History as I Know It: Or the Christmas Story You Have Always Known but Have Never Heard

By Roger G Cam

In styles, methods, and ideas of Carol, Clements, and Milne comes a story that I hope you feel instantly at home with. I find it is similar to listening to someone telling a story on the telephone. Now and then, you know something has been said on the other end of the line. You know what it was by the conversation on your side. You have not heard it, but you just know. There is no doubt.
With that in mind, this is a story that holds out the hope and joy of Christmas. It should be shared aloud while you are snuggled under something soft and comfy with someone you love, with a mug of something hot and sweet close at hand. If there are snowflakes falling past the streetlights, then that will be all the better.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 20, 2016
• ISBN: 9781503528635

Roger G Cam

Helping a youth organization in the capacity of a leader, I was caught by the latest riddle of the day. “How many reindeer are there?” I am supposed to be teaching them, so I had better get this right. “Well, there were the eight tiny reindeer and Rudolph, so nine,” I explained. With cheer in their hearts and the knowledge that they had me beat, they all roared, “Wrong, ten!” Not one to give up, I just dug in deeper. “Oh yeah, name them?” They did, followed by—and bless their little hearts—singing, they informed me, “OLIVE! Olive, the other reindeer . . .” I didn’t even see it coming. Did I mention I am not one to give up? “Well, then, isn’t there eleven ‘As they shouted out with Glee’”? I didn’t know who Glee was, but she seemed to me to be a bit of a cheerleader and supporter of Rudolph. That moment, and a lot of time since, has given me the answer of who Glee is. I’m not one to give up. Writing under a pseudonym, our author believes that he is more of a storyteller than a writer. Working at night in the deep woods of the Pacific North Coast, his imagination never stops. This causes him both amusement and concern. Learning to let the stories flow and take them where they will whenever the muse is upon him, he is often inspired most when telling stories over the telephone. He doesn’t know why. The simple request to “tell me a story” will usually work its way back to a joke or nursery rhyme that are part of our common culture. The return to the land we were all familiar with in our childhood from some new adventure, he finds, is part of this story’s charm. I find this odd to be writing about myself, and that it is so much easier to do as a third party is a little concerning. Asking the lady who is the love of my life if this sounds like me, her quick comment was “Pretty much, in a nutshell.” So here we are. You, the reader, and me, the storyteller, bravely going off on an adventure that I hope you find will free your imagination again, or if it always has roamed free, maybe we will find new directions to go.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Duncan MacGregor.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2014922547

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5035-2864-2

      Softcover      978-1-5035-2865-9

      eBook         978-1-5035-2863-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 08/27/2016

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CONTENTS

Dedication

The Start

Introduction

The Workshop

Santa’s Office

Rudolph Agrees

The Idea

Caribou

The Plan

The Attempt

The Fog

Disappointment

A New Plan

Hot Chocolate

(Or The Experiment)

The Mayor’s Reaction

The Roof

The Secret

Changes

Eight

Lights

The Mayor’s Roof

North Pole Christmas Eve Classic

They Noticed

Lights, Elves, Action!

The Rush

That Magic Christmas

About The Author

Dedication

This story is dedicated to you, the reader.

For you lend your voice to my thoughts.

That is a truly magical thing.

The Start

I t happened long ago, so I’m not too sure this is how it happened. But I heard that it went like this.

There once was a little town called History. It was small, and it was nestled next to the mountains near a lake. The people of History made their living by helping the tourists. The tourists came to History because of the hot springs that swelled up in pools just outside of town. The pools drained from one to another, cooling until the warm water finally flowed into the lake. By moving up the smooth, worn path, they would find a pool and temperature to their liking then soak away all their cares and concerns, aches and pains.

In the winter, the tourists came to ski on the mountains. They still enjoyed the hot springs, maybe even more so after a cold day on the mountains. In the summer, they came to hike in the meadows, shop in the stores, eat in the restaurants, play, and relax in the mountain countryside.

Yep! That is where it all began. You know the whole Rudolph story.

What? You don’t know the story?

Well! I don’t know!

How can someone as smart as you not know?

Well, we’ll soon fix that.

The children in this quaint little mountain town were exceptionally good, for the whole town’s livelihood depended on the tourists. You know, people on vacation and holidays. So everyone had to be friendly and helpful. It wasn’t too hard, for everyone was there to have a good time, all the time. It was a most happy place except … except for Christmas.

What should have been a most joyous time of the year was, in fact, the saddest. The children were all a little sad. And that made the parents sad. Though everyone knew that Christmas was not about getting gifts, the fact that other good girls and boys were going to get something special from Santa Claus and the good children of History would not, just seemed too unfair.

They even had a special town meeting every year to see what could be done. The mayor always sent another special letter to the North Pole to ask Santa to try to make it to History this year. The mayor grew up in History as a little boy. So he knew what it was like to hope and hope just to find once again that Santa had passed them by. It just wasn’t fair.

It just isn’t fair, Santa said to his hardworking elves. I want to go to History every year. We make the toys for the good girls and boys. The reindeer do their bit too. We just can’t land if we can’t see. The water from the hot springs makes so much fog in the cold night air. Then it gets real thick when it hits the cold lake. We even thought of landing on the lake, but the warm water makes the ice too thin. It is just too dangerous. Once we thought of going in the summer, but it just wouldn’t have been right. Besides, six reindeer can only do so much. They need all the rest they can get.

Of course, you know that reindeer can only fly on Christmas Eve. That is why Santa has to do everything in such a rush and can’t stop to visit on his Christmas run.

I know what you are going to say. "Santa visits the boys and girls of France on December fifth and Holland and Belgium on the night of the fifteenth, or something like that.

No?

You had another question?

Oh, the six reindeer. Well, we are coming to that. This happened long ago. Before Santa used eight tiny reindeer, he used to use six great big ones. You’ll see. It’s part of this History story too.

Like I said in the beginning, it happened long ago. So I’m not too sure this is how it happened. But I heard that it went like this.

Introduction

R udolph came into the world as a little baby reindeer, as one should expect. I mean, he wasn’t any different than you or me. Well, yes, except he was a reindeer. He was a little more like you and me than most reindeer because his nose would turn red when it got cold. And just his luck, Rudolph was born at the North Pole. It gets cold there sometimes. OK, OK. It is always cold there. That is why no one knew it didn’t glow when it got warm. It never got warm.

Now that should not have been a problem, except for Olive. Olive was a bossy little doe. She knew everything. Or at least, she had an opinion about everything. And she had no qualms about making sure that everyone knew it. This isn’t always a bad thing, unless you’re mean. I think Olive was a little mean. I know she wasn’t very nice.

No. That’s not true. She just wasn’t nice if your nose glowed a little red.

Poor Rudolph! She would laugh and call him names, like Light Bulb. The other reindeer would just hang their heads. They didn’t want to be called names too, so they pretty much let Olive get away with it. They wouldn’t let poor Rudolph join in any of their reindeer games.

Now I said pretty much, for there was one little doe who was a good friend to