.
"Well, if your name's on the Naughty List, you don't get Christmas," Shira said.
"But no! Why me? Besides the fact that it's my fault." Brooke walked away, tears welling up in her eyes. "This can't be happening."
"The Naughty List?" Diego asked, "Where did you come up with that?"
"Besides the fact that there's no such thing as Santa Claus," Junior said.
"There is, too!" Snow Belle exclaimed.
"Relax, Diego," Shira told her husband, "Brooke's gullible but she's not that gullible. She knows this Santa stuff is just for kids."
Snow Belle gasped. "What? You don't believe in Santa?"
Shira knew she made a mistake saying that Santa wasn't real in front of her own daughter. She stumbled trying to find a way to explain to her daughter about Santa Claus. "Um, I, well..."
"Of course there's no such thing as Santa," Junior said.
"I wanna hear it from Mom," Snow Belle said.
"Of course, she believes," Diego said, "That's the magic of Christmas."
"Everyone believes in Santa, Snow Belle," Peaches said.
"Not everyone," Stripes said.
Shira sighed. "Snow Belle, I'm sorry. I wish that-"
"Forget it, Mom," Snow Belle said, "If anyone deserves to be on the Naughty List, it's you!" She stormed off, anger rushing through her.
"She sure told you, didn't she?" Ellie said.
"Well, too bad, I'm a grown-up," Shira said, "Grown-ups don't believe in the Naughty List."
"No, but grown-ups can at least believe in Santa Claus for their kids. Brooke does."
"Well, Brooke needs to grow up and know that there's no such thing as the Naughty List. Or Santa Claus."
Over at the valley center, Brooke was crying her eyes out, worried that she was on Santa's Naughty List. "I'm not getting Christmas."
"Don't cry, Brooke," Crash said.
"Why not?" Brooke asked.
"Your tears are freezing solid," Eddie said, pointing to her frozen feet.
Brooke slid down a snow hill, still crying as she hit a tree. "Why am I on Santa's Naughty List? Why? Why?"
"My guess, because he doesn't have a loser list," Crash said.
"Well, thanks for trying to cheer me up," Brooke said, sliding on the ground, "I still feel terrible." She continued crying.
"Pull it together, Aunt Brooke," Snow Belle said as she and Peaches ran up to the female sloth, "We've got work to do."
Peaches helped Brooke to her feet. Brooke looked at her nieces. "But I'm still sulking."
"No time," Peaches said, "We're going to the Pole."
"The North one?"
"Yep," Snow Belle said, "We're gonna find Santa so I can prove to my mom that he's real. And we're gonna get you off that list."
"And us, too!" Crash exclaimed.
"We may be naughty but we still want Christmas," Eddie said.
"We're coming along to prove that Santa's not real," Stripes said, "According to my theory or factual evidence, I've never heard anything about a fat man in a red suit with a long, white beard delivering presents to every child in the world."
"I'm going along with whatever he says," Junior said.
"You guys do realize that if you don't believe in Santa, than you're definitely on the Naughty List," Cheril said, "I'll come along with you guys. Really because I've always wanted to see how Santa's able to get around the world in one night."
Children, darlings, you can't come with me," Brooke said, "This is a very dangerous journey. The North Pole is a desolate land of ice and snow. This isn't exactly Miami."
"Come on, Aunt Brooke, I want us all to have Christmas together," Snow Belle said.
"I don't know. It's wildly irresponsible and impulsive but let's do it! Northward, ho!"
"Ho ho ho!" Crash and Eddie exclaimed.
"Uh, guys, let's follow the northern lights," Peaches said.
Snow Belle giggled. "North. Get it?"
Brooke shrugged. "Northward ho!"
"Santa ho!" Peaches and Snow Belle exclaimed.
"Ho ho ho!" Crash and Eddie exclaimed.
"I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they find out that Santa's not real," Junior said.
"Sometimes saying that makes things not go the way you hoped it would," Stripes said, as they both followed the others.
