BLOGMAS #10: WHICH REINDEER WOULD YOU ADOPT?
Wow. This question really threw me for a loop! I really didn't know much about most of the reindeer, since Rudolph really dominates contemporary lore. And we all know how I feel about the Rudolph stories. But the other reindeer are jerks! Right?
Well, that may not be entirely true.
Did you know that Rudolph didn't even show up to the party until 116 years after "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (commonly known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas)?
Check out the original verses:
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny rein-deer, with a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick. More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, And he whistled, and shouted, and call'd them by name: "Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer, and Vixen! "On, Comet! On, Cupid! On, Dunder and Blixem! "To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall! "Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
That's right. No Rudolph. What gives? The answer is actually fun, at least for a research nerd like me: Rudolph was created for a coloring book put out by Montgomery Ward. Since it was more cost-effective to create their own book than to resell others' publications, Robert L. May was tasked with writing Rudolph's story. The rest, as they say, is history.
But wait - who are Dunder and Blixem? Fun story, there, too. The names are Dutch, and have morphed in English to the familiar Donner and Blitzen.
Okay, okay. You didn't come for a lesson. So, which reindeer would I adopt?
Blixem.
My reasons are twofold: first, he has an awesome role in Saving Santa, one of the more enjoyable animated films to come out in recent years; second, his name means "lightning," and some accounts say that he can actually shock people. That means Blixem is a distant relative of either Thor, Zeus, or Pikachu. Maybe all three.
Blixem is an anthropomorphic demi-god, y'all. How could I not adopt him?
Next on the #blogmas list: TREATS.
