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📖 Santa and the Reindeer With the Hiccups (Funny Kids Story)
5 min read
It was Christmas Eve, and the North Pole was buzzing.
The elves had loaded the sleigh. The runners had been waxed until they gleamed. Mrs. Claus had packed Santa a thermos of cocoa and a snack for the road, and she was fussing with his hat to make sure it covered his ears.
Out in the snow, the reindeer were lined up in pairs, ready to go. At the very back stood the newest member of the team, the youngest reindeer of all. Her name was Bramble, and this was her very first Christmas Eve flight. She was so excited she could barely stand still.
Pip the elf hurried up and down the line with his checklist.
"Harness, check. Bells, check. Blankets, check. Reindeer, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven..."
"Hic!"
Pip stopped.
"Hic!" went Bramble again, and boing, up she went, two feet into the air, before landing back in the snow with a soft thump.
Uh-oh
"Uh-oh," said Pip. "Bramble's got the hiccups."
"Hic!" said Bramble. Boing.
Here is something you might not know about flying reindeer. When they hiccup, they don't just make a funny noise. They go up. That's no big deal in a meadow. But when you're hitched to seven other reindeer and a sleigh full of presents, and you're supposed to fly in a nice straight line, it is a very big deal indeed.
Santa came stomping out of the workshop, pulling on his gloves.
"How are we doing out here, Pip?"
"Hic!" said Bramble, and floated right up past Santa's beard.
Santa watched her come back down. "Hmm," he said, stroking his beard. "I see we have a situation."
Cure number one
Pip had heard of lots of hiccup cures. He was pretty sure most of them were real.
"Okay, Bramble. Take a deep breath and hold it while I count to ten."
Bramble sucked in the biggest breath a reindeer has ever taken. Her cheeks puffed out. Her eyes bulged. Pip counted.
"One... two... three... four..."
At eight, Bramble looked like a beach ball with antlers. At nine, she couldn't hold it anymore, and all the air came out at once, PFFFFFFT, and blew Pip's hat right into a snowbank.
"Hic!" said Bramble.
Cure number two
"Okay," said Pip, digging out his hat. "Drink some water. Little sips."
Bramble drank a whole bucket of water in little sips. It took a really long time. When she was done, she smiled.
"Hic!" Boing. This time she went so high that Pip had to jump to grab her harness and pull her back down.
Cure number three
"Quick!" said Pip. "Think hard about something else! What's five plus five?"
Bramble scrunched up her face. Her ears twitched.
"Ten," she said proudly. "Hic!"
Everybody helps
By now, a crowd of elves had gathered, and everybody had a suggestion.
"Spoonful of peanut butter!" one shouted.
"Hop on one foot!" called another.
"Hum a song with your nose plugged!" said a third.
Bramble tried every single one. She hopped on one hoof, which is really tricky when you have four. She hummed with her nose plugged and sounded like a kazoo. She ate a spoonful of peanut butter, and then spent a long time trying to unstick her tongue from the roof of her mouth.
"Hic!" Boing. This time she landed in a pine tree and got snow all over her nose.
Pip helped her down. Bramble's chin started to tremble.
"What if I can't fly tonight?" she whispered. "What if I mess everything up?"
Santa's secret
Santa crouched down in the snow beside her. His knees went crick, crack.
"Bramble," he said gently, "want to know the best hiccup cure there is?"
Bramble nodded. "Hic."
"A big, giant belly laugh," said Santa. "And lucky for you, I know the silliest joke at the whole North Pole."
He leaned in and whispered something into Bramble's fuzzy ear.
Nobody else heard it. Pip has asked about it every Christmas since, and Santa just winks. But Bramble's eyes got huge, and her nose wiggled, and she snorted, and then she was laughing so hard she fell over in the snow and kicked all four hooves in the air.
She laughed until her sides ached.
Then she sat up. Everyone held their breath.
Nothing. No hic. No boing. Just one small, happy reindeer with snow on her nose.
"They're gone!" she cried.
Up, up, and away
The elves cheered so loud the icicles rattled. Pip tossed his hat in the air and it landed right back on his head, which had never happened before and has never happened since.
Bramble trotted to her spot at the back of the team. Santa climbed into the sleigh, tucked a blanket over his lap, and took the reins.
"Everybody ready?"
The bells jingled. The reindeer pawed the snow. And with a whoosh and a swirl of sparkles, the sleigh lifted off into the starry sky, straight as an arrow.
Pip waved until the sleigh was just a twinkle among the stars. Then he went inside, poured himself a mug of cocoa, and curled up by the fire.
"I really wish I knew that joke," he said.
And far, far above the rooftops, if you listened very carefully, you might have heard a little reindeer giggling all the way across the sky.
The end.
Talk about the story
- What's the silliest joke you know? Do you think it would cure the hiccups?
- Which hiccup cure was the funniest?
- How do you think Bramble felt on her first Christmas Eve?