Author's Note: Do I know that I'm sharing another story about the holidays when it's not even close to the holidays? Yes, yes I do. But there's three reasons as to why I'm posting this one early:

(A) The idea came about late last night, and it was simply too fun of an idea to just pass up writing about.

(2) This can technically be classified as a "Christmas in July" special.

(D) For some reason, stories involving Christmastime are always so joyful to write and read, and manage to put a smile on my face even when the holidays aren't even close to being here yet. :)

Anyone notice what holiday movie I just referenced right there? XD

There'll be a couple more references where that came from hidden within this little story, so let me know if y'all spotted any of them.

Anywho, that's enough jibber-jabber out of me. As always, feel free to let me know what your thoughts were on this one. Feedback, whether it's good or bad, is always gladly appreciated.

Enjoy! :D

With warm and jovial smiles radiating off of them, Nick and Judy finished putting some of the last-minute decorative touches on the green, unlit Christmas tree.

"Here you go," Nick said, handing Judy one of the last ornaments from a nearby bin. "The last one."

A fairly-sized red bulb ornament in her paw, Judy continued to work on filling in some of the visible spots within the tree. Afterwards, the doe backed up a few inches and surveyed her side for any other spots that needed to be covered up.

With a smile, she murmured to Nick, "You picked a really nice tree."

Nick nodded his head, mentally agreeing with the bunny. "Yep," he replied. "And thanks to me knowing everybody, I got it off of that moose for a pretty good deal."

Judy grinned, and then turned her head to another figure that was seated in the living room. Who she was looking at was their beloved son, who sat in his favorite chair as he watched them finish up the tree, occasionally lending a paw by getting out the ornaments that were a lot less fragile.

"Alright, buddy," Nick said to his child. "It's time to light the tree up. You ready?"

The kit's eyes sparkled brighter than Christmas lights, and he clapped his paws out of anticipation. He couldn't wait to see the final result of one of the important staples of their holiday decorating.

Judy giggled. "I'll take that as a yes, Slick," she said to her fox.

Putting on his signature smirk, Nick announced, "I give you the Wilde-Hopps Family Christmas tree."

With that, he plugged the cord into the wall and stood back as the tree's lights came on. The strands of white lights that covered the circumference the entire tree brightened the room with their merriness.

The kit stared at it in awe, his mouth naturally taking the shape of an O. "Beautiful!" he proclaimed, getting up out of his chair with a jump.

For the child, Christmas was undoubtedly the best time of the year. If he had to choose a favorite holiday or observance out of all of the ones celebrated in a year, he would certainly have no hesitation in his answer. There was all of the decorations, the festive treats, and, of course, Santa Claws.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" he remarked, darting out of the room and into the kitchen.

Santa Claws would be arriving in Zootopia at any hour, and leaving a plate of sweet treats for him was basically a necessity. After all, the kit knew that it would just be plain impolite to not leave the jolly polar bear anything for when he showed up.

Opening the fridge, he grabbed about four of his mother's delicious frosted cookies (an adored family recipe that had been passed down to her) and placed them out on a small blue plate. Carefully walking back into the room, he set them down on the coffee table and went back to his chair.

"Are those for me, son?" Nick jokingly said, stepping over and stretching his paw out to take the one shaped like a star off of the plate.

"Not so fast," Judy remarked, waving a paw at the vulpine who was now caught in the act. "Those are Santa's cookies, not yours."

After the plate was set, Judy gestured for her son to come over to the couch as Nick turned on one of the enjoyable holiday films playing on television. The movie that was currently airing told the story of a young wolf who boards a locomotive that takes him on an unforgettable adventure to the North Pole. As the child attentively watched the screen, he became fully engaged to the movie in its entirety. And Nick and Judy themselves couldn't help but admit that they were enjoying it, too.

Once the movie was over, the TV channel started to replay Floatzen's holiday special yet another time for the evening. The kit ran back into his favorite chair and stared at the window as if he were awaiting something.

"What are you doing, buddy?" Nick inquired to his son with a chuckle.

Tapping his claws against the armrests, he replied, "I'm waiting for Santa to show up."

