Reindeer Reilly

Dasher. Dancer. Prancer. Vixen. Comet. Cupid. Donner. Blitzen. Rudolph.

They get all of the credit.  Year after year.

It's not to say that they aren't the most experienced reindeers, because they are.  Up until 54 years ago, they were the only nine reindeers in Santa's fleet.  That all changed when Vixen, angry that he couldn't get two weeks off over Christmas, rallied the other reindeers to start a union.

Part of the result from the union forming was the hiring and training of substitute reindeers.  A substitute reindeer signs a 10 year contract.  They may never actually get the call, but their contract requires them to be available to fill in on Christmas Eve.

A lot of people think that Santa spends 11 months of the
year sleeping and resting after the rigorous demands during
the holiday season.  Truth is, there is no rest for Santa.

This year a notice went out that Santa was expanding the substitute reindeer program to all four-legged animal.  Reilly told me he wanted to try out.

 

Santa is responsible for the training of all substitute reindeers. I was
so proud of Reilly for making it in to the training program.

Fun fact. All nine of the original reindeers took the Christmas Eve off was 1987, when Comet got married.  That  was the only year the sleigh was flown completely by a crew of substitute reindeers. 

Initial training starts on the ground and only
after a trainee successfully completes 40 hours
of ground training will they move on to more
advanced training sessions.

Reilly was a natural out there. Santa said it was as though Reilly was born for this and that the results he was seeing from Reilly was exactly why he expanded the program to all four-legged animals.

Upon graduation, Santa will take a the top two graduates out
for a midnight run on his smaller sleigh.

I was so proud of Reilly for graduating as Valedictorian of the 2012 substitute reindeer training class.

T-Minus 15 Days Until Christmas...

Background image courtesy of suphakit73 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net