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Seren agreed – and she knew what she was going to do when she had one.
Stroking reindeer wasn’t what she’d had in mind, but when Nicole returned, Freya demanded Seren take her to see the reindeer. Again.
‘We had to drag her away by her pigtails,’ Nicole said. ‘She was doing her best to try to ride one.’
‘Rudolph isn’t there,’ Freya said. ‘The deers have all got black noses. I asked Santa where he was and he said he’d left him at the North Pole to rest.’ The little girl frowned and wrinkled her nose. ‘How can he be tired, God-Mummy? He’s not flown anywhere yet.’
Seren swapped places with Nicole, who clambered aboard Dippy. ‘I expect he’s been practising his flying, so that’s what is making him tired. He has a lot of ground to cover on Christmas Eve.’
‘He’s not on the ground. He flies.’
Seren stifled a laugh. ‘It’s a figure of speech.’
‘How can Santa get to everyone’s house? Is he magic?’
‘I think he might be.’
‘How does he deliver presents if my house hasn’t got a chimney?’
Seren shot Nicole a ‘help-me’ look, but all Nicole said was, ‘Good luck with that.’
‘Did you ask Santa?’
Freya shook her head. ‘I wanted to, but Mummy said other children also wanted to speak to Santa, and I should give them a turn. The deers are over there.’ She tugged Seren’s hand, pulling her towards a small enclosure containing three placid reindeer who were contentedly chewing on a bale of hay.
It was getting dark rapidly now, and most people were heading off home, their trees chosen. Seren intended to pack up soon and head off too, and her toes curled in anticipation. She was going to drop the van off at her house, then go to Daniel’s.
She didn’t expect to emerge until tomorrow, and the thought of spending the night in his arms was incredibly intoxicating.
With a squeal that made Seren jump, Freya broke free of her hand and launched herself at a rather jolly rotund gentleman in a red suit with a white beard.
‘Santa!’ Freya yelled, her little arms around Daniel’s pillow-enlarged waist.
‘Santa,’ Seren said, her voice soft and full of love. ‘I think you’ve already met Freya.’
‘You’re the little girl who wanted to know where Rudolf was,’ Daniel said, as Freya let go of him, suddenly shy.
Seren took hold of her hand in a firm grip.
‘Why don’t they have horns?’ Freya asked, her attention switching to the reindeer in the pen.
‘They’re called antlers,’ Daniel said. ‘These ones don’t have antlers because they’ve dropped off.’
Seren’s eyes widened and she waited for him to elaborate, whilst keeping a firm hold on Freya who was attempting to squeeze through the bars so she could get closer to the animals.
‘Do you know why they dropped off?’ he asked Freya.
‘No…?’ Freya reached out to stroke the antler-less head of the nearest reindeer.
‘Because that’s where all the flying dust is stored, and once it’s used up the antlers drop off to let Santa know that he has to use another reindeer if he wants to fly somewhere.’
‘Is that why you didn’t bring Rudolph with you?’
‘Exactly! I don’t want to use up all Rudolph’s flying dust before Christmas Eve, because I wouldn’t be able to visit every boy and girl if he did.’
‘Nice one,’ Seren said, filled with admiration.
‘You don’t have to visit every boy and girl,’ Freya said. ‘Some of them have been naughty.’
