Late in the evening on Christmas Eve, Henry, Jessica, Mom, and Dad lay sleeping in their beds.

Tommy, their large German shepherd, rested near the front door, tossing and turning on his doggy
bed.

The lights on the Christmas tree had been turned off, and the fire in the hearth had burned out, but
Tommy was wide awake, with just one thing on his mind. Jessica had said that someone named
Santa Claus would be visiting the house while everyone slept.

She had instructed Tommy not to bark, but how was he supposed to keep quiet? Barking at
strangers was one of his primary jobs. Still, Jessica said he might scare Santa away, and if he did that,
Jessica wouldn’t get any presents.

Jessica had tried to prepare him for the stranger, however. She told him to expect a jolly old man
with a white beard in a red suit to come hurling down the chimney sometime after midnight.
Wouldn’t that make a loud noise? He’d wondered. How would this guy make it down the chimney,
anyway?

What time is it now? And when will he get here?

Tommy knew only one thing for sure—that he would be tired tomorrow after all the sleep he would
lose tonight. It was already past his bedtime, and he was planning to stay up and wait for Santa, no
matter how long it took.

Tommy stood up and circled his dog bed one more time, digging a few times into the pillow. He
wasn’t even sure why he did it, but it just made him feel better. Then he settled into another resting
position. He tried to relax, but his mind wandered as he remembered so many pleasant things that
December had brought.

There’d been a Christmas parade with floats, marching bands, and holiday carollers. Seven-year-old
Jessica had dressed as an angel in a school play. Ten-year-old Henry had gone ice skating with
friends, and Tommy was there to watch. He’d even tried walking on the ice himself, but all he’d done
was slip and slide, until finally, Henry helped him back onto solid ground.

Mom and the kids had also baked sugar cookies in the oven, and Tommy tried one before the
frosting went on. Everyone had spent a whole day putting up festive decorations around the house.
They’d even brought a fir tree inside the house and dressed it in lights, ribbons, and ornaments.
Tommy stared at it from across the living room—it was beautiful even when its lights were off.

Tommy had also taken a horse-drawn sleigh ride with the family. It was a horse-drawn waggon ride,
really, but Mom had called it a sleigh ride, so everyone went along with it.

The ride had taken place at a farm in the countryside on a chilly, dark evening. There had been no
snow on the ground because snow didn’t often fall in the town of Harmony, where the McDonald
family lived. But it didn’t matter—it had still been delightful.

The family had donned mittens and hats as the horses whisked them through beautiful fields and
woods, lit by rows and rows of colourful Christmas lights. The horses wore jingling bells around their
necks as they dashed across the ground. The bells made them sound just like the horse in Jessica’s
favourite Christmas song. The kids sipped hot cocoa to warm up afterwards. Tommy loved it!

Yes, December was a magical month in the world of his people. Tommy decided he, too, liked this
festive holiday season as much as they did. He ought to calm down and just go to sleep—it was time
to stop wondering when Santa would arrive. Anyway, his ears were top-notch. He’d hear the guy,
right?

He gazed out a nearby window. Tonight, the air outside was cool and damp, but, of course, no snow
lay on the ground. Earlier today it had rained, and puddles had collected on the ground. Tommy
knew this kind of weather usually brought frost by morning, and often puddles turned into very
slippery patches of ice. He’d have to be careful tomorrow morning when he went outside.

Through the window, Tommy could see the red and green crystals of sugar that Henry and Jessica
had left on the driveway before they’d gone to bed. Earlier tonight, the kids had mixed together
uncooked oatmeal, birdseed, and coloured sugar crystals in red and green. Then they’d sprinkled the
mixture on the ground just outside the front door and across the driveway. They’d called it reindeer
food—a snack for Santa’s reindeer.

Tommy gazed outside at the colourful crystal of sugar as it glittered under the strings of Christmas
lights decorating the house. Tommy wasn’t sure if the reindeer would eat birdseed, but he would be
happy to lick it up tomorrow if they didn’t.

Oh well, there’s nothing else to do now but wait, he thought with a sigh. A wide yawn finally escaped
his face. The tired dog snuggled into his bed and drifted off to sleep.

Hours later, Tommy awoke with a jolt. Had he heard right? Were those footsteps? He ran to the
window, then stopped in his tracks. It sounded like the footsteps were coming from overhead.
Someone was on the roof!

