Once, a long, long time ago, there was a reindeer who was lost at Christmas and needed to find his way home.
“How in the world did I end up in Sweden on Christmas Eve?” said Prancer the reindeer, as he stood up in the snow. “Ouch, my head hurts, and it’s the most important night of the year!”
Prancer stood up and kicked the snow, almost losing his balance. He wandered into the nearest village and thought: “I’m such a failure. I hope Father Christmas comes back for me. I can’t be sure at all which way he went or where the sleigh is now. He said he wanted to deliver gifts in Denmark first, and then come back to Sweden last.”
As Prancer walked through the village, he noticed Christmas trees decorated with white lit candles and silver ornaments that caught the starlight. Lighting candles on Christmas trees was an old tradition in the village, and the people kept watch on the trees, making sure the candles did not catch the evergreens on fire.
“Who is that?” asked a 12-year-old girl, who noticed the reindeer from her front window. A party bustled inside her home with many guests, but she sat alone, looking for Father Christmas. She had hoped to see him blaze across the sky.
When she saw the reindeer, she ran out in the snow in a white dress with a red sash around her waist. A crown of unlit candles sat on her head in a wreath of Lingonberry branches with green leaves and dark red berries. She was curious as to why the reindeer was alone.
“Did Father Christmas send you?” she asked the reindeer in a soft voice.
Then, she gently touched his nose and examined his antlers, which looked large enough for him to be able to fly.
“I got separated from Father Christmas and his sleigh,” Prancer said with a grunt.
He startled the girl, who didn’t expect that he could speak. She was taken aback for a moment, but then excited to have a new friend.
“Oh, my name is Lucia Johansson,” she said. “Would you like to spend Christmas Eve with my family?”
“Thank you! I’d love to spend Christmas Eve with you. I hope Father Christmas comes back for me by morning,” he said. “How did I get lost at such an important time? I must’ve hit a star, crashed onto the ground, and got knocked out.”
“I hope you can dance,” Lucia said. She brushed snow off his tender body. “In Sweden, we dance around the Christmas tree!”
“I usually fly,” Prancer said. “I forgot to tell you that my name is Prancer. Almost like my brother Dancer. He can dance!”
“Lucia, what are you doing outside in the cold?” her father called. “Why are you talking to the reindeer? Come back inside for the party!”
She realized that her father must not have heard her speaking to Prancer.
“Come inside from the cold,” she said to Prancer. Then, he followed her inside the home.
When Lucia opened the front door, a room full of people ate from a smorgasbord, including pickled herring, salads, lutfisk, boiled potatoes, and rice dessert. Lucia grabbed a lussekatt bun from the table for a snack. They were one of her favorite holiday treats. She also gave one to the reindeer.
“You brought the reindeer with you!” her father said. “Oh, well, I guess it’s Christmas!”
Lucia was relieved that her father allowed Prance to stay at the party. It was such a special night for anyone to spend without a family. She could not imagine being without her two sisters, Ana and Maria.
“Thank you for having me,” Prancer said to Lucia, as she realized the other guests could not hear him talk. For a moment, she wondered if she was imagining his voice.
“What a wonderful home,” he continued to speak, making Lucia sure that she did hear him talk to her. “I miss my home and my family.”
Lucia felt sad for him and decided that her family would be his family until he could return home. A Christmas tree with white lit candles glowed in the home, and the light illuminated the guests’ faces. Angels, flowers, and stars hung from the tree, and under it stood a hand carved Christmas goat.
As the party went on, guests brought more food to eat, including turkey, roast beef, Christmas ham, cheese, meatballs, sausages, stuffed cabbage rolls, jellied pigs’ feet, pork ribs, vegetables, bread with butter and mayonnaise, liver pate, and sweet pastries. Next to a Christmas cactus and candles, a manger scene sat as a centerpiece on the table on cotton wool snow with the various animals.
“O Helga Natt, o helga stund för världen då Gudamänskan till jorden steg ned!” sang the guests at the party. Lucia loved to listen to the Christmas carols in Swedish. “Stilla Natt” had always been her favorite. She knew all three verses.
“Do you have any flowers for me to eat?” Prancer asked. “Oh, how I love to eat red tulips!”
