Page 174 - Nuts to You - The Nutcracker Retold

Shivering and Shaking
Meanwhile, back at the ranch – or Land of Sweets in our case – the Mouse Queen’s snow continued to fall, until the entire realm was hip-deep in ice and snow and very, very cold. All the Sweeties had escaped to the Christmas Tree Forest.
Mother Ginger had posted the Gingerbread Men to guard their hiding place, for hiding place they had. And no longer did the Sweeties live in the Castle, for the Castle was overrun with mice, and their Princess was a troll. So, they had decamped to the woods and built a makeshift camp from toffee bark, tied together with licorice whips.
And so, Mother Ginger had posted guards – not that any mouse was going to leave the comfort of the nice warm Castle, with plenty of candy to munch, to come out into the freeze-your-tails-off cold. But she was a responsible person, and responsible persons (and boy scouts!) are always prepared.
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