Hey guys, it's me. And before I say anything else, yes, I know this is way too early. I'm sorry if you don't like Christmas-y stuff before Christmas, I understand, and I'm sorry. But I knew that if I didn't post it right away, I'd forget to do it before Christmas. I'm forgetful that way. So bear with me, please.

This was kinda inspired by laughs4life story 'A Ragtag Bunch', which I highly recommend. It's so cute! Anyway, I've been wanting to do some kinda Christmas story for a while, but I could never come up with anything. But combined with that, seeing 'A Mammoth Christmas' (cute short film, BTW) for the first time, and reading that adorable story about the pirates, this popped my mind. Enjoy.

I don't own Ice age (if I did, there would be a short concerning the pirates and what happened to them after the 4th film by now).

"Hey! Gimme that!" a little voice protested. A young kangaroo joey the age of five stood in between her six older brothers on a snowy ground. "Give'i back!" she jumped for her scarf again, but Aaiden, the oldest of the six brothers, simply laughed and tossed it to Tadao. "Ah need tha!"

"Oh yeah?" Jemal taunted. "An why's tha?"

She shivered for a moment. "Iss' cold out 'ere! Ah'll catch-" she let out a small sneeze. "Ah'll catch a cold! Give it!"

Rajay laughed and spun the sparkly piece of finely spun cotton between his fingers. "Oh boo hoo! It'll jus' give ye 'nother reas'n ta stay 'ome with mum, like ya always do! Ya shoul' be thankin us!"

"Ah do no'!"

"Then why was ya in 'er pouch all las' week?" Aaiden teased.

"Ah ha' strep throat! Whadda ess'pect?!"

"…Yer point?"

"Gimme!" he just laughed and threw it to Jemal again. The little girl crossed her arms. They obviously weren't going to give it back. But she needed it, or her father would never let her go play. In fact, she'd been on her way to play with her friends when her nasty, bullying big brothers snatched her scarf. What to do…

She suddenly grinned, getting an idea.

Her golden eyes suddenly filled with tears. She sniffled and gave a tiny whimper, lower lip beginning to tremble, and the teenagers all directed their eyes down to the little girl, stiffening. She sucked in a big breath. "Don't. You. Dare." Aaiden hissed.

"MUMMY! DADDY!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, starting to cry. She put her face in her hands, sobbing, while her brothers hurriedly tried to get her to stop.

There was the sound of approaching feet hopping in perfect rhythm, and two of her siblings being pushed aside. She felt a pair of arms wrap around her shaking, shivering form and lift her into the air. She put her arms around whoever it was and buried her face in the crook of their neck. "Boys." The stern voice of their father growled from beside her, indicating it was in fact her mother that was cradling her. "Wha' did ye do ta 'er?"

"Nothin dad! We swear!" the eldest's voice replied.

"L-Lia!" she choked out accusingly. "They stealed mah scarf mummy!" she shivered again and sniffled. "Ah'm gett'n all chill'eh an gonna ge' sick."

Her mother, Lalli, sighed. "Boys, give yer sista 'er scarf back."

"Wha… why d'ya always 'sume wha sheh says i' true?" Jemal's voice demanded.

Lalli gave her second youngest son a pointed look, like 'Really? Are we really going to discuss this?'

He sighed. "Fine." He took out the sparkly cotton and handed it over. She happily excepted, wrapping it around her neck snugly. She smiled as it glimmered in the sun, and her mother kissed her forehead.

"There ya go Sheila." She set her down again. "All nice an' coz'eh." She patted her head, then nudged her in the opposite direction. "Now run 'long. Go an' play."

"Ok!" she chirped, hopping away. "Bye mummy! Bye daddy! Love you!"

"Love ye too Princess!" her father called. He sighed. "How old is sheh again?"

Lalli smacked her husbands arm. "Blayke!"

"Wha?"

She sighed and rubbed her temples. "Sheh's five now. Ya know tha."

He sighed. "Ah know." He watched her go sadly, meeting up with her odd group of friends. "Ar' lit'l girls grow'n up."

"Yeh… too bad." Rajay spoke from behind them. "I liked 'er when sheh was a baby. Quiet and always had 'er mouth shut. She was no troub'l then."

"Rajay!"

He shrugged innocently. "Wha?"

Their mother frowned. "Jus fer tha, you can 'elp me put up the Christmas dec'rations."

"Aw mum!"

"Now. Inside. March." She pointed at their cave door for emphasis. He grumbled darkly under his breath but did as he was told anyway. He would get his sister for this…

His aforementioned, considerably younger sibling was just meeting up with her friends. "'Ey mates!" she greeted cheerily as she bounced up.

"Hi Raz!" Squint, undoubtedly the smallest of the group of seven, responded. He appeared on her shoulder, just a blur of color, thanks to his ultimate rabbit speed and agility.

