A Foggy Christmas Eve
written by: Ciaran J McLarnon
At Christmas around the North Pole, the night never ends; you can always see the stars. It’s too cold for trees to grow, except for the tall, stout ones that Santa Claus grows in his forest, so his elves have all the wood they need to make toys. Blankets of moss and patches of lichens grow all over the forest floor and cling to the trees. The reindeer always have enough to eat, even though sometimes they must push away snow to find it. Reindeer like to be outside all year, but elves prefer their warm, bright workshops when the night never ends.
Half of Santa’s elves find ways to make his toys better and build new ones. The other half spend their time thinking about how to make Santa’s sleigh big enough to hold all the presents of the world and ensure it is always fast enough to go round the world 15 times in the blink of an eye. Grace and Clarence have worked on the sleigh every day for the last 200 years. Many elves have been working in the sleighology department for longer, but when Santa needed a new fuel for his sleigh that would allow it to go round the world 16 times in the blink of an eye, he knew that Grace and Clarence best suited to the task.
‘I know what will work,’ said Clarence. ‘We’ll add more pine extract. And cinnamon; everything is better with cinnamon.’
Grace laughed, ‘The fuel doesn’t need more pine! We should use another wood, mahogany extract. And Vanilla.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ said Clarence. ‘My way is best.’
The two argued, and Santa could see they would never work together. ‘Okay,’ Santa sighed, ‘we can try both ways. Most important is to get a new fuel before Christmas Eve.’
By Christmas Eve, neither Clarence’s fuel nor Grace’s fuel was quite ready. They both knew their fuel was missing something, but they both also knew Santa couldn’t wait. He’d already gone into the forest to call his reindeer together.
‘Now, Dancer, now!’ Said Santa. ‘Prancer, now! Cupid and Vixen. On!’ His belly shook as he bellowed, ‘Comet, on! Donner and Blitzen, on!’
As the hooves thundered through the forest, the noise shook the snow from the trees. Clarence and Grace heard the noise from their workshop.
‘We’ve got no more time,’ said Grace, ‘although, even though I’m not finished, Santa will see I make better fuel than you ever could.’
Clarence grumbled. ‘That’s not the way I see it, and I’m sure he won’t be fooled either.’
Grace and Clarence each grabbed a beaker of their fuels and raced out of the workshop, vying to be the first to reach Santa’s sleigh. They reached the sleigh just as Santa had just finished harnessing the reindeer.
Mr. Claus gave an impressed whistle, ‘Both of your beakers are still filled to the brim! We have no time to waste, fill the engine with Grace’s fuel first.’
Two elves, Lars and Juanita, emptied the entire beaker into the fuel tank of the sleigh. The sleigh raced away in a blur of red and green wrapping paper, but the reindeer couldn’t pull it higher than the trees of the forest. The elves tried Clarence’s fuel; the reindeer could climb to the stars then, but they could do it no faster than the reindeer of the forest.
Santa asked Lars and Juanita to fill the sleigh with the old fuel as he approached Grace and Clarence, who were shifting uncomfortably and staring at their feet.
‘I can’t use either of your fuels,’ Santa said as he shook his head, ‘but perhaps by next year you might’ve found a solution.’
Crystalline shards of the fuel designed by Clarence fell to the ground around the sleigh and mingled with lingering patches of Grace’s fuel. Together, they formed a fog thick enough to delay any flight.
But Santa wouldn’t accept any delay on his most important night.
‘We need to find another reindeer,’ said Lars, ‘one who can guide the others out of the fog and into the starry sky.’
‘One of the other reindeer must be able to help,’ said Juanita. Then she marched off towards a glade in the centre of the forest that was the favourite spot for the herd to gather. She looked down on the reindeer from a rocky outcrop at the edge of the glade, but none of those reindeer could guide the sleigh in the way she was hoping for.
‘Is this it?’ She asked one of the older reindeer, one that was so old that his muzzle was covered with long grey hair that almost looked like Santa’s beard.
The old reindeer was silent as he pondered the question and then spoke. ‘Well, there is one more; but no one sees him very much. He likes living in the north of the forest, where he can eat only a red lichen that has turned his nose bright red. Try calling him when you get to the right area; his name is Rudolph.’
Juanita climbed down from the rocks and followed the north star. When she got to the north of the forest, the pine trees were so short that they were almost buried underneath the snow.
‘On, Rudolph, on,’ she called. Juanita heard a noise; a reindeer treading as softly on the snow as softly as it could.
‘I’m Rudolph,’ the deer said. ‘But why do you want me? The rest of the herd like to spend their time in the glade further south, I’m sure one of them could help you more than I could.’
Juanita looked at the small, shivering deer. He was using its front leg to hide its bright red nose as much as he could, ‘your bright red nose could be the answer to Santa’s problem.’
‘What is the matter?’ Asked Rudolph.
‘I’m sure you can see that there is a lot of fog around tonight. Santa’s reindeer can’t fly if they’re not able to see where they’re going. With your bright nose, I think you would be perfect guide.’
‘Okay,’ said Rudolph to Juanita. ‘But I still think one of the other reindeer would be better.’
‘Maybe if Santa has another problem, but this job is for you. None of them can match your red nose, it would be like a lantern to guide the sleigh through the fog.’
Rudolph followed as Juanita started back to the sleigh. He kept his head down, trying to hide his nose in the snow.
‘You should be proud,’ commented Juanita. ‘Santa will be so pleased that you can help him, and all the reindeer are going to want to be your friend now. All because of that big red nose.’
Rudolph raised his head from the ground as all the reindeer went to the edge of the glade to salute him as he went past.
Rudolph was nervous meeting the famous reindeer who pulled Santa’s sleigh, but they were all impressed that he was willing to lead even though he was so nervous. But Juanita was right – Rudolph’s big red nose was a perfect beacon.
Clarence and Grace were both embarrassed about the trouble they had caused. Clarence needed a fuel that would make the sleigh go faster, Grace needed a fuel that would allow the sleigh to scale the highest height. They were both impressed to see Rudolph was able to put his low elf-esteem to one side as he tried his best to help Santa. They wanted to do their best, too, so they swallowed their pride and combined their fuels.
‘But what about this smoke?’ Asked Lars.
‘We’ve been thinking about that,’ Grace replied. ‘I think a little piece of Rudolph’s red lichen could be just the thing.’
- A Foggy Christmas Eve - December 24, 2025
