The Reindeer Dog

By Donna Marie Ferro

The Reindeer Dog is the authors gift to all children and adults who believe in the magic of Christmas and Santa Claus. The setting for the story is the North Pole and a little village in the Liguria region of Italy called Alpicella. Alpicella is the village where the authors grandfather, Nonno Antonio, was born. When she was a little girl, her nonno, Italian for grandfather, would tell her stories about his village. As a child she thought this village must be a magical place to live. In the story The Reindeer Dog, Santa is on his customary flight on Christmas Eve. He arrives on the rooftop of a home in Alpicella where he discovers a very special gift. This story wraps within it the history of Liguria, customs celebrating Christmas in different parts of the world, and a touching story of an unexpected gift for Mrs. Claus. The author welcomes families from all different backgrounds to share and gather together to read her story of love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543423679

Donna Marie Ferro

Donna Marie was as an educator in the California Community College System for 40 years. More than half of her career was dedicated to developing programs and services for students with disabilities. During her career she was a champion of bringing equal access in education to students with disabilities. Her testimony on this subject in Sacramento was used by California lawmakers in drafting and passing legislation which became a forerunner of the national Americans With Disabilities Act. Her belief is that everyone should have equal access to education. She is now retired and has developed a new passion and new career as an author. She is grateful for the rich legacy of her Italian family both here and abroad and she is reminded daily of them and all they gave to her and now some of those stories have been brought to life in her books. She welcomes the readers and says, "Come join me on my adventures and those of the Goofy Witches of Beigua! I will be waiting for you on my balcony in the little village of Alpicella just below the hills of Beigua where the little old owl named Luna hoots at the moon!."

Book preview

Copyright © 2017 by Donna Marie Ferro.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2017907682

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5434-2369-3

                Softcover       978-1-5434-2368-6

                eBook           978-1-5434-2367-9

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: 05/12/2017

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Contents

Chapter 1      Christmas Eve

Chapter 2      The Goofy Witches Of Beigua

Chapter 3      My Stars, What Is It!

Chapter 4      Christmas Customs Around The World

Chapter 5      Returning Home With A Special Gift

Chapter 6      Carlo’s Special Talents

Chapter 7      Kerplopping Gets Carlo A Job

Chapter 8      The Plan

Chapter 9      Carlo Joins The Team

Chapter 10      Returning To Alpicella

Chapter 11      The Rest Of The Story

Translation And Pronunciation

Guide

Acknowledgments

For all Children, big and small, who believe in Santa Claus

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Chapter 1

Christmas Eve

O nce again, Christmas Eve had arrived and Santa Claus was ROCKING and a ROLLING in his super magical sleigh. Rudolph took the lead with his eight reindeer pals prancing and pulling the sleigh into the starry wintery night. Santa Claus was at the reins and piled high to the sky were sacks of presents and toys to be delivered all over the world. The tiny sleigh streaked like a rocket past their friend the Man in the Moon. Santa waved and jingled the sleigh bells to say hello to Mr. Moon. Its moonbeams burst into a rainbow of bright colors, lighting up the night to help them on their journey.

Santa finished bringing gifts to the hamlets of the Swiss Alps, then onto the French Riviera at a leisurely cruising speed along the coastal route from Cannes, then Nice to Monaco and across the border into Northern Italy. Jingling the reins three times, it was Santa’s cue to the reindeer to make a right and then the sleigh turned away from the Mediterranean Sea. Smooth sleighing along the way as the moon shone brightly and the breeze was crisp but not frigidly cold like it was in Norway or Finland.

Rudolph made sure there was enough light beaming to see the tree tops and steep, zig-zag hills ahead of them. They glided up and up into the