The vulpine laughed. He remembered doing the exact same things when he was his age, and could even remember trying to stay awake to witness Santa Claws but ended up falling asleep. "Well, he can't come here until your in bed."

With a sigh, the kit replied, "Okay."

Even though he truly wanted to stay in his seat all night and watch for Santa, regardless of how long it could possibly be until then, he obediently got up and got ready for bed. After brushing his teeth and changing into his cozy pajamas, he made his way over to his room. Judy came in a few moments afterwards to tuck him in and wish him sweet dreams.

Right before the doe shut the door, however, the child peaked his head up. "M-Mom?" he inquired.

Judy turned her head back around. "What is it?" she asked back.

"It's about Santa," was the little one's response.

"What about him?"

"How does he bring all of those presents in just one night, Mom? There must be, like, a gazillion houses to go to."

Judy tiptoed back into her son's room and leaned down beside him. "Well…" she began. "You see, Santa's sleigh can go at super fast speeds, and it's all thanks to a very special kind of fuel that powers better than anything out there. And do you know what that is?"

Her son shook her head. "I don't know."

The bunny continued, "It runs off of pure Christmas cheer. As mammals around the world get more and more in the holiday spirit, his super special 'Cheer Meter' starts goin' up and up, and with that his sleigh can go faster."

"Wow," the kit responded.

Getting up, Judy gave her beloved kit a kiss on his forehead and told him goodnight another time. The child watched as she slowly shut the door behind her. All snug in bed, he got on his side and looked out the bedroom window with a smile. The anticipation for Christmas morning to arrive was killing him; the recent discussion regarding Santa and how his sleigh worked making him even more excited.

For quite some time, he sat there with his eyes open. When jolly old Santa Claws stepped paw into their home, he wanted to make sure that he saw him with his own eyes.

He managed to stay awake for quite some time, expecting to hear the eventual sound of sleigh bells jingling. However, he started to get tired and his eyelids started getting heavy. Soon enough, he ended up drifted off to sleep, pleasantly dreaming of playing around in the snow in Tundratown.

Later…

If there was one thing that Nick originally had planned out, it was that Christmas morning would fully commence at a later time. Considering all of the early mornings he had on regular days, it would've been nice for a change for him and Judy to start their traditional present opening when the sun was actually up and shining bright. However, like several other preparations the fox had made on previous occasions, the concept of maybe sleeping in for a little bit had been abruptly shot down.

"Dad!" a voice called out, sounding energetic and ready to go. "Dad, Santa came! Come on, Dad!"

Their child was more than revved-up on this particular morning, impatiently anticipating to open up into what gifts he received this year.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Nick stretched slightly. "Where is it?" he said, jokingly tapping the kit's muzzle near his nose and making him laugh. "Where's that button?"

After a delicate giggle, the kit replied, "Dad, I'm not the snooze button!" After a brief pause, he informed, "Anyway, Santa came last night and you guys gotta see what he left out here. It's amazing!"

"Okay, buddy," Nick replied, looking as if he was falling back asleep. "I'm gonna have a good dream about it, and we'll open them gifts up in the mornin'."

Nick rolled on the opposite side and tried to go back to sleep. The little one decided to take another action, tugging on his father's shoulders as much as he could and trying to get him to wake up. "Come on, Dad. It is morning, and you gotta get up!"

As if on cue, Nick plopped over and faced the overenthusiastic child. "Do you know what you just did?" he asked, pretending to sound deadpan in tone.

The kit giggled. "No, what?"

"You've just awakened the Big Bad Fox, and you know what he feeds on at this hour?"

"Candy canes?" the child responded, going along with what he knew quite well was another one of father's little shenanigan.

"No, not in the slightest," Nick answered, shaking his head. From here, he slowly peaked his head for ward. "He feeds… on… Tickles!"

At that, Nick swiftly lunged his paws forward and delivered a series of playful tickles. "Nom nom nom nom," Nick continued to tease. His kit ended up giggling uncontrollably, the precious sound of that putting a smile across Nick's muzzle.

"Come on," Judy chimed in, "let's go see."