Brooke: Off we went to the North Pole. We followed the northern lights and continued on the path to find Santa's Workshop.
Snow Belle: The only thing I couldn't get out of my head was the song you sang about someone's true love giving you so many flowers and fruit.
They continued down the trail. Brooke was leading the children, Crash and Eddie through the northern lights. While doing so, she sang a song.
On the ninth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Nine singing flowers
Eight basket of pears
Seven frosty candies
Six frosty candies
Five golden...
Brooke stopped singing when she saw nothing but white u p ahead. "Eggs? Huh. I think we just marched off the Earth."
"No, it's a white-out," Snow Belle said.
"We'll be safe as long as we all...stay together," Brooke said, "Kids, where are you?
"Aunt Brooke?" Peaches asked.
"Peaches?"
"Aunt Brooke?" Snow Belle asked.
"Snow Belle?" Brooke asked.
"Eddie?" Eddie said, "Where are you, Eddie? Oh, wait. I'm Eddie."
"You idiot," Crash said.
"Stripes," Junior said, "Come on, buddy. Don't do this to me."
"I'm right behind you," Stripes said, "I will admit that this white-out can be tricky to see though."
"Okay, everyone, grab hold of your buddy and follow me," Brooke said, "I have an excellent sense of direction."
"I don't think I can believe that," Cheril said, "Peaches, Snow Belle, come stick with me."
Peaches held Cheril's hand with her trunk. Snow Belle grabbed onto Cheril's leg. Cheril used her other hand to hold Brooke's paw. Crash and Eddie held Peaches' tail while Junior and Stripes placed themselves inside Cheril's bag.
"Everyone stay together," Brooke said. They were coming close to a cliff when Brooke stopped them. "Wait." A second later, she sneezed. "My goodness."
"Bless you," Snow Belle said.
"Thank you." Unfortunately, they didn't notice the cliff and fell. Lucky for them, someone flew up and placed them safely back on the ground. They all looked up to see a reindeer flying in front of them.
"Ha!" the reindeer exclaimed, "Did you see what I just did there? Pa-pow!"
"You're a reindeer," Snow Belle said.
"Yeah, I know."
"You can fly!" Peaches exclaimed.
"I know!" the reindeer said.
"You're amazing!" Brooke exclaimed.
"I know! Check it out, Sauerkraut. I can hover, roll and zing."
"Zing?" Cheril asked.
"Zing! Bam!" the reindeer exclaimed excitedly.
"What's your name?" Brooke asked.
"My name is, um, uh, Prancer," the reindeer known now as Prancer told them.
"Prancer?" Cheril asked.
"It's a family name."
"That's the stupidest name I've ever heard," Junior said, "Whoever heard of a reindeer name Prancer?"
"And how is it scientifically possible that a reindeer can actually fly?" Stripes asked.
"You both do realize that I can hear you, right?" Prancer asked.
"Oh, don't listen to them," Brooke said, "You saved our lives and we'll never forget you. Have a Merry Christmas."
"Are you sure you don't need my help?"
"Oh, no thank you. You've done more than enough. Look, we'll take it from here." Brooke almost fell off the cliff again. She regained her footing and gave the others a sheepish grin.
Cheril rolled her eyes. "The reindeer comes with us."
Cheril: So, with the help from Prancer, we continued our journey to the North Pole.
Diego: Meanwhile, Shira and I were trying to fix the Christmas rock that Brooke ended up destroying.
Back over with the adults, Shira and Diego were trying to put the pieces of the Christmas rock back together. Manny just stood there watching them. He knew the rock wouldn't hold to whatever sticky stuff they were using, but decided to let them learn the hard way.
Once they had it done, Shira looked up at Manny. "Uh, what do you think?"
"You two want an honest answer or a Christmas answer?" Manny asked.
"Uh, Christmas answer," Diego said.
"It's gorgeous." The rock ended up falling apart. Manny shrugged. "It's still gorgeous."
