Finnick set down the glass of eggnog he hadn't even touched, sighing heavily as he accepted the fact that he'd once again celebrate Christmas by himself. Even though that was the way it had been for quite some time, he always wished for a change to those circumstances. He normally just stayed in the apartment around this time of the year, watching holiday movies when they aired and baking some cookie recipe. While he enjoyed doing those things, he always had the thought of doing something different than that. Something that took place only at this time of year, in one of the decorated districts of Zootopia.
He noticed the lights of some vehicle shining through the closed window of his tiny living room. He heard the honking of a horn and car doors being opened and closed, but simply ignored it and went back to the show he was watching. It had already played multiple times before, and he had caught snippets of it earlier in the month, but he enjoyed watching it. It never failed to take him back to the happier days when he was a kit, and would bundle up near the fireplace of his mother's house to watch it alongside her.
Just then, he heard a knock on his door. No one ever came to his door at this time of night, so he wasn't sure who was there at first. But then he quickly remembered something his friend Nick said to him. He couldn't remember everything he had said that day, except that he would be coming over to visit sometime. No doubt that was who was knocking right now.
Finnick got up from his seat, shut the television off, and went to the front door. He unlocked it and opened it to find out that it was just who he thought it was. Nick stood there with a grin on his face, and alongside him was his rabbit companion.
"Your Zuber ride is here," the red fox at his doorstep remarked.
"What you talkin' 'bout, Wilde?" Finnick simply answered. "Didn't schedule no ride."
"You didn't forget, did ya?" Nick asked in reply. "We talked about it over the phone last week."
The fennec fox shook his head and replied, "You gon' have t' remind me what ya said. I don't really remember."
"You were telling me that you weren't going to be spending the holidays with anyone, and that you just planned to stay at home." Nick turned away from Finnick and looked over at the doe standing by his side. "So Carrots and I came up with a plan to surprise you and take you somewhere special."
Finnick became intrigued by what his friend had just told him. "Well, where we goin'?" he asked.
Nick let out a small laugh and said, "Now, Fin, if I told you the location we were heading to, how much of a surprise would it be?"
The fennec fox tapped his his paw on the floor and grunted. "You're no fun, Wilde," he said under his breath. "If you ain't got' tell me, at least let me try 'n' guess."
"Very well," Nick responded. "What is your guess?"
"That holiday buffet that's got som' special right now," was the first thing that Finnick said when asked that. "Y'know, that one where they got that huge ice cream bar?"
"Oh, where we planned on going is way better than that."
"We goin' t' see that dance group known for doin' them kick lines?" Finnick guessed next. "'Cause if so, I don't got the proper outfit for that music hall."
"Judy and I were looking to go see them ourselves," Nick answered, "but tickets were all sold out. Where we're going, though, it something I'm sure you're going to enjoy. You'll see when we get there."
The fennec fox ran back to get his winter coat and a scarf before walking out the door, joining them outside as they went over to the car.
"Tundratown's Annual Winter Wonderland?" Finnick asked.
Nick said with a smile, "Traffic was pretty crazy, but we made it."
The fennec nodded his head and agreed, "Yeah. Not to mention that they was chargin' that much money for parkin'. Like I said: Christmas 'bout the money for some folks."
"I can't disagree with you on that, Fin," the red fox replied. "But what do you think of this? Isn't this great?"
Gazing at the decorations surrounding every corner, Finnick remarked, "The name sure fits."
"That it does," Nick replied. "I remember the first time I surprised Judy and took her here. She was in total amazement the entire time we were here."
"Yeah," Judy said, joining the conversation, "I remember like it was yesterday. Tundratown becomes pretty magical when Christmas rolls around."
The three mammals continued to walk through the snow and over to where most of the things happening at the event were taking place. Finnick noticed the enormous crowd that was congregated in the heart of this portion of the district.
"A lot of mammals 'ere," he muttered.
He remembered hearing news coverage of the event and that it tended to be busy. But the amount of traffic those reports mentioned showed only a fraction of the amount of visitors the event currently had. However, the fennec fox noticed a sign lit with Christmas lights, and it told him why there was so many folks here.
"Don't miss our grand holiday tree lighting! Happening tonight at nine!" it said.
Looking over at Nick as they continued to walk, Finnick asked, "Did you know they was lightin' their tree tonight?"
"Yep." Nick grinned. "What better time to come then on the day they light the tree up?"
"That's why there's so many here," the fennec said to himself.
"Well," his friend replied, overhearing him, "I hear they decorated even better than last year's, so you pretty much knew it was gonna be packed."
Checking the time on her phone, Judy chimed in, "There's a good amount of time until that happens, though. Until then we can see what some of the booths over there are like."
