Well we finally finished making my rounds this morning about three AM. The Elves and I got the sleigh all loaded up and bid the Misses a Jolly good night and took off around midnight. We were moving right along with our tasks until Rudy twisted an ankle while trying to land on Ben Wright”s roof. I saw right away that this was not going to be a smooth ride but I knew all the good little boys and girls was counting on us so we trudged on. It was a grand ride down the east coast till we got to the Joe Yates household. It was very thoughtful of Liz to put out the bags of carrots and apples for the boys but, Man, that guy has to clean his chimney more often. I got soot on my suit! Oh well, Mrs. Klaus does my laundry and I didn’t have time to complain, so off we went. When we got down to the Bernie Schultz’s home, We had a had time finding a place to land since there was no snow on the roof and all those Bass boats was blocking the drive way but me made do. Off to the Mid West we flew. The only real problem we had was when we stopped at Jim Madden’s house, Donner got a splinter in his right rear hoof. Boy, we hate those wooden shingles. I was very please to see all the snow and that made us able to make time. Things went well till we got to Dave O‘Rourke‘s. Vixen fell in love with one of the wild deer that was in Dave’s back yard and we had a hard time trying keep her attention on the task at hand. Somewhere on the trip to Houston, someone must have put something other than nuts in the brownies they left me cause we got lost. We made our rounds of St. Louis twice. Once we made Houston, I was checking my list and seen a Mr. Klaus. What nerve, using my name at this time of year so I just dropped a lump of coal in this sock and forged on. We made Roblyn Summerlin’s house and on up to the Colorado Rockies Stopping at the Heller"s, the Plumber"s and the Foster"s homes to drop off a bunch of goodies with out much trouble. We stopped in Yellowstone to warm up at “Old Faithful” and Comet caught a head cold. Man. This was gonna be a long night. Sniffling and sneezing , coughing and wheezing and we still got half a sleigh full! Then to beat all, we bent a runner on the sleigh while trying to land at Phil Whites into a head wind. On to the west coast and we could see the end in sight. Boy an I glad. This climbing in and out of my sleigh has me down in the back and my nose is getting tender from laying my finger up against it so many times. With stops at the Soland’ and the Weigner’s our load is getting lighter. Finally, to beat all, we got to the Elder’s and Blitzen, you know how he is, got into John’s Egg Nog. This is one trip home I am not going to forget. If we make it! Finally, about three this morning, all the gifts and surprises were delivered and we were rapping things up when I noticed a small package left in the back of the sleigh, lodged down behind the left turn signal. You got to be kidding me! I had failed to deliver one small gift!
Well, not to disappoint anyone, I read the tag and off we went. I finally made to my last destination and dropped off Harvey’s gift. I think I need a break so I turned the reindeer loose out in the park, borrowed a pole from a local fisherman, kicked off my boots and don’t want to see another present till next December. I’ve have had a great trip, hope I have brought a lot of joy to all the little girls and boys but I have had enough cookies and milk! It is time fore some Red Hots and Beer!
Until next year!
Santa.