"That's it," Shira said, "Christmas is ruined. Without the Christmas rock, we won't have anything to put presents under."
"Well, we can still go along with Brooke's idea and just use a Christmas tree," Diego said.
"But the Christmas rock is a tradition."
"Well, maybe a new tradition might be better than just a normal tradition."
Shira sighed. The thought of a new tradition just made her feel weird, but her husband did have a point. Suddenly, Ellie ran up to the herd. "Manny? Have you seen Peaches? I can't find her anywhere. And Brooke, Crash and Eddie are gone, too!"
"What about Snow Belle, Junior and Stripes?" Shira asked.
"I don't know, but I suspect they're with them. Cheril's gone, too."
"Last I saw them, they were trying to figure out how to get off Santa's Naughty List," Diego said.
"What Naughty List?" Manny asked.
"I made it up!" Shira said.
"We gotta find them," Ellie said, "I'm starting to get worried."
"Shira, can you pick up Brooke's scent?" Manny asked.
"I can but it makes my eyes burn," Shira said, "I can't stand the scent of lavender."
"Do it!" Ellie shouted.
"Okay, you don't have to yell." Shira caught the scent of lavender from Brooke. It was coming north from where they were. "Got it."
Ellie: So we were on our way as well to the North Pole.
Shira: The only reason was to find the kids and for me to maul Brooke for putting them in such danger.
Brooke: Meanwhile, me, the possum twins and the children were making our way to the North Pole with Prancer leading us.
The group of Santa seekers were making their way on the Christmas trail, with Prancer leading them.
"So, Prancer, how long will it take us to get to the, uh, North Pole?" Brooke asked.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Prancer said, "You can't walk to the North Pole. It's too far. But I can fly you there. No sweat, on Air Prancer."
"Oh, oh, no, we couldn't."
"No, no, no, no. My family raised me to be good to strangers and there's really no one stranger than you guys."
"Shotgun!" Crash and Eddie exclaimed, climbing on Prancer's back.
"No way," Cheril said, "I'm not riding on a reindeer."
"Why?" Junior asked, "Are you scared?"
"Look at that, bro," Stripes said, "We've got a scaredy cat in the group."
"I'm not a scaredy cat," Cheril said, "And I'll prove it to you by riding on a flying reindeer." She placed herself on Prancer's back. "Climb in my bags, little cubs."
"Why do you always do that to her?" Snow Belle asked her brothers as they climbed inside Cheril's bag.
"Because we like doing it," Junior said.
"Deal with it, sis," Stripes said.
Once they were in the air, they were going a little higher than needed to. Prancer looked at them. "We've run into a little turbulence, folks. Please fasten your seatbelts."
"I'm not too heavy, am I?" Peaches asked, who was being carried in the air by Prancer's hooves.
"No, no. You're light as a feather. A seven hundred and eighty-eight pound feather."
"Do you come equipped with barf bags?" Brooke asked, feeling sick. They continued flying through the air on Prancer.
Brooke: We flew the rest of the way to get to the North Pole.
Shira: Meanwhile, the worried parents were traveling through a snowstorm to try to find their wonderful children and the sloth who placed them in such a predicament.
Brooke: Are you gonna keep taking bad about me in this story?
Ellie: Girls, let's get back to the story.
The next part comes with the parents going into a blizzard to try and find the rest of the herd. Nobody was more worried than Shira and Ellie, who wouldn't rest until their kids were safe.
"Peaches!" Ellie called out, "Peaches!"
"Snow Belle!" Shira called, "Junior! Stripes!"
"Wait a second. Where are the boys?"
They looked to see Diego and Manny buried in snow. Shira gasped. "Diego! Honey, are you okay?"
"Manny, can you hear me?" Ellie asked.
The two males shook the snow off them. Manny groaned. "This storm is outrageous!"
"Glad you didn't kiss me, babe?" Diego asked.
"Are you sure this is North, Shira?" Ellie asked.
"I don't know," Shira said, "I... I'm all scrambled." She gasped when an idea struck her. "Wait, tracks!"
