Rudolph and the rest of the reindeer are probably the most familiar and asked about residents of the North Pole. And, yes, his
nose is really red unless he is sad... then it is blue (of course). Or if he gets a cold it can turn green. When he was
first born it was a delightful shade of pink. He has a sweet tooth for candy canes, and loves leading the sleigh. Like
the rest of the reindeer, he is strong, fast and very shy of people he doesn't know.
A lot of kids ask, "How do the reindeer
fly?" Santa says, "Very high and very fast! Just kidding. Actually, I'm not sure. They don't do so all year-- just the month
before Christmas until New Year's Day. The elves have tried to explain the magic involved to me, but I just trust that it will
work and it does." Be sure to leave a snack out for them on Christmas Eve!
Presents from Santa couldn't happen without
the elves, of course. And there are so many it's hard to keep up with them, but they all work very hard and are generally cheerful.
Of course, there are exceptions to everything. The elf exception is named Gruffin. In fact, he is known as Gruffin the Grouchy Elf
because he's not happy unless he has something to complain about. His cousin, Tuffin the Tailor, makes dresses for dollies, and clothes
for teddy bears, elves, Maggie and Santa, and made himself something that fit him perfectly, and made him feel wonderful. And then
there's Trouble. That's actually his name and he lives up to it. But he has a big heart, tries hard, and as Maggie says,
"It wouldn't be Christmas without a little Trouble!" Santa loves to tell stories about these three, and maybe you'll get
to hear one sometime.
Now for a few residents of the North Pole you may not be as familiar with... There's a once
grumpy dragon named Jeremy who now gives elves rides on his back and gets into snowball fights with the reindeer. The North Polar
Bear is quite a character who keeps all of us chuckling. And there's a wide variety of fairies, gnomes, wood nymphs, and other creatures
who are very comfortable these days in a magical place like the North Pole where they can do their best to make children happy.