He remembered Jessica’s instructions, because she knew he could make mischief sometimes:
“Please, please don’t bark when you hear him, Tommy!” “It’s really important!” She had made him
promise, “Santa doesn’t want you to notice him when he’s working. Just pretend you’re asleep.”

So Tommy obediently clamped his mouth shut, holding back the bark that wanted to come out. But
he just had to find out what was happening up there on the roof. He just had to be sure it was,
indeed, this fellow named Santa Claus. He could not just pretend to be asleep!

Sorry, Jessica. Quietly, he tiptoed toward his dog door at the back of the house. He passed the
Christmas tree, noticing the plate of cookies and carrots and the glass of milk that the kids had left
for Santa. But he wouldn’t dare touch the food. Don’t worry, Jessica. Santa’s treats are safe with me.
If only Jessica knew how hard that promise was to keep,

Glancing around the kitchen, Tommy slipped out through his dog door into the frosty night. He’d
have a good view of whoever was on the roof from the far edge of the backyard, if he could only get
there without being seen. He had to get a glimpse of Santa. Keep it quiet. Soon he made it to the
outer edge of the backyard and turned to look up at the house. He gasped.

For there, perched on the roof, sat a large, beautiful, red sleigh! It seemed to have appeared out of
nowhere. Now, that’s what I call a sleigh, Mom.

But no one was up there—no jolly old man in a red suit, not one reindeer—just the sleigh. But this
had to mean that Santa Claus was here! So, where could he be? And where were the reindeer?

Tommy thought maybe he could get a better view from the other side, on the street, so he crept
quietly back across the damp lawn and out toward the driveway. Maybe I’ll get a lick of that reindeer
food while I’m at it. Like most dogs, Tommy was always hungry for a snack. He strolled carefully out
onto the sidewalk, noticing the pale moon in the dark sky. He sniffed around, carefully searching for
traces of the reindeer. They couldn’t have gotten far, could they?

Although Jessica did say they could fly, Just then, Tommy heard a loud clunk on the rooftop,
followed by some jingling bells, like the sound that the horses had made on the waggon ride. He
heard an animal whine and stamp its hoof. He thought he saw the tips of antlers moving about on
the other side of the roof. Aha!

His chance had come! He turned and sprinted across the driveway toward the backyard.
Unfortunately, he forgot about the slippery pavement. His paws made contact with a wide frozen
puddle. Zip! Flop! Tommy sailed across the ice! Slipping and sliding, he finally smacked the cold,
hard, dry concrete with the full force of his weight. The stars seemed to spin about his head as he lay
staring up into space.

Ouch! Should’ve seen that coming. Maybe there was still time to get a look at Santa and his
reindeer, but he’d have to hurry. I’d better be more careful, though. He scrambled to his feet and
dashed behind the house. But in the backyard, everything was silent—not a reindeer in sight. His jaw
dropped open as he gazed up at the roof. Even the sleigh was gone! But it was just there a few
moments ago! Tommy scanned the bushes and the backyard.

He raced across the grass and sniffed. He listened, but nothing about this made any sense. Santa and
the reindeer were gone—just plain gone. Tommy sighed, lowered his head, and shuffled back to the
house. How had one jolly old man and nine very large, four-legged creatures managed to get by
him? It was a puzzle—a complicated, head-scratching puzzle.

Back inside the house, he crossed the kitchen and headed through the living room. But something
was different. First off, hadn’t the tree been dark when he left? He stopped and began blinking. All
the beautiful tree’s lights were now lit. Was his imagination playing tricks on his eyes? He blinks
again. No. This is real. Colourful presents surrounded the tree, and they were piled high—big ones
and little ones, tall ones and short ones—some in patterned paper with shiny ribbons, some not
wrapped at all.

He glanced at the table, and his eyes flew wide. The glass of milk was almost empty, and one whole
cookie was missing! He checked for the carrots. Not even the stems were left. Santa! Santa had been
here, inside the house? He must’ve delivered all the gifts and then swept out through the chimney
just like Jessica said he would, in only a few minutes flat! Oh boy, could it be true? Had Jessica been
right? But, how?

It must be Christmas magic. That’s why he never saw Santa’s face. That’s why he never got a good
look at the reindeer! Tommy stood at the foot of the tree and gazed at the extra At long last, Tommy
yawned and made his way back to his dog bed. He settled in and closed his eyes, a smile spreading
across his face. Next year, he’d know what to do.