Business sure is booming, the eight-year-old fox kit thought.
Placing a few miniature marshmallows on top of it, Nick put the final touch on the hot chocolate he had placed inside the small disposable cup. He handed it over to the customer, who was actually a bear cub that was one of his classmates, on the other side of the stand he had made.
"Here you go," he said to him. "And thank you for choosing Wilde's Hot Chocolate."
His "establishment" he had going on just then might have been nothing more than a little stand he made with a little help from his dad, much like the kind kits made when selling lemonade in the summer. It didn't hurt, though, to come up with a name for his little business, since he thought that made it seem a little more professional. He thought Wilde's Hot Chocolate was a good one to keep for now, since it was a pretty straightforward one.
"Thanks, dude," the bear he knew from school that lived nearby replied, heading back out to enjoy the hot chocolate he had bought. "Merry Christmas."
Nick took the quarters he had gotten from selling the last cup of hot chocolate and placed them inside the little jar he had sitting to the side. He picked it up and gave it a little shake, listening to the sound of the coins he had gotten so far jingling as they clanged together inside of it.
The fox kit smiled at how well his hot chocolate stand was doing, since everyone agreed the best thing mammals would enjoy on a cold day like this was a nice cup of cocoa.
By the sound of it, he thought, he made enough money today to get his mother a really awesome gift for Christmas. He was hoping to head into town with his father to do some holiday shopping, and he couldn't wait to head into the stores and pick something very special to give the greatest mom in the world.
It was getting close to four o'clock, and that meant it was getting close to suppertime. With that and the fact that his hot chocolate supply was getting low, Nick supposed it was a good time to close up shop for the rest of the afternoon. Pretty much everybody in the neighborhood stopped at his stand, so today turned out to be a pretty successful day in the hot chocolate business.
The kit started to clean up the stand, taking down the sign he had made on bright sheets of construction paper. He set the jar of money he made down as he finished tidying else up, taking notice of one thing for a quick minute.
On the left side of the table he had used, decked with an old plastic tablecloth that had holiday trees all over it, he set out a small container of little candy canes that were individually wrapped. He set them out as something that customers could take if they wanted to after buying their hot chocolate.
Even though a good amount of the ones he set in there were gone, he noticed that he had a couple left that he wasn't sure what to do with. The Christmas tree that they put up as a family already had its fair share of candy canes placed on it, so putting even more would probably make it look cluttered up.
"What are we gonna do with these?" he inquired to himself.
Just then, right when was about to head back in the house, he heard tiny steps coming down the sidewalk, with what sounded like a trio of voices talking with one another. Nick turned around to see who was there but didn't see anyone on the street.
Swore I heard mammals talking, he thought, thinking maybe he was wrong about that for a moment.
"Excuse me?" he then heard someone say.
Nick looked to the left and to the right, not seeing anybody there until he looked over the other side of his stand. Three tiny lemmings were looking back at him, one of them probably being who spoke to him just then.
"I-I'm sorry, guys," the fox apologized to them, "but I'm running low on hot chocolate. I'm going to be closing for today."
"Oh, that's quite alright," the lemming in front of the other two said. He then reached into his pocket and fetched out a tiny piece of paper, which he held up as high as he could in his stubby little paw. "We just wanted to hand out one of these flyers."
Nick reached over to collect the flyer from the rodent. He tried to read it with squinted eyes but couldn't tell what it had on it. "Thank you," he replied kindly.
With a merry laugh, the lemming responded, "The three of us are going to be hosting a little show at the tree lighting here, and we thought it would be good to spread the word about it to as many as we could."
"Oh, cool." Nick slipped the tiny flyer into his own pocket for now to keep it safe.
"You see, our dance studio in Little Rodentia hasn't been doing so well," the rodent further explained, his head sagging just a bit. "We're thinkin' this might be the year we have to close up, since we've been kind of low on funds and such." He looked back up with the expression of glee back on his face. "So I thought that if this is gonna be the last hoorah our group has together before we close it for good, then we're gonna make it a good one. Headin' to every tree lighting we can to entertain some passers-by, and maybe they'll even give us a tip to help keep the place going for the time being."
"I'll be sure to tell my family about this. Thank you, sir." Just as they started to walk away, he quickly reached into the container that had candy canes left in it, taking three out and handing them to the lemmings. "Here you go. Since I'm closing my stand for today, you guys can have these."
The three each took of the candy canes they were given and held onto them, the size of them much larger to the shorter mammals. "Oh, thank you very much. And Merry Christmas."
The Next Day…
The tree lighting in Nick's hometown wasn't exactly a large spectacle, but it surely got the job done when it came to filling residents and visitors alike with cheer. The tree, although not as tall as the one they put in Savannah Central every year, was a dazzling sight inside the town's park. Mammals young and old gathered around to watch come to life after the countdown from the mayor, as well as see the classic cars that made up the auto show that came here on the same day.
Stalls selling all sorts of things that were Christmasy lined the sides of the park's brick walkways, and Nick was more than eager to check out what each of them had. The kit was pretty much jumping up and down with joy.
"Mom, can we go over where that prize wheel is?" he asked a second time as he and his parents walked along. "Oooh, and can we play the balloon dart game, please?"
"Okay, Nicky," his mother replied, giggling at his enthusiasm.
Around her neck was the new necklace that Nick had been saving up to buy her for Christmas, the little pendant on it shimmering under the light of the Christmas tree. He and his father picked it out when they were at one of the stores outside of town, and he honestly just couldn't wait until Christmas to give it to her. She absolutely loved the early present, and it fit around her neck perfectly.
Nick started to run up the walkway, making sure to stay within the sight of his parents as he made his way for the stall with a prize wheel, sponsored by one of the local restaurants a short drive from here. He saw that there was little bit of a line that lead to that spot in the park, so he looked around at some of the other things going on around him.
Old-time Christmas music, much liked the kind his grandmother used to listen to, came from the left, and the kit looked over to see who was playing it. As he walked over to the left of the walkway, he saw three faces that he recalled from the day before. On top of a platform made for their size were the three lemmings he met before, and alongside them were three other mammals he presumed were dancing partners—one mouse, one shrew, one squirrel.
The lemming trio, dressed in suits and top hats, appeared to be in the middle of a synchronized routine that involved dancing with a cane to the slow tune that played. As he stepped closer to get a better look at their performance, he noticed that they weren't just dancing with any cane. They were using the same candy canes that he gave them when they gave him the flyer!
A crowd of others gathered around to watch the Little Rodentia citizens dance. The basket that rested in the grass to the side of them was nearly overflowing with the tips, left generously by the passers-by. Folks around the spot pulled their cameras out to take a picture of the performance, most likely to show it with those they knew.
Who would've guessed, Nick thought, that those candy canes I gave them that day would make a great addition to their show?
Author's Note: Was trying to come up with something that involved candy canes, and I ended up coming up with this over the afternoon. Felt like trying to write something that was centered around Nick when he was younger during the holidays, so this was actually a pretty fun one to write. :)
'Til next time, everybody! :)