They made their way over to the little vendors the rabbit had mentioned were. This was where a good amount of the visitors were all congregated.
A bunch of different games for folks young and old to play had been set up, and some of them already had a line of mammals waiting their turn to try and win a prize. The three passed some of them until they saw some smaller establishments without anyone waiting to play. The first one they came across was one of those carnival games where one had to knock down the three bottles stacked in a little pyramid.
Finnick paused for a brief moment and pondered about playing. The last time he had played this kind of game was at a county fair a long time ago, back when was just a tot. He hadn't been successful at winning a prize way back then, but he was certain that his pitch had gotten much better since then. They hadn't put him on the varsity baseball team back in his middle school years for nothing.
The fennec fox heard a snicker, and he turned his head to look at the ram that was managing the little booth. What was he laughin' at? he thought in that moment.
"Wanna give it a shot, Tiny?" the ovine said to him. What he said sounded more like a taunt rather than just an inquiry of whether he wanted to play the game or not.
He quickly reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, and got out the three dollars required to play a round of the game. He slapped the dollar bills onto the counter of the booth, and the ram took them from him. He then set a small basket in front of him with three balls inside of it.
Finnick grabbed the first ball and focused on throwing right in the middle of the pyramid of bottles. He hesitated a moment and then gave it a hard throw. The ball ended up curving to the left, missing the bottles completely.
The short, tan-furred fox sighed upon missing his target, and he could hear that ram laughing under his breath. He considered that first throw a warmup, since it had been a long time since he tried to pitch a ball, and then proceeded with the other two.
He grabbed another ball and firmly grasped onto it. Letting out a grunt, he threw it with more force than the previous one. The ball collided with the bottles and had them all crashing down. Finnick then grabbed the third and final ball, taking a few steps over to the other stack of bottles to the side of the one he just knocked over. He threw it and knocked them over, just like he already did.
I might be tiny, the fennec fox thought, but I got a strong arm.
The ovine walked over to the back of the booth and grabbed a festive reindeer plush from the rack the prizes were hanging on. "Here you go, sir," he said as he handed it over to him.
Finnick took the prize he just won with a grin, and he walked away from the booth. He turned to see to see that Nick and Judy weren't standing where he was anymore; they were at a similar-looking booth that was two away from where he stood. He pushed his way through a small group of mammals that started to come over to this section of the festival, making his way over to them.
He saw that the two were playing another game that, according to the sign above the stand, was named "Flukey Ball."
The game's objective was a simple one. In order to win at it, someone had to successfully bank a wiffle ball off a slanted board and into a basket that was directly below it. Having pulled a few hustles in previous years, much like his friend Nick once did, he knew that it wasn't actually that simple.
From what he could see, Judy was tossing balls to try and land them in the basket, but her attempts so far had failed. She had two attempts left, but she appeared to be a bit discouraged.
Finnick thought he would be able to help win at this game. Having knowledge of how these games are gaffed, he knew the secrets on how to beat them.
"Y'know," he whispered beside Judy, "ere's a secret to winnin' this." The rabbit turned her head to look at him, and he continued, "They wanna make ya think ya gotta throw the ball hard, but all ya gotta do's graze the board."
The gray lagomorph nodded her head and decided to take his advice. She tossed the ball in her paw as lightly as possible; it grazed the middle of the slanted board and fell right into the basket, much to her surprise.
"Yes!" Judy proclaimed, pumping a fist into the air in excitement.
She threw the final ball. It grazed the top of the board this time, arcing back down into the basket. Two out of five tries were successful, which meant that she'd be receiving one of the smaller prizes on display.
As the three started to walk away from some of the other games, Judy said to Finnick, "Thanks for the advice."
"Anytime," the fennec fox replied. "Some of these games is rigged, so ya gotta find a way 'round 'em. And I know a thing 'r two 'bout how they set 'em up."
The doe checked what time it was on her phone once again. It was currently ten minutes 'til eight o'clock, meaning it was a little bit more than one hour away from the official tree lighting. But from what the schedule of the event online had said, there was going to be a show that started in about half an hour. With as many visitors as there was, it was probably best that they found a spot to watch said show before it got too crowded.
"How long 'til the tree lighting, Fluff?" Nick asked.
"Not much longer," Judy answered. "Let's get some hot chocolate and then we'll go over to watch the show."
"Show?" Finnick chimed upon hearing what the rabbit had mentioned.
The gray bunny nodded and said, "They have a couple different acts come out and entertain us before they light the tree, to get us excited for it and all."
