Santa's Newest Reindeer (15 page)

to see Rudolph and all his playmates?” questioned Ellie as they

stood in front of Reindeer Residence.

“Welcome to Reindeer Residence, home on the range for the

antlered crew. Come on in! Rudolph is a very private reindeer

and does not normally hang around with the others. And yes,

he does have a red nose that guides Santa’s sleigh at night.

However, I’m sure we can find the others,” chuckled Yule, the

head elf in charge of all care and nurturing of the reindeer.

Yule looked more like a blacksmith than an elf. His round

face was smudged with black soot, and his booties, once bright

red, were equally blackened. Even the tips of his pointed ears

had not touched a washrag in some time. Brown, matted tufts

of hair stuck out from his orange-colored stocking cap, and

strings of yarn sprouted from where the cap’s white, fluffy ball

was once attached. Spikes of hair jutted from his ears and his

nose. Yule was earthen tone from under his chin to the top of

his booties. If he fell down, he could easily blend in with the

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ground’s colors. His hands were gnarled and calloused from

many years of tending reindeer. His coal-colored eyes looked

right through you, but that was deceiving—Yule would do any-

thing for anyone, anytime, anywhere. It was rumored that he

would give you the shirt off his back if you really wanted it!

“No other creature comforts exist than for the care and feed-

ing of reindeer in Santa’s Village,” boasted Yule, pointing to

each reindeer’s family coat of arms hanging above the double

door entrance to the spacious lodge.

The large building was shaped like a horseshoe with a long

corridor extending the length of the barn. Since none of the

rooms had gates, the reindeer were free to run and play when-

ever they chose. Each of the reindeers’ chambers was decorated

to fit the occupant’s personality, including wall colors, family

pictures, decorated feeding and watering dishes, overly deco-

rated Christmas trees, boughs of holly, and a sprig of mistletoe

above each door. Above the large split door, entering to the

inside of the horseshoe, hung a gigantic neon sign emblazoned

with “The Roundup.” The Roundup was a popular gathering

place for the elf families to picnic as well as feed and pet the

reindeer. In addition to the family coat of arms, the eight tiny

reindeer proudly displayed their personal coat of arms above

the entrances to their homes.

When the reindeer heard Yule’s voice, they immediately

stuck their heads over the split doors, snorting for a treat. The caretaker was careful not to walk too close to the beggars. Their long necks and jutting jaws easily extended into Yule’s side bag

where he carried bunches of carrots.

Ellie and Will followed close behind Yule. They had never

been this close to such tiny reindeer, and they were afraid one

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of them might reach over the gate and nip them. They had fed

and petted tame animals at a petting zoo when they visited

their grandparents a couple of years ago, but this was a differ-

ent time and a far different place. As the visitors approached

the first of the eight tiny reindeer, Yule reached into his pouch and extracted two bunches of carrots, giving each twin a supply.

“Now, Comet’s sign is a shooting star, as he is the fastest of

the famous eight reindeer.”

“Tell us how they got their names?” questioned Will, cau-

tiously extending his arm at full length and creeping toward

Comet. Ellie followed Will’s lead, but she had to stand on her

tiptoes, for she was hiding behind her brother for protection.

“Comet got his name from breaking away from the others

during training runs and chasing shooting stars. The other seven

reindeers’ cheering only energized him to race faster. There was

no chance he could ever catch a shooting star, but he thought

he could,” laughed Yule, picturing Comet at full stride and

falling farther behind.

“Cupid’s sign is that of a heart, for he is a lover boy.”

Cupid blinked his eyes and pushed his nose under Yule’s arm.

Yule intentionally ignored the gesture. Cupid nudged him again,

causing Yule to lose his balance. As Cupid lowered his head and

nubby antlers, Yule reached out and massaged both ears. “Here!

Cupid loves to have his ears rubbed.” The twins, gaining more

courage, stepped closer and rubbed the reindeer’s ears. After

extending carrots, they placed their hands on his neck and patted his under throat. Cupid bobbed his head in appreciation.

“Vixen’s sign is that of a sly fox, as she is shrewd. You don’t

need to worry. She won’t bite, but watch this . . .”

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While Yule pretended to drop something on the ground,

Vixen took advantage of the moment by butting him in his

posterior. Yule, expecting the jolt, fell flat on his face. Vixen snorted with laughter at getting the best of his caretaker. “She’s done this to me at least a thousand times, and she still thinks it’s funny. Even the other reindeer enjoy a good laugh,” explained

Yule, picking himself up off the ground with the help of Mayor

Noel and the twins.

“Dancer’s sign is a ballerina. She is a whirling dervish. In case you don’t know what that is, well, it is as her name states—a

dancer.”

Dancer did not disappoint her audience. She spun around

her stall like a cat chasing its tail. She bobbed and weaved

while gyrating up and down. Her hooves tap danced on the

floor, clicking in rhythm to the twins’ clapping and whistling.

The faster they clapped, the faster she danced.

“Prancer’s sign is a male ballet dancer. He is much more

refined in his movements, and more methodical and slower in

his actions. I think he is just lazy, for he knows he’s gonna get a treat regardless of what he does,” admitted Yule. While Prancer

moved about his stall, Dancer continued her performance, try-

ing to steal the spotlight from Prancer.

“Blitzen’s sign is an exploding firecracker, for he ignites

sparks with his heels while pulling Santa’s sleigh,” bragged

Yule, snapping his fingers together. Blitzen began scraping his

hooves on the floor. The twins could see sparks rising up. “Don’t worry. We have fireproofed everything in Blitzen’s stall. He’s

the favorite for putting on a sparkling show. We release him

and he flies about the dome, putting on a great sparkler show.