"Uh, Shira?" Diego said.
Shira knew she couldn't keep the secret. "The geomagnetic whatever, it's messing with my sense of direction."
"Oh, well, that's just great!" Ellie shouted, "We're completely lost, my little girl is missing and if only you hadn't of said that Santa Claus wasn't real and made up some ridiculous thing called the Naughty List, we wouldn't be out here having to look for Peaches."
"Looks like you've forgotten about my kids being out here, too. I'm worried about all of them. Especially Brooke. Christmas isn't the same without all of us together. Now Christmas is ruined and it's all my fault." Shira started crying, something that wasn't new to the herd since she normally cried in front of them more times than she ever did.
"Shira, honey, everything's gonna be fine," Diego told his wife.
"How?" Shira asked, tears streaming down her face.
"Just believe in the magic of Christmas."
"Oh, this is silly."
"Just try it."
"It's not gonna work."
"Do it for the kids."
Shira sighed and closed her eyes. "I believe. I believe."
Diego gasped. "Shira, look!"
Shira opened her eyes and gasped. "The northern lights! North. Get it?"
"Um, that was just a coincidence, right?" Manny asked.
"Who cares?" Shira said, "I'll take it. Let's go."
The four mammals followed the northern lights that would be leading them towards the North Pole.
Ellie: Little did we know that the northern lights were leading us to the North Pole, but we knew it was leading us to where the kids were.
Snow Belle: By the time they started following the northern lights, the rest of us were already getting close to Santa's Winter Wonderland.
Meanwhile, the children, the possum twins, Brooke and Prancer were starting to get closer to the North Pole, where Prancer landed on the trail that contained peppermint trees and colorful Christmas decorations.
"We must be getting close," Snow Belle said.
"Look around you," Cheril said, "It's like a winter wonderland."
Peaches gasped. "Sugar plums!"
"Peppermint bark!" Junior shouted.
"This is scientifically impossible," Stripes said, "You can't grow a peppermint tree. You can only grow a tree with peppermint leaves."
"Yellow snow, my favorite!" Crash exclaimed.
"Did he just say yellow snow?" Cheril asked.
"Don't, just don't," Prancer said.
"Halt! None shall pass." They all looked to see a small male blue sloth standing in front of them.
"Oh," Brooke said, "Oh, hi, little guy. So, who are you?"
"We are the Santourage," the little male blue sloth said, "We keep intruders out so Santa can do his work without interruption."
"I knew he was real!" Snow Belle exclaimed, "You've gotta let us see him."
"It is forbidden! Turn back, I command you. Bye!"
"Oh, yeah?" Brooke said, "You and what army?" Suddenly, hundreds of little sloths whole had fur colored with red or green marched out behind the blue sloth. "Oh, that army."
"Hasta luego," one of the sloths that was green said.
"Feliz Navidad," said a red sloth.
"But you gotta let me in," Brooke said, "I'm on the list!"
"He must not be disturbed or we won't get presents," the blue sloth said. The herd stood their ground. The blue sloth had a warrior look on his face. "You have been warned. Unleash heck!" The little sloths all started crying out.
"Bring it on, you little fleabags!" Prancer said, "You're no match for the power of... flight." He started flying around, but ended up getting his antlers stuck in a sugar plum bush.
The herd members ran up to him. Snow Belle got to him first. "Hang on, Prancer! We'll get you out." She looked at her family. "Everybody, grab a leg and pull!" They started pulling him as hard as they could. When he finally got free, they all slung themselves into a Christmas tree, knocking it over with everything else.
"Run!" Brooke shouted, moving everyone out of the way so they wouldn't be crushed by the gigantic tree. With that, everthing else started falling down and getting destroyed, along with the little sloths causing havoc in the winter wonderland.
Meanwhile, over on the other side of Santa's Workshop was none other than Santa Claus himself. He was walking down the trail and singing a little Christmas tune.
You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why
I am coming to town
Yes!
