George had been out most of the night before Christmas
Eve Day with his friends, the penguins and the elves'. A great night was had
with music and dancing and carrot wine and one thing led to another resulting in
the revelling being extended into the following day and Christmas
Eve....!
After months of preparation and present wrapping for the
big event, the sleigh was finally fully loaded and all the reindeers harnessed for
the long nights work, with the exception of one… George! After much searching,
he was found in the ‘The Iniquity Den’ known well to party-going reindeers,
penguins and a bunch of elves who had finished work for the year. George
staggered over to the sleigh, was harnessed up, but it was no good, he could not
straighten up and fly right at all, let alone lead the sleigh. Santa made the
executive decision to draft in a younger, ambitious reindeer for the night
called Rudolph, who although not as experienced as George in leading the sleigh
could at least run and fly in a straight line. George was told to sober up for
Christmas day!
That evening the younger reindeer did an exemplary job,
all the presents were delivered on time without a hitch, and they returned to
the grotto 15 minutes ahead of schedule, much to the disgruntlement of all the
other reindeer who had to work extra hard to keep up with this bright young
thing. Santa had his morning coffee and another mince pie and then another and
another... After much deliberation, he called George into the grotto where he
said, his mind was made up and ‘Due to your irresponsible behaviour last night
and the many previous misdemeanours, not to mention being a bad influence upon
younger reindeer, elves and penguins, and after Rudolph has shown himself to be
exceptional and ambitious, I’m sorry to have to tell you George...but YOU’RE
FIRED’!!
...and so it was on that Christmas day 1939 that
George became a redundant reindeer.
George, however, is still a well loved, if somewhat
forgotten reindeer and we will be keeping you up to date with stories of his
glory days and what he has been up to since...