Martin was sitting at the kitchen table.  He had just gotten home from school and was eating a snack of cheese and crackers, along with some grapes and cut green apples and some almonds and pecans.

While he munched, he was thinking about the conversation he and Dad had last night before dinner about sleighs.  Martin had been wondering all day how the sleighs they had discussed turned into Santa’s sleigh.  He even spent some of his library time researching types of sleighs. Miss Phoebe had helped him find a book on vintage winter transport, but she looked a bit surprised when he ended up staring at pictures of Soviet tanks on skis.

He had found the perfect sleigh for Santa: the NKL-26 Aero Sled.  Developed by Russia during WWII, it was made out of plywood and had an armour plate in the front, was armored with a 7.62 machine gun, and was powered by an M-11G aircraft engine.  

It was the exact sleigh, Martin thought, for Santa to fly around the world in one night while loaded with gifts for all the children.  He wanted to ask Dad about it when he got home.  

After cleaning up his snack dishes, Martin pulled out his homework and got started.  About an hour later, Mom came in to prep dinner.  Mom and Martin talked about their days, caught up on plans for the Christmas Carnival, and chit-chatted about this and that as they waited for Dad to arrive home.

ONE HOUR 30 MINUTES LATER

Dad pulled into the driveway, tired and glad the workday was over.  He was happy to be home and was looking forward to relaxing with Mom and Martin.  Walking in the front door, Dad could hear Mom and Martin laughing and talking in the kitchen.  He set down his briefcase, hung his jacket in the closet and declared loudly, “I’m Home!” while he walked through the living room. 

“Dad!” cried Martin, jumping out of his chair to hug him. “I’m so glad you are home!”

“Me too”, replied Dad while hugging and kissing Mom on the cheek.  “How was your day at school?”, he continued.

“It was fine.  But I did get to do some research on sleighs during library time today.” Martin excitedly replied.

“Still looking into sleighs?” asked Dad.

“I was thinking about what we learned about sleighs last night, and wondered how Santa ended up with his sleigh.  I found one that is perfect and wondered if this is where he got his current sleigh.”, Martin explained.  “It’s the Soviet NKL-26.”

“Ahh, from WWII”, added Dad.

“That’s the one!”, said Martin as he cleared his homework papers and books from the table.

“That’s a great model.  It was used for transporting supplies, and Santa does transport a lot of gifts.”, thought Dad out loud.

“That’s what I was thinking.  And the plywood makes it light, and the aircraft engine would make it fly!” Martin smiled, finishing the explanation.

“The NKL-26 would make a great sleigh for Santa,”, began Dad, “however, Santa has been around longer than the NKL-26,  by about 120 years.”

“How do you know that it’s 120 years?”, asked Martin.

“First,”, started Dad, “let’s find out when Santa’s sleigh and reindeer were first mentioned.  And that was in 1821 with the poem “Old Santeclaus with Much Delight” which includes the line ‘With much delight / His reindeer drives this frosty night’.  Just one reindeer … “

“One reindeer?” interrupted Martin.  “One reindeer could never pull a sleigh that large, with Santa, and with it filled with toys!”

Dad laughed and “Santa got his eight reindeer in 1823 with the poem by Clement Clarke Moore, ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’.  This poem says Santa’s sleigh was pulled by eight reindeer.  Did you know they came from….”

“Don’t say Germany!!!”, interrupted Martin again.

“I was going to say Norse mythology,” said Dad, looking at Martin worriedly. “We really need to get to the root of this Germany thing and Christmas you have going on,” he chuckled.  “Odin had a horse named Sleipnir.  Sleipnir had eight legs, and Odin would ride him during Yule and ‘Wild Hunts’.   It’s thought that the eight reindeer come from the eight legs of Sleipnir.  

The Sami are an indigenous people from what we know today as Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula in Russia.  The people herded reindeer and had a legend of a magical flying reindeer named ‘Gaivaldu’.  In this same part of the world, then and today, reindeer are used to pull sleighs instead of horses.  The flying magic of Gaivaldu is where our eight reindeer today have their flying powers from. Do you know their names?”

“Of course!” and Martin began to sing: “You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen.  But do you recall, the most famous reindeer of all….?” Martin let the song trail off.

Dad smiled, “That’s right!!  However, the most famous reindeer you were about to sing about?  He did not exist until 1939, when Robert L. May created the Rudolph story for a coloring book for the department store Montgomery Ward.  Ten years later, Johnny Marks, who was Robert’s brother-in-law, wrote the song you just started to sing.”

Martin thought for a minute.  “So the sleigh came way back when ancient culture used sleighs as a way to get from one place to another.  Reindeer have always pulled sleighs in Scandinavia; there were eight reindeer because of Odin’s horse Sleipnir; reindeer fly because of Gaivaldu; and we have Rudolph because of a coloring book?  That seems sad for Rudolph. A coloring book really isn’t a great legend or myth to come from.”

“Nevertheless,” began Dad, “He is the most famous.”

“He is the only reindeer with a song named after him,” agreed Martin.  “I still think the NKL-26 would have been a great sleigh for Santa.  Eight reindeer, along with the aircraft engine, sure would have been fast for Santa.  But an eight-legged flying horse named Sleipnir and a magical flying reindeer named Gaivaldu sure are awesome.”

“Dinner’s ready!”, Mom called from the kitchen.  Dad and Martin looked at each other.  “Time to eat!” they yelled together!  As they raced into the kitchen, Martin was already imagining the NKL-26 with 8 machine guns, and a larger, much bigger canon in front that glowed red.

Name	Meaning / Origin	Personality Trait (Traditional)
Dasher	Speed / To Dash	The fastest of the group.
Dancer	Grace / Rhythmic	The most graceful and elegant.
Prancer	High-spirited	Playful and likes to show off.
Vixen	A female fox	Known for being clever or tricky.
Comet	Celestial body	Strong and reliable like a comet.
Cupid	God of Love	Affectionate and brings joy.
Donder	“Thunder” (Dutch)	Loud and powerful.
Blitzen	“Lightning” (Dutch)	Quick as a flash.
Rudolph	“Famous Wolf” (German)	The leader and navigator.

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