The fennec was now curious to see what kind of performances they were going to be seeing. He followed them as they went over to get some hot chocolate from a nearby concession stand. They could smell kettle corn being popped as they got closer, coming from another stand on the right of the one they were waiting in line to get to.
"I'm gonna step out of the line, if you guys don't mind," Nick said to them. "I'll be back real quick."
As Judy and Finnick waited for him to join back up, they got their order of three steaming hot chocolates. Once Nick came back, the three started following the others around them as they all flocked to where the show was about to take place. It was clear that everyone else had the same idea as Judy to get their earlier.
Nick, Judy, and Finnick all found a spot they could stand in. No one else was really around where they stood, meaning they would be able to see the performances perfectly. They passed the time until then by sipping on their hot chocolates and talking to each other.
After a taking a long sip from the beverage in his paws, Finnick said, "This oughta be the nicest surprise anybody's given me on Christmas."
"It'a our pleasure," Judy replied.
"This sure beats what I've done the past few years. Had ya not brought me out, I wouldn't be doin' nothin'. Probably would just be watchin' Christmas shows or somethin'." He let out a sigh, his breath visible in the cold. "Y'know, I've recently been spendin' the holidays this year pretty much alone. Used to spend it with old friends, but, y'know, after Nick became a cop like you, I decided to get in a legit line of work and a lot of 'em pretty much told me t' go pound salt, sayin' they didn't wanna talk t' me no more." He paused once again to take another sip of hot chocolate. "But that's why I'm glad t' have friends like you. I know I already said it, but thanks for me bringin' me along with you guys. Means a lot that you'd do somethin' like this for me."
The rabbit smiled and said, "Well, we've been coming here for a couple years now, and it always changes a bit from the last year. If you feel like joining us again next year, we're more than happy to have you tag along."
"Fo' sure I'm comin' back next year," Finnick replied enthusiastically.
"It's about five minutes 'til the show starts," Judy informed, and they all continued to wait for it to begin.
Those five minutes passed by before they knew it, and a moose came out and stood by a microphone that was positioned by the the humongous, unlit tree. "What do you say, folks?" he said. "Should we get our holiday show going?"
The answer he received from the crowds was a huge round of clapping, mixed with some cheering from the gathered crowd.
"In that case," the announcer continued, "we're gonna kick things off right now with our first peformer of the night. Would you please help in me in welcoming Liam, our juggling act?"
The applause formed around them once again as a mongoose walked into view, carrying a large black bag. He took a bow before his audience before reaching into his bag and pulling out what appeared to be three bowling pins. He juggled them to festive music that started to play over some speakers around him. He stopped for a moment, and a weasel came up to him, riding a unicycle. He got down from the one-wheeled vehicle and let the mongoose sit himself on it. From there, he stood straight up on the seat and got himself to balance, then proceeding to juggle the bowling pins he did earlier. The audience cheered as he finished up his act and took yet another bow.
He waved to the audience as he walked away with a smile, and the moose announcer came back to welcome the second performance of the night, which was a youth choir from Little Rodentia. A group consisting of young mice, shrews, and other smaller mammals that lived in that district got together. They sang some well-known carols, warming the hearts of those listening to them. Judy and Nick couldn't help but join them and sing along, and Finnick soon afterwards did as well.
"They were so good!" Judy said bubbly after their performance was over.
"Give it up one more time for the Little Rodentia Youth Choir!" the announcer said to the audience once again. After the cheering settled down, he then said, "And now, before we get to the moment you've all been waiting for, we present to you a performance from Groove and Go Dance Studio in Savannah Central, whose mission is to show everyone that no matter what it is you do or what kind of animal you are, they can learn the wonderful art of dancing."
The lights on the poles behind everyone all started to shut off, casting the area into the darkness of night. But came back once again, though, a short moment later.
A small spotlight was casted on a polar bear that was dancer from the studio. The ursid had a Santa hat on and a red outfit on, as well as a pair tap dancing shoes on her feet. She started to perform her solo tap routine, the click-clacking of her shoes resonating around the area.
Finnick watched the the mammal in a state of amazement. It wasn't everyday that you saw a polar bear tap dancing, let alone one that was this talented at doing so.
Once she had finished her solo, the lights around them started to slowly come back on, and the polar bear walked out of view. A modern techno beat started to come from the speakers, similar to the music that would be heard in a club.
Now gathered on either side was the rest of the dancers, who were all dressed in matching outfits that were a festive shade of green. They started to move to beat of the song that had been chosen, performing fun dance moves that matched it.
An elephant.
A raccoon.
A pair of timber wolves.
A skunk.
A hippo.
A lioness and zebra.
A tall giraffe.
A little squirrel.