“Not in the winter, but I can get you Christmas cookies instead,” Lucia said, as she placed her candle headpiece on the table.
“Lucia, what is a reindeer doing in our home?” her mother said, as she laughed. “Is he a gift from Father Christmas?”
“It’s just for tonight, Mother,” Lucia said. She wondered if she told her mother the truth about Prancer if she would believe her. “It’s holiday fun!”
“Well, the neighbors might have sent him!” her mother said. “Where else would he have come from?”
All of a sudden, Lucia’s extended family joined hands while thumping their feet and danced in a ring. Each one held a lighted candle. The dancers sang: “We fain would like to start up a judge’s dance now, but he’s not at home for the present.”
“Dance with me, Prancer!” Lucia said, as she threw her arms around his neck.
“I would love to dance with you,” Prancer said. “Jump on my back!”
She jumped on his back, and the duo went round and round the table.
Prancer and Lucia trotted down the halls of the house. They went through each room and up and down each staircase.
“I wish you could stay with me forever!” Lucia said to Prancer. Then, she kissed him on the cheek.
“You’re so sweet, but my whole family will be worried,” he said. “I have a feeling that good ole’ Father Christmas is running behind tonight because of me. I messed everything up.”
“Maybe by morning Father Christmas will find you,” Lucia said. “Why don’t we sleep next to the Christmas tree and wait for him? You can keep watch out the window for him on his sleigh. If you see him, then you can wake me up.”
Tears filled Prancer’s eyes at the thought of never seeing Lucia again. Lucia wiped them away with her hands. She wondered what it would be like to lose her family.
As Christmas Eve went on and the other guests went home, Lucia’s family exchanged a few gifts and ate Christmas cookies and rice dessert.
“Father Christmas didn’t come yet!” Ana, one of Lucia’s sisters, said to her parents. “I’ve been good this year. I want my gifts from Father Christmas.”
“I’m sure he’s on his way,” Lucia said, as she looked at Prancer. “Maybe he’ll come tomorrow instead of tonight.”
“He always comes on Christmas Eve with gifts!” said Maria, her other sister. She blew her nose and cried. “What’s the party for without him?”
“I’m really sorry. Father Christmas is flying so slow because I’m not there,” Prancer whispered to Lucia. He curled up beneath the Christmas tree and buried his head in his forearms. Lucia’s mother, father, and the three sisters sat with Prancer.
“The neighbors didn’t exactly send the reindeer, did they?” Lucia’s father said. “He’s a lost Christmas reindeer, isn’t he? Is he from Father Christmas’ sleigh?”
“Maybe by morning, he will be able to find his way home,” Lucia told her father with a smile. She was sure that he did not hear Prancer whisper. It would have startled him for sure.
While Lucia’s parents and sisters went to sleep in their bedrooms, Lucia snuggled up with Prancer. He was softer than any teddy bear or pillow.
Then, early in the morning, when it seemed that Father Christmas would never complete his rounds on Christmas Eve, there was a thud in front of Lucia’s house, several whinnies, and a large, red glowing reindeer light.
“Are there any good children in this house?” Father Christmas called.
The man dressed in a velvet red suit and a long, white beard knocked on the front door with a sack of gifts. Lucia was excited for the presents, but sad that Prancer would now leave.
“Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas! I have extra Christmas gifts for your family!” Father Christmas announced. “You took care of one of my most precious reindeer.”
“Father Christmas! You found me,” Prancer said. “I’m so sorry. I hit a star and fell to Earth and lost you!”
“Not a worry,” Father Christmas replied. “Now go join your brothers.”
Then, Lucia realized that she was not the only one who could hear Prancer speak. Father Christmas spoke to Prancer as though he was like a son. She thought that maybe only she and Father Christmas could hear his voice.
“I have seven other reindeer, but I had to go after the lost one until I found you!” Father Christmas said to Prancer. “We flew all night. I didn’t forget you.”
As the story goes, Prancer made sure to be especially alert when flying on Christmas Eve and never got lost again. Christmas was on time every year after that because of a Swedish girl who took in a stranger. God Jul!
Copyright 2016 Jennifer Waters
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