Oh, I'm making a list
And checking it twice
Before he could finish the song, a tree crashed in the distance, breaking a bunch of decorations. "Ah, nutmeg!" No sooner did more trees fall to the ground along with some giant candy canes. "Ho ho, no!"
Ellie: We were still following the northern lights when we saw Brooke flying right towards us.
At that moment, Brooke landed on top of Shira, slamming the both of them to the ground.
"Brooke?" Shira asked.
Brooke chuckled nervously. "Hi, Shira darling."
"Brooke, where's Peaches?" Ellie asked
"And where are the cubs?" Shira asked.
"Peaches!" Manny called out.
"Snow Belle! Junior! Stripes!" Diego called out, "Where are you?"
"Over here!" Prancer shouted, flying up towards the adult members of the her.
"Wait, wait," Shira said, "The reindeer fly up here?"
"This one does, cuz."
"Peaches!" Ellie and Manny said.
"Mom! Daddy!" Peaches exclaimed, running up to her parents.
"Oh, baby, we were so worried about you," Ellie said as she and Manny hugged her.
"You know better than to run off like that without telling us where you're going," Manny said.
"I'm sorry," Peaches said, "I promise that it will never happen again."
"That's what I like to hear," Ellie said.
"Mama! Daddy!" Snow Belle exclaimed.
"It's about time you guys finally showed up," Junior said.
Shira snuggled her kids tight. "Oh, my babies. I'm so glad to see that you're all okay. Your father and I were so worried about you."
"I'm sorry, Mom," Snow Belle said, "It was my fault. I just wanted to prove that Santa was real."
"Oh, you...You are so grounded!" Diego said.
Snow Belle looked at the ground. "Sorry, Daddy."
"I'm talking to your brothers."
"Sorry, Dad," Junior said.
"Mom, Dad, you guys aren't going to believe all the weird craziness that we've seen," Stripes said, "I can't believe I've seen them myself. The northern lights directing us to the North Pole, flying reindeer that has always been proven scientifically impossible for a mammal to fly, and trees that are literally made out of peppermint sticks. What kind of crazy world do we live in?"
"Hello," Cheril said, "I've been standing here for the past five minutes and nobody's notice me."
Ellie kissed Cheril's forehead. "We're glad you're safe, too, sweetie."
"By the way, you're grounded for a week," Manny said.
"Dang it!" Cheril said.
"Frolicking fruitcake!" they head someone exclaim. They all turned around to see the man the children and Brooke, along with the possum twins, had traveled so far to see.
Brooke gasped. "It's Santa!"
"Just 'cause there's a fat guy, doesn't make him Santa," Shira said.
"I'm not fat!" Santa said, "It's this suit, it's very poofy."
"Shira, it is Santa!" Brooke said, "And he's just as old and decrepit as I imagined. And, oh, so jolly."
Santa couldn't even greet his guest when he saw who was responsible for the mess. "Oh, look at this mess. Two hours to Christmas and everything's ruined! My toys, my sleigh! All my hard work."
"Um, would this be a good time to talk about getting off the Naughty List?"
"Brooke, there's no such thing," Shira said.
"There is now, Shira," Santa said, "Thanks for the idea." He took out a piece of parchment.
"Wait, wait! How do you know my..." Before Shira could finish, the entire herd was placed on the now created Naughty List. "...name? Santa?"
"Hey, what did we do?" Cheril said. Santa pointed to the mess that surrounded the place. "Oh, right. Destroyed Christmas."
"Snow Belle, you were... I mean, I mean, I was..." Shira was practically speechless.
"That's Santa!" Snow Belle said, "Standing right there. He's real!"
"I can't believe this," Junior said.
"This can't be possible," Stripes said, "I thought he was just a made up character."
"We're so sorry we didn't believe in you, Santa. Please take us off the Naughty List."
Santa sighed. "There's gonna be a lot of disappointed kids tomorrow morning." Santa started walking away.