The group was a diversity of animals, predator and prey joined together through their love for dancing or their desire to learn to how to. All of them had equally wide smiles on their faces, which couldn't help but bring smiles to their audience as well.
About halfway through their routine, the giraffe started twirling some large rings that glowed in the dark around her long neck, moving her hips like she was hula-hooping. Meanwhile, in front of her was a squirrel and beaver. The squirrel started to do some small flips in the air, landing them perfectly before taking the paw of her dancing partner.
The audience was roaring with applause as the performance carried on, and Finnick started to clap as well. He admitted that he was far from a dancer, never had the best rhythm, so shows like these always made him wish he was able to do that. Perhaps a lesson or two at this studio that was performing would help him sharpen his dancing abilities. Some of those in the show were just ordinary mammals, who worked typical day jobs and never saw themselves as dancers. But just like the announcer previously mentioned, the entire goal of the studio was to show anybody that they were able to dance regardless of their current skill level.
The dancers broke off into two lines, clearing the way for the polar bear to come back out and perform a final tap-dance. The music cut as she broke out into this solo, which had faster movements than the one she did in the beginning. Once she had finished this, all of the dancers came close together, taking final poses. The squirrel dancer jumped onto the hoof of the giraffe on her right, which was held down to her height. The long-necked mammal held the bushy-tailed rodent up higher, and she struck a pose for the height she was placed at.
What followed was the loudest series of cheering that ever resonated from the audience. Everyone took a bow before walking away together.
"I don't know about you," the moose with the microphone said as he came back, "but I think that was the perfect way to wrap up our little show. Now, without further ado, it's time to start our countdown to the tree lighting. Everybody, count down with me. Ten... Nine... Eight..."
Everybody present loudly counted down along with him, eager to see the tree had been decorated after waiting the entire night for it. The moment the countdown reached the number one, the moose announcer turned around stretched an arm towards the tree.
The tree remained unlit for several seconds, managing to get a few hearty laughs to come from the audience. Others who were watching quickly wondered if there were some technical difficulties. But there was no need to worry, because their countdown was simply a few seconds earlier than when it was automatically set to light up.
Just then, the humongous tree glowed with twinkling lights that glowed in multiple colors. As music started to play, Finnick and the others noticed that the lights actually started to flash along to what was playing. They all watched the little spectacle of blinking colors. The moment the tree went back to being let the regular way, the lights remaining still and no longer flashing, a good bit of those gathered around started to leave the area.
Probably tryin' t' beat the crazytraffic, Finnick thought.
"How 'bout that tree, Fin?" Nick asked him.
"It's... amazing!" the fennec fox answered. "Never saw one this big." After a pause, he asked, "So is that it? That why everybody's goin' back the way we came?"
"Nope," his friend replied, shaking his head. "There's still something else they're going to announce. Probably in a few minutes, if I'm correct."
"What's that?"
"The raffle."
"Didn't hear 'bout no raffle. What you mean?"
Nick informed him, "Every year they have a raffle where the proceeds go to help charities. While you and Carrots were getting those hot chocolates, I thought I would get a raffle ticket before we watched the show. They said they we're given away a certificate for a cruise. It's worth giving it a chance, isn't it? You never know if you'll win if you don't try. That and the raffle raises money for folks in need."
"It's time to tell you all the winner of this year's raffle," the announcer said several minutes later. "All proceeds are going to Tundratown Hospital for Children, to help give families the medical care their kits desperately need." A snow leopard came up to the moose, pushing a contained on a cart that had all of the raffle numbers inside of it on sleeves of paper. "And the winning raffle ticket is... A113. Will the holder of that ticket please come on up and claim their prize?"
"Wait a minute," Nick muttered, reaching into his coat pocket to see what his ticket had. His eyes widened upon seeing his ticket matched what had been announced. "I got the winning ticket!"
"You serious, Wilde?" Finnick asked in disbelief.
"I'm serious," the vulpine replied, showing him what his ticket said.
"Congratulations, mammal," the fennec said back. "That was some good luck 'ere." Nick then handed him the winning ticket, and for a moment he just remained still. "What you handin' me this for? You won."
"Actually, you're the winner," Nick said. "This is for you. Merry Christmas."
Finnick was completely surprised. "You kiddin' me?"
"Judy and I know how much you've wanted to go on a cruise." Nick looked over at his rabbit companion, and they both exchanged smiles.
"I can't believe this," the fennec fox said, now grinning widely. "Thank you so much. You didn't have to do this for me."
"'Tis the season of giving," the tod answered. "Now you better head up there and claim your prize."
Finnick, clutching tightly onto the ticket in his paw, quickly made his way up to the moose that was now holding a gigantic certificate. It was the perfect way to end one of the best nights he ever had.