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

[Mark J. Cadigan]

I emailed the original sender off list, and will pass on any information 
that is provided.





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bryan Brown" <bryanbrown at solarus.biz>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 24, 2011 2:34 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Fw: [Blind-cooks] a christmas story to put you in 
thespirit


> Mark,
>
>    Do you know who the original author of this story is? Will you share or 
> ask if the author would mind if you shared their contact information with 
> me?Please let me know.
>
>    thanks,
>    B
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Mark J. Cadigan" <kramc11 at gmail.com>
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Saturday, December 24, 2011 12:11 AM
> Subject: [nagdu] Fw: [Blind-cooks] a christmas story to put you in the 
> spirit
>
>
>> 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!"
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nagdu mailing list
>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>> nagdu:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/bryanbrown%40solarus.biz
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nagdu:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/kramc11%40gmail.com