Shira started thinking up a plan. "There's gotta be a way to fix this."
"Mama, it's impossible!" Snow Belle said, "There's only twelve of us."
"And eight hundred of them!" Cheril said, pointing to the little sloths.
"Wait, us?" asked the little blue sloths, "You mean, as in, us?"
"You never thought to give the old fat boy a hand, huh?" Shira asked them. She looked at her daughter, "Come on, my little flower. You taught me to believe. What do you say?" Snow Belle smiled and nodded.
"Hit it!" Crash shouted. Eddie smacked him in the back of the head. "Ow! Not me!"
Everybody started fixing up Santa's Winter Wonderland, singing a little Christmas tune of their own as they did so.
Stripes: Deck the halls with moss and rock weed
Junior: Fa-la-la-la-la
What's a hall?
Eddie: 'Tis the season...
Crash: What's a season?
Stripes: Fa-la-la-la-la
Just play along.
Brooke: I can fix this, Mr. Santa
Crash and Eddie: We can fa-la-la-la-la-along
Brooke: Give a sloth a chance now, can't you?
Shira: Too many "la's" are in this song
I have no idea why I just did that.
Stripes: That's a toy! And that's a toy!
Junior: And this? This is no good for anything.
Junior throws out a little stump.
Ellis: Brooke has got the proper spirit
Manny: Fa-la-la-la-la
Manny had finished making a Christmas wreath.
Peaches: Hey, not too bad.
Brooke: Beautiful!
Shira: Don't let Brooke near it.
Snow Belle: Fa-la-la-la-la
Come on now, Mom.
Ellie: We can do it
If we hurry
Brooke: Lend a claw
Diego: Lend a paw
All: Everyone
Crash: Even if you're small and furry
Eddie: All together we can get it done
Blue sloth: A ball of twine? Who's gonna want that?
The sloth threw the yarn into the distance when Junior, Stripes and even Diego caught it and started playing with it.
Junior: All right!
Manny held up some mistletoe.
Manny: What do we do with this?
Ellie: Oh, why don't we put it here.
Cheril: Something about that mistletoe...
Junior: This shall go down in the annals
Stripes: Fa-la-la-la-la
Cheril: And we're not through
Peace and goodwill towards all mammals
Eddie had a present for Crash.
Crash: Oh, you shouldn't have.
Eddie: Just for you.
It turns out that gift was actually a fist.
Diego: Things were looking grim and tragic
Shira: But we got busy and pulled it off
Snow Belle: Now we found some Christmas magic
Brooke: All because of each and every sloth
All: "All because of each and every sloth"?
All because of each
And everyone
After a song and an hour later, Santa's Workshop was fixed and everything looked better than it did before. Santa was happy to see that all his hard work was fixed by a wonderful herd.
"I can't believe it," Santa said, "These presents! The decorations! This sleigh!"
"Isn't she fly?" Brooke said, "I bet the mini sloths could help you make presents every year. Right, guys?"
"Well, we're gonna need hats," the little blue sloth said, "Cute hats."
"In fact, it looks like you got enough toys for every child on Earth."
"Every child?" Santa said, "Around the world? I wish I could, but I don't see how."
"Santa, I'm giving you the biggest Christmas gift of all," Prancer said, "Me! You're flying Air Prancer tonight."
"Oh, that's the spirit, Prancy boy!" Brooke said, "Time to put this deer in high gear." They hooked Prancer up to the sleigh, but he was having some trouble getting it up in the air. Brooke tried giving him some encouragement. "Vroom, vroom! Up, up and away! Come on! Saving Christmas here we go! Anytime you're ready." Prancer just stood there, staring at Brooke with sad eyes. Brooke gave a frown. "I can't believe it! I failed."
Shira shook her head. "This family doesn't give up that easy."
"All right, Mama!" Snow Belle exclaimed.
"Come on, Prancer. We have to keep trying. You're the only flying reindeer we've got. Unless you know ten others."