"I'm so excited!" Flynn exclaimed. "Only three more days till it's Chrissy-mas! Yay!"

"Thas Christmas, meathead." Raz corrected playfully. "An' Ah know! Ar' firs' Christmas t'gether! Ain't i' great?!"

"Yeah!" Gupta agreed. "Gonna be so much fun! Presents and candy- and Santa's coming!"

"Santa!" they all cheered. That was definitely the best part of the holiday. Santa came and left presents. And sugar plums. And delicious peppermint bark. So pretty much every child's dream. Candy and presents.

"So, mon amis" Silas began. "What is it that you hope for?"

"Somethin I can prank my sisters with!" that was Squint. He was the 'baby' of his family; he was the youngest of his mothers sixteenth, and final, litter. And, to make it all worse, he was the only boy. That's right. He had seventy nine older sisters. It sometimes made Raz appreciate that she had only six siblings. "Ooh! And some carrot cake!"

"Hmm… maybe some new paint." Gupta responded. "It's hard to find colored berries here." He liked to paint, often making tiny intricate designs all around his family's burrow. One wall was covered in teeny pictures, so it was colored brightly, but you had to get really close to see what any of them were. "And carving wood!" he liked to use his sharp claws to make wood into different things. Unfortunately, much of the wood in their part of the world was no good for carving; either far to old and crumbly, or just too hard.

"I want one a' those swing thingies my neighbors been telling me about." Gunner answered. He, as an ape, appreciated being high up in the trees. It was no surprise he might want something that had to do with the tree.

"I want a swimmin pool!" Flynn chirped. "That'll be lotsa fun!" they didn't bother pointing out he lived very close to the lake.

"What about you, mademoiselle?" Silas asked Raz, the only female.

"Ah'm thinkin I wan' a trampoline. How fun woul tha be?"

"A trampoline?" Squint asked incredibly. "But you bounce everywhere you go everyday!"

"Firs' of all" she began irritably. "Ah don' bounce, I hop. Two, iss' no' like Ah gotta choice. An' three-" she stopped. She needed a third reason… "It'll be some'n mah brotha's won't be 'lowed ta touch. It'll be jus mine."

"Ok…"

"So Silas." She said, changing the subject. "Whaddo you want?"

He suddenly looked shy. "Well I… I haven't exactly decided yet, soeur." He sometimes referred to them as his brothers and sister; they were the closest he had, considering he was an only hatchling. The others claimed him lucky, all having to deal with annoying brothers and sisters, but he wasn't so sure.

"WHAT?!"

"But you-" the badger was cut off.

"It's a good thing too." A new voice piped up, and they turned. Gunner's older twin brother and sister, Lily and Jake, hung upside down there, by their feet.

"Whadda mean Sheila?" Raz asked the blond female.

"I mean" she started dramatically. "It's a good thing, cuz then he won't be so disappointed."

They all simultaneously tilted their heads to the right, and spoke the same confused word. "Huh?"

"She means he won't be so disappointed." Jake started where his sister left off. "Cuz Santa's. Not. Coming."

They all gasped in horror. "Wha- Whaddo mean he's not coming?" Squint asked, fidgeting nervously on their marsupial companion's shoulder. Raz hated when he got like that.

"He's not coming, cuz your all on the naughty list." Lily chuckled.

"The what list?" their little brother asked in confusion.

"The naughty list." The brown furred teen repeated. "It's a list that Santa makes. When kids're bad, he writes their name down. And then they have till Christmas to be good again and reverse it all, and get their names on the nice list."

Silas swallowed. He didn't like where this was going. Even thought he was unsure where it was going. "What… what will happen if your name is on such a list come Noel time?"

"Then you don't. Get. Christmas." They finished together. The children shared scared looks, eyes wide.

"A-And…" Gupta wasn't sure he wanted to know the rest, but felt it important.

"And your names are on there!"

They all gasped. "But why?!" Flynn cried in despair.

"Cuz we know Santa. And every time you guys did something bad, or mean, we told him. You've been on the naughty list all year." They all gasped. "There's no way you'll be able to undo it all by Christmas."

Jake laughed and continued for his twin. "So none of you little brats are getting anything for Christmas!"

"N-Nothing?" Squint's voice shook.

They both grinned. "Nothing." Then they swung off into the trees, laughing, leaving the devastated children alone.

They shared glances through tear filled eyes, one phrase going through each five year old mind. 'We're not getting Christmas…'

So… what'd you think? Like I said before, I know it's too early to be posting a Christmas story, but I don't trust myself not to forget about it. My mind's one of those all-over-the-place ones. Please tell me what you think.

As you can probably tell me now if you've read any of my other stories, I love the pirates. And, well, I just couldn't resist this! Please review!

P.S. ICE AGE 4 COMES OUT ON DVD IN NINE (almost eight considering the time) days! WOO HOO!