Reindeer Express

Santa's little helpers have been getting busy preparing for the coming holiday season.

 
Our "Santa" here on Gael Glen Farm might be a bit on the young side but he checks all the right boxes:

He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot - check!

His eyes, how they twinkled! his dimples, how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry - check!

He had a broad face and a little round belly, that shook, when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly - check!

He was chubby and plump - a right jolly old elf - check!

Liam and Seamus were more than happy to adopt the role of reindeer, though we had to have a talk about how "more rapid than eagles" might be a bit fast for "Ali Claus" this year and that maybe as his coursers they could come slow and steady instead. Liam-deer and Seamus-deer were very obliging and away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

Our Christmas role play was sadly interrupted by the school bus. As my reindeer drove out of sight, I heard them exclaim “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a...boy, are we hungry!”

With that, Ali Claus and I put gift delivery practice on hold to focus on more immediate matters like making food for the famished "reindeer" when they arrive home from school.

We started with Earl Grey Currant bread for breakfast tomorrow,

followed up with a loaf of regular crusty bread and finished off with pizza dough for supper.

We also tossed together some rhubarb red currant muffins for school lunches.

In addition, we did the outside chores, pasteurised milk, watered our house plants, did a bunch of dishes, tackled folding a mountain of clean laundry, and brewed a new batch of kombucha.

By the end of it all, boy was I hungry! Good thing we had delicious homemade pizza in the works - one topped with mozzarella and slivers of deer steak and the other with apple butter and sharp cheddar. The homemade crust was fluffy and delicious.

I can guarantee that there were no hungry reindeer left at bedtime - everyone was nestled all snug in their beds with tummies filled up, bodies tuckered out and brains settled for a long winter’s nap.