Dragging his parents out to the living room, the little one's eyes glowed with awe as he looked at the spectacle that awaited him this Christmas morning. Additionally, the faint but evident flickering of snowflakes could be seen around the cityscapes, making the entire scene almost picture-perfect.

Nick, still wishing for that long winter's nap that holiday stories often spoke of, sighed as he plopped onto the seat right by his bunny's side. Pretty sure most of the Zootopia's fast asleep right now, he thought.

The kit started to tear the festive wrapping paper off of the first present, slowly revealing what was inside. After it was completely unwrapped, a gasp of delight and excitement, just as Nick and Judy had previously predicted, arose from their son. He showed them what he had received, holding up a large box that contained a playset according to the picture that was printed on the front of it.

Judy looked over at her son with a wide smile. "Oh my goodness," she remarked to him. "Is that the Dinoco playset that you asked Santa for?"

Judging from the look on his muzzle, the doe confirmed that he couldn't have been any happier with what he had received this year. She was very certain that he would have a lot of fun with that particular playset, making stories with it as he played with some of his favorite toy cars.

Her son eagerly tried to open up the playset's box to get all of the pieces out of it, but struggled a little bit to get it open.

"We'll get that open a little later, buddy," Nick said. He pointed a smaller package that was positioned right behind the one that was just opened. "Try that one next. That one looks like a good one, if I do say so myself."

The kit started to open the next present, and the shimmering wrapping paper now laid scattered across the floor.

As Nick watched the gift being opened, he felt a small paw being placed upon his. He turned around to look over at the bunny smiling beside him. However, the fox remembered something and his eyes started to widen a bit. "Oh my," he muttered to the doe under his breath.

"What?" Judy asked in reply. "What is it?"

The vulpine face-pawed and shook his head. "I can't believe it, Fluff," he said dramatically. "I can't believe that I forgot to get you a present this year. My gosh, this has got to be the worst Christmas ever!"

Laughter was Judy's first response to Nick's remark. Knowing him as many years as she has, the doe was quite familiar with just about every trick that he's pulled. "Har har," she murmured.

Nick turned his head over to his son, continuing his whole charade. "Do you see any present over there for Mommy?" he asked.

"I don't know," his son said. He tried to hold back a giggle as hard as he could. Getting up from off of the floor, he walked over to the left of the tree. "Wait, Dad, I see something!"

"You do?" the vulpine asked. "That's great, buddy! Bring it on over."

The little one did as he was asked, picking up the gift and carefully walking it over to his mother. "For you, Mom," he said, awaiting for reaction upon opening it. "From Dad and me."

Judy examined the square package. Playfully, she brought the box up to her ears and moved it around as light as she could, trying to hear what could possibly be inside of it. She took the ribbon off of the top and removed the lid. Upon doing so, she pulled out a slightly smaller box that was inside of that one.

Now holding the smaller package in her paws, she popped the lid off of it. A small side of her was expecting it to be yet another box, but instead she ended up seeing a thin sheet of wrapping paper that appeared to be covering the gift.

She carefully unfolded the paper, and her eyes glowed upon seeing the thoughtful present that was inside. Judy pulled out what looked like a new bracelet, with touches of emerald and amethyst-colored beads upon it.

"I love this, Nick!" Judy said. "Thank you." After a momentary pause, the doe hopped right out of her seat. "Oh, wait one second, I'll be right back."

The bunny walked over to another spot in the room, coming back a few moments later. "Hey, Nick," she called to her fox, making her way over to where she was seated before.

"Yeah, Carrots?" he replied.

Nick paused and looked over at his bunny, snickering upon catching a faint glimpse of what she was currently had above her head. What the rabbit had in her paw, conveniently, was strand of mistletoe with a red bow above it. She continued to hold it above her as sat back down beside the vulpine.

Giving his beloved bunny the kiss that the symbolic mistletoe promised, he remarked, "I sense you had that mistletoe already set up."

Judy put on a wide smirk. "And you're not wrong." Setting the mistletoe down beside her, she looked over at her fox and murmured, "Merry Christmas, Nick."

A smile came naturally to Nick's muzzle. "Merry Christmas, sweetheart."