Category: Children Publisher: Publish America
ISBN-10: 1424131057
Type: Fiction
Pages: 72
Copyright: 2006
A Christmas anthology of 14 stories that have earned commendation from notable celebrities such as the late entertainer Danny Thomas, actress Ann Jillian, and the late but forever cherished Princess Diana.
THE NIGHT THE REINDEER FLEW
by Emmett O. Saunders III
copyright 1978
A long, long time ago, before the very first celebration of Christmas, there lived a man by the name of Nicholas. Now Nicholas was a happy young man and lived in a little village close to the North Pole. And every year, on the eve of December the twenty-fifth, he would ride in a small sleigh drawn by eight tiny reindeer up and down the snow-covered streets of the little village, delivering gifts to all the good children.
The gifts weren’t very costly, because Nicholas was only a poor toy-maker, and he couldn’t afford the materials needed to build expensive presents for so many children. But an eye missing from a teddy bear or a toothless grin from a baby doll only made the gifts more special since they were made by the good saint.
And indeed, Nicholas was a saint, judging from the smiles and laughter that greeted him on the morning of December the twenty-fifth every year.
Why did he choose the eve of December twenty-fifth to deliver gifts? Well, where he lived, the shortest day of the year was December the twenty-first and he was able to go home early from work on this day. When he arrived home, Nicholas would immediately begin to prepare gifts for all the good children in the village. And it always took him exactly three days to prepare the gifts because every village child remained good for the whole year.
However, one afternoon three days before the twenty-fifth, Nicholas was on his way home from work when he was stopped on the street by a very old man. The old man’s clothes were tattered and torn, but his wrinkled face smiled cheerfully in the cold December wind.
“Hello, Nicholas,” the old man said slowly, “I’ve come a long way to see you.”
“Do I know you?” Nicholas asked the old man wonderingly. “You do look a bit familiar. Have we met somewhere before?”
“I don’t think so, the old man said thoughtfully. “But I’ve heard of your kindness to children from a great many people.”
“Well, if there’s anything that I can do for you, at any time, just let me know,” Nicholas smiled pleasantly and started to leave.
But just then the old man put his hand on Nicholas’ shoulder and looked deeply into the good saint’s eyes.
“I know you’re in a hurry,” the old man smiled knowingly. “You only have three days in which to make all of the toys for the village children, but please give me just one minute more.”
“Of course,” Nicholas waited for him to continue.
“My son will be born in three days, and I’d like for him to have something special for his birthday.”
“I’d be delighted to give him something,” Nicholas replied. His mind began to race over a million different gifts that he could fashion for a newborn infant.
“But I must tell you that his birthplace is far to the south of this little village,” the old man’s eyes twinkled in the afternoon sun, “And it would be a great trip covering many miles.”
“If it’s possible, sir, I’ll be glad to visit him after I’ve delivered the rest of my gifts,” Nicholas assured him.
“Oh no, no,” the old man said hurriedly, “You must visit him first, not last.”
“But what about the other children?” Nicholas began to despair. “What if I couldn’t make it back in time to deliver their presents before morning?”
“Anything is possible if you want to do it,” the old man said as he pressed a tiny wooden object into Nicholas’ hand.
With this, the old man turned and hurried off down the street as snowflakes began to fall.
Nicholas watched the departing figure with interest until he was lost to sight. Then Nicholas remembered the wooden object in his hand and glanced down at it.
The object was a small wooden star which had been carved with the utmost care. Its five points were rounded at the tips and smooth along their edges, but the amazing thing about the star was its size. It was no bigger than the palm of his hand, and Nicholas couldn’t feel the weight of the star. It seemed extremely light for a piece of wood.
Still, Nicholas smiled at the thought of the newborn infant’s first gift, and he started the short walk to his front door. Upon entering his cottage, Nicholas suddenly realized that the old man had forgotten to say how far south to travel.
“Oh well,” Nicholas thought to himself, “Maybe he’ll come back to tell me before the twenty-fourth.”