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He’s as harmless as a firefly,” promised Yule, tossing extra car-

rots to the firecracker.

“Dasher’s sign is a giant slalom curve, as he likes to sashay

through and around the clouds. Don’t hang your head over the

gate,” cautioned Yule, bracing his arm in front of Ellie and Will.

Dasher took the cue and raced around his stall. He raced

so fast that he rose above the floor and began using the walls

as imaginary clouds. As he increased his speed, he streaked

around the wall and ceiling rafters. The noise was thunderous!

“Puts on quite a show, doesn’t he?” bragged Yule.

“Donner’s sign is two Irish clovers printed on two boxing

gloves, because he is the most feisty of all the reindeer. We

have to watch him more closely than the others. He likes to

bully the others into an antler tug-of-war. When he begins to

lose, he bleats bloody murder, blaming the other reindeer for

starting the fracas.”

Donner dropped his head and jumped forward, then imme-

diately retreated. He stood on his hind legs and pawed at the

onlookers with his front legs.

“He’s showing you his boxing stance. I don’t know where he

learned those crazy moves,” laughed Yule, posing like a boxer,

moving forward and back, and throwing punches back at Don-

ner. The twins laughed so hard their sides began to ache. They

knew who taught Donner how to shadow box.

“Which of the eight reindeer do you like the best?” asked

Will, looking back at all them.

“I love all of them the same. What I do like about them is

their personalities. All of them belong to the same family—

Santa’s family—but their personalities are different. Just like

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Ellie and you belong to one family, and although you are twins,

you still have separate personalities.”

That was more of an answer than Will had expected. Neither

of them had ever heard such an explanation involving them

and reindeer. Yule could see the wheels turning in their heads.

It was a topic for discussion at a later time.

I wonder if I could ride one of them,
Ellie was about to ask Yule.

“As we always say, they are the great eight, but the greatest

of all is Rudolph. Here! Take this pouch of carrots and go back

and feed them one more time. I’m sure they will more than

willingly let you pet them. By now, you know they’re tame and

won’t bite. Remember, they love to have their ears scratched.”

Ellie and Will walked along the individual stalls, offering

handfuls of vegetables. The reindeer leaned over their split stable doors, straining to get more munchies than the others.

Ellie rubbed Prancer’s large ears. They were so soft. Will

hesitated but touched Cupid’s antlers. They were quite thick and

covered with a velvety substance. The twins noticed Dancer’s

deep brown eyes and long eyelashes. She seemed shy at first and

did not look directly at them. However, the lure of munchies

helped her overcome her fear. Vixen’s fur was coarse. It consisted of two different lengths of hair. Yule said the undercoat kept

the reindeer warm, and the longer, outer coat shed the snow

and rain. Ellie and Will noticed sparks coming from within

Blitzen’s stall. Yule commented that Blitzen again scraped his

hooves on the dry cobblestone to get attention. Yule encour-

aged the twins to move faster, as he wanted to show them a

special place and didn’t have a lot of time to spare. Something

exciting was about to happen. The reindeer were restless. What

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could be the reason for their excitable behavior? Yule took the

basket and set it on the ground.

“Behind this dormitory is another large residence where we

keep the baby reindeer, as well as those who are old enough to

begin flight training. We raise and train our own reindeer to

perform whatever fun tasks we need them to do. You probably

know the names of the great eight, plus Rudolph; however,

there are many reindeer families that work and play in Santa’s

Village.”

“Is this where Cosmos lives?” inquired Will as he panned

the area looking for the spirited one.

“Yup! Cosmos lives here when he behaves himself. Often

he escapes and the groomer elves have to go find him and

bring him back. Then he gets disciplined and cannot leave The

Roundup,” confessed Yule.

“Where does he go? He seems like such a nice reindeer,”

posed Ellie.

“Cosmos is a bad boy at times. He has so much energy and

speed. When one of the elves leaves the door open, he sneaks

out of his quarters to chase shooting stars. Thankfully, he has

never caught one,” laughed Yule. “But there is another young

reindeer you have not met. He will be paired with Cosmos

when we take you back to Holly Valley. Whenever a reindeer

leaves Santa’s Village on its first flight, we always team them

with another reindeer.”

“What’s his name? Can we seem him now? Does he like

carrots?” The twins asked so many questions so fast that Yule

couldn’t remember which one came first or which one to answer.

Rather than try, he led the group to a small wooden barn. It

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was different than the other reindeer quarters. It was divided

in half with one side occupied by Cosmos and another young

reindeer, and the other side enclosed in glass.

“This is Cosmos. He led your ride with Jeepers. Remember

him?” It was the first time they had seen Cosmos in the light.

He snorted at them and pawed the floor. When they extended

carrots, he trotted over and snatched them from their hands.

“This is Astro. This is our newest reindeer. You noticed the

other pen was empty. We won’t have any baby reindeer until

late spring,” explained Yule, not wanting to get bogged down in

any details. “Astro is not as fast as Cosmos, but he is stronger.

So I figure the combination of speed and strength will be a

great combination. We’ll certainly find out on your return trip

home. It will be an interesting ride.” Then Yule muttered under

his breath, “Let’s hope not too interesting.”

Astro sidled up to Ellie and Will, letting them rub his ears

and pat his neck. Cosmos, not wanting to be left out, moved in

to get his share of the attention and remaining carrots.

“I can hardly wait to see them harnessed side by side in

front of the cutter. With two of them, we ought to be able to

go even faster,” teased Will, hoping for a response from Yule.