It's All About the Reindeer

Dear Diary...

My family has an unspoken christmas tradition where you decorate your house with their favorite sort of christmas character/item...

For some that would be Snowmen.... For others Santas... or Stockings... Candy Canes... Christmas Trees... Snowflakes... Nativities... Brightly Colored Ornaments...

For me... Its Reindeer...

I Love Reindeer! My mother was particularly annoyed with me last year when I brought home a collection of sparkly sliver reindeer and placed them on the mantle next to all of her snowman decorations. Even more so when she saw I brought home a new collection of 6 reindeer this year and arranged them on the mantle next to the others.

Funny thing about Reindeer is that they're are of the species Rangifer tarandus. Which is the exact same as... Caribou. So essencially there is no difference between reindeer and caribou. In fact there are many similarities between all the variations of each species. There are three types of reindeer and three matching types of caribou. Marine reindeer are just like Peary caribou, and live near the Arctic coast. Tundra reindeer are just like Barrenground caribou, living on snowey planes. Forest reindeer are just like Woodland caribou, that live in northern forest areas.But of course we've forgotten about yet another subspecies of reindeer that have no similar caribou counterparts... Flying reindeer! ;D We first hear about this particular subspecies in Clement Clarke Moore's " 'Twas the night before Christmas." also called "A Visit from St. Nicholas."

" The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!" "

to read the full poem by Clement Clark Moore Click Here.

These famous Reindeer that pulled Santa in his sleigh full of toys for children all over the world. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, and Blitzen.

 Now some of you may be thinking that I've misspelled the name of one of these reindeer, but I have not. You see, when this story was first published in the New York "Troy Sentinal"  in 1823, there was a typo and Donder's name was misspelled "Dunder". Then in 1844 " 'Twas the Night before Christmas" was published in a collection of Moore's poems where this reindeer's name was "Donder" as it should have been. And I know this because in Moore's own introduction to this collection, and the written longhand version of this poem, the name was again spelled "Donder". The reason that people now call Donder "Donner" is because Blitzen, the name of the reindeer Donder is paired with in the poem, means "lightning" in German. And the German word for thunder is "donner". But Donder's name does mean "thunder"... in Dutch. Anyway the reason Im telling you this is because I hope that someday the world will see Donner for the fraud that he is and Donder will regain his former glory of being one of Santa's reindeer. ;D

And then of course there's Rudolph. Santas ninth reindeer who is the newest addition to the team. Im sure the first thing that comes to your mind is the song or movie about this very special reindeer. However, Im sorry to say that neither of those are Rudolph's true story. His true story was written in Chicago in 1939 by Robert May. You find out that Rudolph grew up in a small village, full of ordinary reindeer, with his reindeer family. Rudolph's parents weren't ashamed of Rudolph's bright red nose. Rudolph really was teased by other reindeer, but Rudolph was happy and optimistic despite what others said. One Christmas when Santa was delivering presents to Rudolph's family, he noticed Rudolph's glowing red nose. Outside a thick fog was growing making it hard Santa's reindeer to see. But the Christmas gifts needed to be delivered to all the waiting children. So Santa had the idea to let Rudolph guide the other reindeer and the sleigh with his luminous nose.

So Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen and Rudolph are kinda my reindeer heros. :D