So, he began to work as he did every year on the dozen or so toys for the children in the village. Two days passed and there was still no word from the old man.
Luckily, Nicholas managed to finish all of the toys in plenty of time that year in order to check his list twice and make sure that no good child had been overlooked. Then, he set out to inquire if anyone in the village had seen how far the old man had traveled. But no one could remember having seen an old man enter or leave the village.
So, by late afternoon, Nicholas began loading the little sleigh with toys, feeling quite sad that he couldn’t deliver the baby’s small wooden gift. After hitching the eight tiny reindeer to the sleigh, Nicholas went back inside his cottage, however, and picked up the small star.
“I could at least try to deliver it first as long as the journey isn’t too far,” he thought cheerfully.
He headed the little sleigh past the brightly lit windows of his neighbors and out onto the snow-covered road leading southward. There was a crossroads about two miles farther ahead and he felt that perhaps the old man might be waiting there to show him the way.
The muffled sound of the reindeer’s hoofbeats helped to calm his rising fear about the passage of time. He mustn’t be gone too long on his errand, otherwise the village children would be heartbroken in the morning to discover that he’d missed his visit. But the rays of the afternoon sun began to dwindle slowly away as the signpost at the crossroads appeared in the distance.
“Well, there doesn’t seem to be anyone waiting there for me,” Nicholas noted sadly. “I might as well start for home.”
But as he reached for the reins to turn the reindeer around, a figure half-hidden in the swirling snow waved to him. His face began to beam as Nicholas recognized the old man of several days before. However, as he spurred the little reindeer towards the figure in the distance, the old man pointed his hand upward into the air.
“That’s odd,” Nicholas thought. “It’s almost as if ...”
But he never finished his thought as first one, then another, of the little reindeer started to pick up speed and, carrying along the small sleigh, they rose into the cold night air before Nicholas’ astonished eyes.
Up over the neighboring village’s housetops, up over the tallest trees, and then over the highest mountains, the small sleigh flew with its sole passenger and eight tiny reindeer. It flew across miles of land in a mere instant and then over lakes twice as wide as any Nicholas had ever seen before.
In only a few moments’ time, he could look down and see an entire sea beneath him and then it was gone. And in another moment he was flying over a little town that looked surprisingly like his own.
The familiar surroundings made him think of his first meeting with the old man and all of the amazing things that had happened since then. And, it occurred to him that he still had the small wooden star in his bag of toys, so he drew it out to look at it again. But it had grown and was now twice as large as his hand!
He wondered aloud at this remarkable discovery, but was dismayed the next moment when the star burst into flames due to the sleigh’s incredible rate of traveling speed. Not wanting to endanger the safety of the other toys, Nicholas let the flaming star fall over the side of the sleigh. But it fell only a short distance and then hung motionless in the dark December sky.
And, as the reindeer turned for home, Nicholas could see that the star had grown to a flaming beacon in the sky overlooking a dimly lit wooden stable far below the flying sleigh.
“It must have been the baby’s home,” he thought smiling to himself. “And I may just make it back in time to deliver the rest of the presents before morning!”
Nicholas did deliver the rest of his gifts that same night and for many years afterward with the aid of his eight flying reindeer.
But he never forgot the first night the reindeer flew, nor his feeling of joy at having delivered the Christ Child’s first gift on Christmas Eve.
Excerpt
from Santa and the Sleigh Bells
“So that’s how the sleigh bells were made,” Charlotte grinned in the firelight.
“Yes, little one,” Nicholas replied, rising to begin his journeys.
The small elf jumped to the floor. Ready to help load the sleigh. Then paused as a final
thought crossed her mind.
“Did Marcus ever hear again?” she asked hesitantly.
“Only the sleigh bells,” Santa said, patting her shoulder comfortingly, “And the love that rings from them all over the world every Christmas Eve.”
Gemma succeeds in starting a girls' football team at her new school, but bitter rival Tyrone does everything he can to stop the girls playing. So begins a battle of wits between the girls and boys, and also between Gemma and sports teacher, Mrs Lawfo