Prancer knew exactly what he had to do. "You're right. I can't do this alone." He flew away into the distance.
"Wait, where you going?" Diego asked.
"Perfect," Cheril said, "Now we lost the only reindeer that could help us save Christmas."
"Wow!" Brooke said, "Heck of a day, eh, Santa? Come on! Ho ho ho." Santa gave her a look. "Oh. Still on the Naughty List, huh?" Santa nodded.
Stripes: At that point, Junior actually had an idea that he thought would work.
Junior snapped his claws. "Hey, I have an idea."
Soon, the entire herd, except Cheril who was standing in the sidelines, was hooked to the sleigh. Cheril was laughing her head off. "This was your best plan? You're not gonna get anywhere without magic. Wait a second. That's the answer to all this Christmas stuff. Magic."
"I guess I didn't think this plan through," Junior said.
"It was a good try, though," Diego said.
"Come on, you guys," Santa said, "On Manny, on Ellie, on Diego and Shira, now Brooke, Peaches, possum twins and saber cubs." They only got a maximum of one minute walking.
"I'll be here when you get back," Cheril said, "If you ever leave."
"Okay, according to my calculations, we traveled about thirty feet so far," Stripes said, "If we keep up this pace, we should make it around the world in, let's say just under eight thousand years?"
"Bah, humbug!" Santa said.
"Hey, guys!" Prancer said, making his way back to the herd with other reindeers flying behind him, "Shira's right! Nothing's impossible if you pull together. Meet my family. Dasher, Dancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner...and Blitzen." A flash of lightning striked when Prancer mentioned Blitzen.
"Blitzen?" Crash said.
"And I thought Prancer was bad!" Eddie said, laughing.
Blitzen gave the possum twins a look that could kill. Crash stared at him nervously. "Nice name."
"It suits you."
"Thanks, Prancer," Santa said, "I thought I was such a hotshot, but sometimes you gotta have a little help. That's what this herd has taught me..." He caught Brooke trying to touch something. "Stay." He turned back to the herd. "...among other things. Now, let's do this. Hey, Manfred, nice job!" Santa took out another list that was titled Nice. The entire herd's names were placed on it.
Brooke squealed in delight. "I got Christmas!"
"See what happens when you believe, Mama?" Snow Belle asked.
"I gotta say, I'm kinda digging the holiday magic," Shira said.
"Well, at least we're not on the Naughty List anymore," Junior said.
"I believe now," Stripes said, "Made up characters are real."
Diego chuckled, cuddling his family. "Merry Christmas, everyone."
"Ho ho ho!" Santa exclaimed as he took off into the night sky.
"All right! Whoo-hoo! Yeah!" Prancer cheered, flying with his reindeer family as they pulled Santa's sleigh.
"Merry Christmas!"
The herd watched with happiness to see Santa flying off into the night.
Brooke: And that's how the new tradition of Christmas came to be. Santa flew off into his sleigh with all his eight reindeer and delivered presents to children all over the world.
END OF STORY
"And that concludes one of the best Christmases we ever had," Brooke said, "One that will always be remembered and never forgotten. The end."
"Hooray!" the twin sloths exclaimed.
"That was the greatest story I've ever heard," Julian said.
"That's pretty much convinced me," Laurence said, "If you've met him, then I know he's real."
"I don't know," Roshan said, "I wanna believe it, but I don't know if I should."
"I agree with him," Ricardo said, "I'm still on the in between scale."
"You guys are really starting to get on my nerves about this whole thing," Sid said, "I'm only gonna say this one more time. There's no such thing as Santa!" The sound of bells started playing in the distance. "Does anyone else hear the sound of bells?"
"Look up there!" Buck exclaimed, pointing towards the sky.
Up in the night sky, they all saw a sleigh flying in the air. Keeping it up in the sky were eight reindeers. The one reindeer that looked down at them was Prancer. He smiled at the herd. Then it was no one other than Santa Claus, who waved down at them, saying, "Merry Christmas!"
