[kombuchakid]

Time for my usual Xmas story.
So gather around, children, make a round circle, and I will begin.
It was two nights before Xmas and Santa Claus came to the house. He landed on the terrace, looked for a chimney, and not finding one, came down the lift shaft. "You are a day early, are you not," I said, seeing him at the door, sweating in his red flannels and white furs. They should make a different set of clothes, something in light linens, for him to wear when he visits the tropics. But then Santa would not look like Santa.
"Yes, I am a day early, but I have not come here to distribute toys," Santa Claus said. "Anyway, you are too old to receive toys, and your sons do not believe in me, so they do not get any toys."
"Then may I inquire the purpose of this visit from the North Pole?" I asked.
"Yes, you may," said Santa Claus. "You see, one of my reindeers is not well. Has not been since he had gone missing and was found in the farmhouse of some film writer in Panvel. So I am one reindeer short for pulling my sledge tonight."
"Oh, dear," I said, "no sledge means no toys, no toys means no Xmas. That's tough. The children of the world will never forgive us."
"I am aware of the seriousness of the situation," Santa said, losing his temper a little. He has a short fuse. "And I am here to ask you whether I can borrow your dog, what's-he-called, Bolshoi the Boxer."
"What do you want Bolshoi for!" I said, "He's not a doctor, he cannot get your reindeer all right."
"I don't want a doctor," Santa Claus said. "I want your dog to join my remaining reindeer team and help pull the sledge tonight."
"A dog to pull the sledge, I never heard of anything like that," I said.
"What's wrong, with that," Santa said. "Haven't you heard of the husky dogs who pull the sledges in Greenland."
"But those are husky dogs, Bolshoi is just a house dog, and not much of a house dog at that," I said. "No, you better find a camel or something to pull your sledge."
"All camels are booked to carry the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem tonight," said Santa. "No, there is nobody else I can go to except your dog, Bolshoi. If he does not help, Santa Claus will not make his rounds tonight, for the first time in two millenniums. Children will have to depend on the postal services for their gifts... Speedpost."
"I would really like to help," I said, "but I do not know if Bolshoi will be able to pull the sledge, he is not as strong as reindeers."
"It won't be difficult, most of the time we will be flying through the air, so there is little pulling required. And, as a special favour, I will pair him with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, he will like that."
So, children, tonight, if you look at the moon and see Santa Claus's sledge moving past it, pulled by seven reindeers and a dog, you know who the dog is.

http://babyurl.com/uUHgqn