Rudolph As Seen By Dasher

I remember the first time I saw Donner and Blitzen’s new son, Rudolph. He could barely talk. His voice sounded funny, but other than that he looked just like the rest of us. He was one of Santa’s reindeer.

Every year Santa took myself, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen up to guide his sleigh. We prepared for it all year. This year had been no different than any other. We tended to our families, taught the young to fly and other school educational courses that they would need.

I was teaching a class one day and Rudolph sneezed. When he did, his nose turned to a bright red glowing light. Everyone immediately laughed when they noticed that he had been covering his nose up with black tar. It was the tar that had made his voice so funny, but nobody minded his voice. It was his nose that started all the laughs, jokes and the name calling of the young Rudolph. From this day on, the kids would never let Rudolph join in any of the games or other activities.

Several of the adults, went to Donner and Blitzen about their son. We teased them for having a son that was deformed. We really gave them a hard time. Santa saw him as unique and loved him very much. Rudolph was excited about Christmas Eve and had asked Santa if he could join the team and pull the sleigh this year, but Santa said that he needed to grow up. He was still a very young reindeer and pulling the sleigh was a hard job. Some overheard Santa’s conversation with Rudolph and they laughed and starting making fun of him even more. They told Rudolph that he would scare the children with his glowing red nose.

But the night before Christmas, Christmas Eve this year, this is the day it all changed, for us all. I will never forget this night. It had been snowing hard all day. The powdery snow was thick on the ground and we were all excited. It is the biggest night of our lives. But once the snow started to stop falling, the fog was settling in. It was so thick that we couldn’t see one foot in front of us. The sky was dark and the wind was howling. We had never experienced a fog like this. Donner, Vixon, and myself all went to Santa and asked him how would we fly tonight.

Santa sounded optimistic and said, “we have time to wait it out. It will clearer up soon, I am sure.” However, to himself, Santa was very worried. He didn’t know if they would be able to deliver the gifts to all the good little boys and girls this year. After about an hour, Santa gathered his sleigh team and decided they would get an early start, that maybe they could still get all of the gifts delivered before it got any worse.

As they started to take off, Santa couldn’t see the road and the sleigh got stuck in the trees and even hit a few rocks. Santa then giving up said, “Christmas is cancelled this year. The children will be disappointed, but we can’t see to fly tonight.”

They started back to the barn where the sleigh was kept and suddenly Santa remembered Rudolph with his bright shining nose. He realized at that moment that they could still make Christmas happen!

Santa yells at the team, “Stay here. I will be right back!” He jumps off his sleigh and heads to Donner and Blitzen’s house. He finds Rudolph asleep. He wakes him up and because Rudolph was excited to see Santa, his nose was glowing brighter than normal.

Santa explains the weather and then says to Rudolph, “Rudolph with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?”

Rudolph jumps for joy and tells Santa that he would be honored. They head back to the sleigh and Santa hooks Rudolph up to the front of the team and they head out to deliver all of the gifts.

Once back from delivering the gifts, Santa presented Rudolph with the Medal of Honor for his bravery. He was given a permanent spot on the team. The other reindeer never laughed or called him names anymore.