"See, honey?" Brooke said, "I told you he was real."
Sid faints in shock and disbelief. Now he finally believes that the jolly fat man was real. Louis had his mouth opened in shock. He couldn't believe his eyes. Bethany used her free hand to close his mouth.
Ricardo looks at his sister. "Well, I'll be! You were right, sis!"
"Wow, you guys weren't kidding," Roshan said.
"And all it took was a little magic," Cheril said.
Gladys and Earnest looked up at the sky, shocked at the sight. They both said, "Holy mackerel!" They looked at each other, saying, "Jinx! Darn it!" Instead of one of them getting jinxed, they jinxed each other.
Julian and Laurence were the happiest mammals of all to see Santa. They started acting like over-excited children. Julian was stomping his feet while Laurence danced on his tiptoes as both were laughing and cheering.
"Hey, Santa!" Julian shouted.
"Down here, Santa!" Laurence said.
"Boys, calm down," Snow Belle said.
"You're gonna give yourselves heart attacks," Peaches said.
"Sorry," Julian said.
"Yeah, got a little too excited there," Laurence said.
Sid groaned, picking himself up. "Brooke, I'm never doubting you again."
"That's all I wanted to hear," Brooke said.
"I think this turned out to be one of our best Christmases ever," Ellie said.
"Isn't every Christmas like that?" Shira asked.
"Yeah, but over the years, our family has grown by every holiday."
"We still got some hours to go until morning," Manny said, "Why don't we sing a carol or two around the Christmas tree?"
"Sounds like the greatest thing we can do for this beautiful night," Cheril said.
They all circled around the tree as they started singing "Hark The Herald Angel Sings." Some of the best Christmases are about reminiscing memories of the past. The best part about telling a Christmas story is being surrounded by wonderful family members. This is the true meaning of Christmas. Being surrounded by the ones you love.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
(Manny: Ray Romano)
(Diego: Denis Leary)
(Sid: John Leguizamo)
"Glory to the newborn King!"
(Ellie: Queen Latifah)
(Shira: Jennifer Lopez)
(Brooke: Jessie J.)
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
(Snow Belle: Selena Gomez)
(Laurence: Drake Bell)
(Junior: Kirby Morrow)
(Stripes: Michael Adamthwaite)
God and sinners reconciled
(Peaches: Keke Palmer)
(Julian: Adam Devine)
(Louis: Josh Gad)
(Bethany: Ariana Grande)
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
(Cheril: Victoria Justice)
(Roshan: Vincent Tong)
Join the triumph of the skies;
(Gladys: Wanda Sykes)
(Earnest: Tyler Perry)
(Teddy: Michael Strahan)
(Terrie: Jennifer Aniston)
With th' angelic host proclaim,
(Crash: Seann William Scott)
(Eddie: Josh Peck)
(Buck: Simon Pegg)
"Christ is born in Bethlehem."
(Scrat: Chris Wedge)
(Scratte: Karen Disher)
Hark! the herald angels sing,
(Little Cheril: Dakota Fanning)
(Little Snow Belle: Della Saba)
(Little Junior: Shane Baumel)
(Little Stripes: Paul Butcher)
(Little Peaches: Ciara Bravo)
(Prancer: T.J. Miller)
(Santa Claus: Billy Gardell)
(Head Mini Sloth: Judah Friedlander)
"Glory to the newborn King!"
Christ, by highest heav'n adored:
Christ, the everlasting Lord;
Late in time behold him come,
Offspring of the favored one.
Veil'd in flesh, the Godhead see;
Hail, th'incarnate Deity:
Pleased, as man, with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel!
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King!"
Hail! the heav'n born Prince of peace!
Hail! the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings
Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die:
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King!"
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Kenneth0 AND I HOPED YOU ENJOYED THIS CHRISTMAS SPECIAL. PLEASE NOTE: I DO NOT OWN ICE AGE OR ANY OF THEIR ORIGINAL SCRIPTS.
HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.
PLEASE REVIEW.