“Are you sure we won’t get in trouble?” Levi asked.

“I’m sure you two won’t get in trouble. Me, I’m not so sure. But hey, it wouldn’t be an adventure without risk, would it?” Their grandfather said. “Besides, she might be able to calm down your mother,” pointing to the edge of the woods.

Levi and Wyatt turned around and could not believe their eyes. Standing at the edge of the woods was an elf. A genuine, real life, full size (tiny, that is), elf, and two reindeer.

“Hop on!” Grandfather said. “We have somewhere to be.”

“Grandfather,” Levi said, folding his arms. “We’re supposed to hike in the woods, remember?”

“Oh yeah, no lying. Got it.” Grandfather whispered to the elf who led the reindeer several yards into the woods.

“Okay, we hike to the reindeer, then hop on,” he winked. “I never said how far we’d hike, did I?”

“Grandfather!” Levi said, “that’s not really hiking.”

“What are you a lawyer?” Grandfather asked. “If we walk in the woods, whether it’s one step or a thousand, it’s hiking. You wanna ride on a reindeer with an elf or don’t you?”

“I do, I do!” Wyatt said, running toward the reindeer.

“Well?” Grandfather said. “Are you coming, Levi?”

“Yeah, I am,” Levi said, running to catch up with Wyatt.

As they got closer, they were startled by how tall the reindeer stood.

“How are we gonna get up there?” Levi asked.

“I can help with that,” said the elf. “My name is Velanna, but you can call me Vel.” Moving to stand behind the two boys, she motioned for one of the deer to kneel. She touched Levi gently on the shoulder and he lifted into the air and on to the back of the reindeer.

“Me next, me next!” Wyatt said, prancing in circles. “I wanna fly too”

Vel laughed. The first deer stood, lifting Levi to full height. Levi wrapped his arms tightly around the deer’s neck. Grandfather, who somehow managed to get on the other deer, rode closer.

“Ready, Wyatt? You’ll ride with me and Levi will ride with Vel. Up you come.”

Vel touched Wyatt’s shoulder and he floated up and on to the deer, sitting right in front of his grandfather.

Vel climbed behind Levi. “Before we go, I want you to learn the names of these deer. The one we’re on is Simon and the other is…”

“Garfunkel?” Grandfather shouted. “Right?”

“No,” Vel chuckled. “Her name is Iriel. It means starlight.”

“A girl?” Levi said. “I thought it was the boy reindeer that fly.”

Vel smiled. “Let me let you in on a little secret. Both boy and girl reindeer have antlers. The boys shed them in November, the girls in May. So those pictures you see of reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh are all girls.”*

“What?” Levi said. “But what about the song, Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen?”

“Girl, girl, girl, girl. Are you ready now?” smiling at the confused look on Levi’s face.

“Ah, ready for what?” Levi asked.

“To go meet Santa and see if we can find the forgotten gifts from Christmases long ago.”

“We’re gonna meet Santa?” Levi asked,

“What, are you worried he might know something bad about you?” Grandfather joked.

“No, I, ah, I’m just surprised we can do this.”

“I told you,” Wyatt said. “Grandfather can do anything.”

“Yeah well, whatever you do, hold on,” Grandfather said. “You mother might notice if one of you falls off and doesn’t come home. We’re ready, Vel.”

And in a blink of an eye they were flying high above the clouds. So high, they could see the curve of the earth. Way off to the north in the middle of pitch blackness was a blinking red and green light shooting like a laser into the sky.

“What’s that?” Levi asked, pointing to the light.

“That,” Vel said, “is the homing beacon for the North Pole. All we have to do is follow that and we’ll be in Christmastown.”

Tomorrow: Even Santa Doesn’t Know Everything

(Author’s note, Christmas is about sharing. Please share this with everyone you know!)

In case you missed it, here’s the link to the beginning of the story https://atomic-temporary-37778625.wpcomstaging.com/2024/12/12/rescuing-christmas-memories-the-land-of-forgotten-toys/

*A shout out to my friend and crime writer extraordinaire, Sue Coletta, for educating me on this fact about reindeer. You can read it here. https://killzoneblog.com/2021/11/reindeer-fun.html