Santa and the elves busily packed the back of Santa’s sleigh. Twelve noon and all was going well. Santa’s computer logged each sack as it was loaded, so the toy deliveries would go quickly and easily. Elves checked to make sure all the presents were secured— they didn’t need any falling into the ocean or thumping a poor polar bear on the head!

Santa texted the elves in the Command Center, who were checking the weather. “All clear for 5:00 take-off?”

The reply was quick:  “All systems go for 5:00!”

Santa thought he might close his eyes for an hour or two before his journey when Elf Glyness ran up to him. “Oh, Santa,” she cried. “Come quick! The reindeer are sick!”

Santa ran to the barn. Dasher sneezed and his eyes looked bleary. Prancer  and Vixen coughed so loud, the barn roof shook. Donner burned with fever. In every stall, Santa saw a reindeer with the flu. “We can still pull the sleigh,” Blitzen said. Santa shook his head. “Don’t you worry about that,” he said. “You work on getting better.”

“I’ll pull the sleigh myself,” said Rudolph. “I’ll get it done, Santa.”

Santa saw Rudoph’s nose was dim and felt a little hot. He had a fever, too. “Brave little deer, no,” said Santa. “You’re sick.”

Santa left the barn feeling sad. Liftoff was only a few hours away and he wondered how he was going to deliver the toys.

Word quickly spread through the village that Santa needed help. “I’ll fly ya,” Mildred the postmistress said. She owned a rickety airplane that she flew back and forth to get all the mail sent to the North Pole. Though Mildred’s offer was kind, her plane was too small to carry all the toys. Besides there wasn’t enough time to unload the sleigh.

Santa thought he might cry. He had never, ever, not even once missed Christmas. He’d never even been late. What could he do?

At the edge of town, a Siberian husky named Romeo and his sister Sheba, heard the news. “Heck,” Romeo said, “Huskies pull sleds all the time, for thousands of miles.”

Sheba fluttered her pretty blue eyes and nodded. “I never understood why Santa chose reindeer in the first place.”

Both of them went into the yard and howled. Their call carried across the miles to their friends. “Emergency! Emergency! Huskies needed to pull Santa’s sleigh tonight.”

Soon Keeka appeared with Phoenix, Togo, Merlin, Copper and Yukon, running and jumping.  “Let’s go, let’s go!” they howled. Nothing excited them more than running, and the idea of running so fast they flew above rooftops was a thrill not to be missed.

They ran to Santa’s house and scratched at his door. Phoenix howled. Santa opened the door.

“We’ve come to pull the sleigh,” Romeo barked.

“We’ll get the job done, and fast, too!” howled Togo.

Santa looked at the eager sled dogs. Their eyes sparkled and they pranced merrily, excited for the adventure ahead.

“You’ve got a job,” he said. Just then, a puppy ran up the road. “Me, too! Me, too!” He yelled. He tumbled over, turned upside down and landed at Santa’s feet.

He wasn’t yet full grown. All white with one amber eye and the other sky blue, he said, “My name’s Frost, I run fast!”

Santa picked the little guy up. “How about you ride next to me and watch for falling stars?

“OK!” Frost squealed.

By four o’clock, the huskies were in their harnesses, with Romeo and Sheba in the lead. Santa climbed into the sleigh. Frost snuggled next to him. “Off we go!” Santa shouted. The huskies started to run. Faster and faster, faster until Santa’s eyes twinkled and all of a sudden the sled, Santa, and the team of dogs was flying through the air.

House to house they flew, barking and howling and they didn’t stop until every toy was delivered and they were home again.

Santa gave every husky a beautiful medal. “You saved Christmas!” he said.

“And I helped!” said Frost. With that, Santa had to agree.