[nagdu] Fw: [Blind-cooks] a christmas story to put you in the spirit

[Mark J. Cadigan]

Forwarded from the blind cooks list, I thought you would all enjoy this.



----- Original Message ----- 



Here's the story



A Christmas Story



One bright Christmas Eve, Santa Claus awoke looking forward to taking to 
The night sky on his sleigh. He got out of bed, pulled on his hat and big 
red coat and opened the outside door to go and visit his trusty reindeer. It 
was snowing and very cold.  As Santa approached the stables, he smiled at 
the thought that he would soon see Rudolph's red nose shining through the 
blizzard.



But, oh no, wait a minute; as he turned the corner, Santa saw not one but 
nine shiny red noses! Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid,  Donner, 
Blitzen and Rudolph were all looking miserable. "Oh dear," said Santa, 
"what's up with you all?"



Comet, the reindeer union rep, stepped forward. "I'm very sorry, but none of 
my reindeer will be able to do a full night's present delivery shift," said 
Comet, looking sad. "This is the first time we've ever wimped out on you, 
but we're all feeling lousy this year Santa and, well, we feel you'd be 
better off with some other helpers just this once."



"Comet, this is disastrous news!" Santa held his head in his hands. "I'm not 
sure I can get all the presents out to all the little boys and girls without 
help from my reindeer."



At this, Blitzen and Prancer stepped forward. "To be honest Santa, we had 
always worried something like this might happen," said Blitzen, sounding 
very bunged up. "With this in mind, some years ago Prancer decided to 
approach another group of magical creatures with special powers who might be 
able to stand in during an emergency."



"Well, Prancer," Santa turned to the other reindeer whose eyes were 
streaming, "Do tell me. What is your idea? Which other creatures of the 
world have magical powers that can match those of my nine wonderful 
reindeer, of whom so many songs are sung and tales are told?" "Why...



Guide Dogs, of course!" smiled the reindeer. He turned towards the snowy 
white plains of Greenland, tapped the ground three times with his hoof, 
bowed his head and antlers, then majestically reared up making a very loud 
calling sound that echoed round the four corners of the planet.



Within the space of thirty seconds, a shadow appeared far on the horizon. As 
it got bigger, Santa could just make out nine glowing Labradors, picked  out 
in the arctic moonlight as they flew towards him. "This year," continued 
Prancer, "your helpers will be: Danson, Goldie, Honey, Sheba, Chimo, Nanuk, 
Yukon, Woody and Nelson." Santa and his deer stood and stared up at the 
approaching dogs, who they could now hear barking. When the dogs landed they 
became silent; the only noise was the north wind howling. Santa, awed by the 
sight, was about to speak when the leading dog, Danson, led a single note 
chorus of howls as a salute to the reindeer whom they would replace this 
year. Happy, all the reindeers saluted back and in unison returned to their 
stables.



"Greetings to you, Father Christmas," said Danson. "Instead of being with 
our blind owners this year, we want to bring smiles to the faces of all the 
world's children. We're ready when you are."



Santa smiled and beckoned the creatures. He led them to his workshop. Parked 
outside was a huge sleigh, loaded with presents of all shapes and sizes. A 
small green-clad elf was just putting the last present on the top; when it 
was balanced correctly, he slid down and pushed himself off the side and 
scampered back into the warmth. Sheba, Chimo and Honey had already 
positioned themselves at the front of the sleigh and barked at the other 
dogs to join them. As they lifted the sleigh's harness Santa said: "Aren't 
you going to take your own little white harnesses off first?" "Oh no," spoke 
up Woody, the smallest of the dogs, "these are our identity. Guiding is what 
we do and tonight Santa, we will guide you!"



With the dogs all in place, Santa climbed onto the front of the sleigh, took 
the reins in his hands and boomed merrily at the top of his voice: "Go 
Danson... go Goldie... go Honey!"



The dogs pulled and the sleigh took off into the now clear dark blue sky. 
"Moosh Sheba, gee up Chimo, away Nanuk... away!"



Woody turned and winked at Nelson. They were both wondering how their Owners 
were getting on. They hoped to be back and curled up at the foot of their 
beds before they awoke, and chuckled at what their masters would think if 
they knew they were flying around the world helping to deliver presents.



"Woody, Nelson, noses forward!" Santa's voice startled them into action.

"Yukon, stop trying to eat the falling snow," he continued, before breaking 
into a very loud and satisfied: "Ho ho ho! Keep flying, my little guides.



This year," winked Father Christmas, "your dogs will find out what busy 
really means."



As the sleigh, the jolly old man and the nine magical guiding dogs reached 
the horizon and flew towards the first of several billion houses on the 
list, Santa knew that the guide dogs had saved the day and everything would 
be all right. "Merry Christmas, one and all!"