With the letters coming in from all over the world, one of Auntie Joe’s daily duties was to pick up the mail with her team of Alaskan Malamutes. This is one task that Auntie Joe did not mind doing. It gave her a chance to be with her eight Malamutes, and one of her favourites was Canyon, as he was the lead dog for her sled.
As Auntie Joe was hooking up Canyon to the sled, she looked back to see the other two sleds were ready to go; at this time of year, they were busy making four runs to the old North Pole airport for the mail service. While our postal workers were about to head to the field, which is a two-mile distance from Santa’s castle, the big doors opened to the dog kennel. The wind was blowing the snow around, the sky was dark, and Canyon was ready to start pulling the sled with his teammates, when Auntie Joe gave the command to go and all three teams were off. They made it a race to see which team could meet the plane first. Santa liked to watch from his office window with his cup of hot chocolate in hand as the three sleds headed out. As he watched from his window in the castle, he always knew which sled Canyon was pulling, as Auntie Joe was hanging onto the sled handles.
As Santa went back to his desk to check the list twice, one of the elves burst into his office with the latest weather report. “There is a blizzard coming in towards the North Pole and we need to stop the mail pick up run for today. We have contacted the plane and its heading back to its base until the storm passes.” Santa jumped out of his chair and said, “They have already gone for the mail.”
Santa then picked up the phone on his desk and called Auntie Joe’s cell phone, but there was no answer. Santa then put down the receiver to call the reindeer barn and told them to get the sled ready to go and get the mail runners. As this was being done, the winds were getting stronger and the three sleds and the pullers were not making very good time. Canyon had stopped the sled. He looked back at Auntie Joe as if to say, “We need to go back.” Auntie Joe pulled her goggles down and looked around but could not see the other two sleds. The storm was now on top of them. She walked towards the front of her team to bring her boys into a circle and moved her arms in a downward motion to lie down.
The phone started to ring on Santa’s desk. It was the kennel calling. The head dog master Blinky reported to Santa that two of the three sleds had made it back to the kennel, but Auntie Joe was not with them.The news travelled fast throughout the castle, and Mrs. Claus came into Santa’s office to find out what was going on. Santa explained what he knew and that he was gearing up a rescue mission with his sled and that they would be heading out in a few minutes. Mrs. Claus said, “Good, and I’m coming with you!” She stormed out of Santa’s office before he could say, “No, you are not coming, my dear.”
Auntie Joe was busy making a shelter for her and her boys. She was digging a cave in the snow with a shovel she had in her sled. As she was digging, she looked to her right to see Canyon digging next to her. As they finished the snow cave, Auntie Joe put her boys inside and then she pulled her sled onto its side to cover the entrance and left enough of an opening that air could get in for the team.
Santa was all ready to go and so was Mrs. Claus, with four elves from the kennel already in the back of the sled.Santa grabbed the reins and yelled out, “Light the way, Rudolph. On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer, on Vixen, on Comet, on Cupid, on Donner and Blitzen.” As the reindeer were starting to pull Santa’s sled, the doors to the outside started to close. Santa pulled back on the reins. He looked over to find out what was going on as Jingles ran towards the sled to let Santa know that they had received a message from Auntie Joe and she was in a snow cave and her and her boys were all OK, so please stay in the castle and they would be back once the storm evaporated. Santa asked his elves to put the reindeer back in their stalls but have them ready to go at a moment’s notice. Mrs. Claus and Santa went back to his office to wait out the storm.
Santa then called the North Pole’s weather office for an update. Jingle answered the phone and reported to Santa that the storm would pass in one hour.
With Auntie Joe and her boy’s safe in her snow cave, she reached into the over-turned sled to get a candle and a pack of matches to put some light and a little bit of warmth into the snow cave.
Then Auntie Joe’s cell phone rang. It was Mrs. Claus checking on her and her boys, and to let her know that the storm was almost over, and Santa and the rescue team were ready to go once the wind and snow settled down.Auntie Joe then reached into her sled one more time to get some treats for her boys and grab some trail mix for herself. As Auntie Joe was eating her snack, she had eight Malamutes watching her eat the trail mix and thinking, “When is it our turn to get some?”
As she was reaching into the bag of mix, the howling wind was settling down. She looked at Canyon and said, “Well, my boy, it’s time to head back for home.” She pushed the sled over to open the mouth of the snow cave. She then set the sled on its runners and then called each one of her boys out of the cave to be reconnected to the sled. The last one to come out of the snow cave would be Canyon, but he looked like he did not want to move, as he was nice and comfortable. Auntie Joe turned her back to him then said, “OK, boys, who wants to be the new lead dog for our sled?” As she was waiting, Canyon came flying out of the cave and the only thing he was missing was a set of antlers and a red nose as he landed at the front of the team. Auntie Joe started to laugh and finished hooking up Canyon. As she was walking back to the handles of the sled, she petted each and every one of her boys. After the last one was petted, all of them looked back as Auntie Joe yelled, “Chocolate chip cookies,” and those were the magic words. They were flying back to Santa’s castle. As the team was approaching the kennel doors to the castle, Santa could hear Canyon running and howling at the same time. Santa jumped from his chair as he heard Canyon, singing his favourite Christmas song: “Here comes Canyon, here comes Canyon, right down North Pole Lane!” The big Malamute was joined by the other members of the team.
It was then that Santa and Mrs. Claus headed down to kennel to meet the missing team and wanted to hear how they had survived the blizzard.
From Santa’s White Christmas
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