HI you guys! It's me, Comet! ... Today is the very last day of the year! Which means ... TONIGHT'S NEW YEAR'S EVE!!!

New Year's Eve at Santa's Village is a pretty awesome thing. It's not as crazy-big as the Yule Feast or Thanksgiving, and we don't host tons of guests or anything, but it's still TONS of fun! First off, everyone's allowed to stay up really late (which rocks). And there will be a big dinner for everyone who lives here at the Pole, with banquet tables set up in the Village Square. Decorations are done by different groups in different years -- it rotates.

This year the Garage crew (y' know, Mr. Ronderbaunt and all the elves and other folks who work with him) is handling all the decorations. I can't WAIT to see what they're going to come up with! (Last time they were on decorations, there were all these strings of little lights everywhere -- but the lights were in the shape of miniature sleighs! Oh -- and the Square was filled with all these miniature, light-up, radio-controlled cars that were totally zooming around under the tables and around the Square all night long! It was COLD AS ICE!)

We'll all put on silly hats and sit down for a yummy dinner, and there's usually noise-makers of every kind set out on the tables, and everyone will have mugs of steaming-hot, spiced apple cider, ... and it's tradition that, during the whole dinner, anyone can stand up and shout out a toast to the many things we've loved and been thankful for in the past year. (It's totally fun! I've been getting ready all WEEK, thinking about what my New Year's toasts are gonna be!)

Then, after dessert, everyone will gather in a group and count down the last seconds of the year, ... and then cheer really loudly and make a TON of noise when the year turns over! That's probably my FAVORITE part!

Oh! And Donder does this funny thing every year. He collects jars of air! I'M SERIOUS! Every New Year's Eve, right before we do the countdown, Donder will bust out a new empty jar that's all carefully labeled and stuff, and he'll capture some air from the old year before the new year officially comes. (It always looks like he's catching lightning bugs or something, but instead, he's catching AIR! ... Which means that there's no air-holes in the lid of the jar.) So Donder's got this whole collection of AIR-JARS lining the top of his stall on this special shelf he built! He calls it his "Vintage Oxygen Collection." LOL! He's so funny.

Well I'd better scramble. Coach wants to have a meeting with the Team before we get ready for dinner -- something about "Goal Setting for 2009." (Grown-ups can be SO weird!)

I'll write again soon! Have an AWESOME New Year's Eve, and ...

Be cool!

Comet

HI! It's Cupid again! ... Well, the Yule Feast is over, everything's all cleaned up, and I've just gotta say that I'm so sad -- only because the Feast was *so* much fun! The Yule Feast is one of my absolute favorite events of the whole year. (!!!) So it's always a huge bummer when it ends. Plus it was really great to have my family here. (Everyone's families were here! The Village was PACKED with guests! I just love that.) But now things are slowly returning to normal. (Though Donder's STILL wearing his first-place ribbon from the Karaoke Kontest! He's so cute.)

Coach gathered The Team for a special meeting today -- about Blitzen. ... Well, kind of about Blitzen. But mostly about a cool new leadership thing we're going to try. But before Coach talked about that, Blitzen got up and totally apologized to the whole Team -- about his attitude, and his behavior during the past couple months. (!!!) You could tell it was really hard for Blitzen to do that, and it must have taken a lot of courage.

But when Blitzen was finished with his apology, The Team totally banded together, and everyone was really understanding, and we've all agreed to a "clean slate" -- no grudges, and a fresh start for all of us in the new year. So that's great!

Then, Coach said that we're going to be working with a new leadership style in '09. And it's super cool! It's called "flocking," and it's totally based on how geese share leadership in their migration groups. See, the goose-people fly hundreds of miles every year when they migrate. And the only way they're able to do that is by sharing the responsibility of leadership, and taking really good care of the leader.

When the goose-people migrate, they fly in this beautiful, big triangle-formation. It's a really smart thing to do, 'cuz it helps the geese conserve energy over long distances. Basically, the goose at the point of the triangle is the leader. She (or he) is the one who's working the hardest. The geese flying right behind her (or him) -- and into the middle of the triangle-formation -- are working hard, but not *as* hard as the lead-goose. And the geese at the back of the triangle are able to fly on the "draft" of their friends who are in front of them. ("Drafting" is kinda like when you're riding your bike and you're half coasting, half pedaling.)

So the lead-goose flies her heart out for the flock, and works super hard to cut the wind and forge the flock's path. The flock shows their thanks by taking really good care of her -- by respecting and following her decisions, and by sending her energy and support (the geese shout encouragement to the leader when they fly. Though, if you don't speak Goose, it sounds like a whole lot of funny honking). The leader will fly hard, and lead the flock for a while. But once the leader gets tired, she'll gracefully move to the back of the triangle to draft and rest, and a new leader -- who's fresh and rested -- will smoothly take her place!

Coach said there's no, like, "master plan" for who's supposed to lead the flock and when. The goose-people just know "in the moment" who's turn it is: if a goose feels inspired to lead, and feels it's her or his turn, she or he will move to the front of the formation to lead the flock. This is how the geese equally share responsibility, while totally respecting and supporting the person who's volunteered to lead. I think that's TOTALLY cool! Because it really is the heart of the whole all-for-one-and-one-for-all spirit that makes a team strong.

I'm totally excited, 'cuz Coach said that we're going to try working this way from now through the spring. And then, in the summer, a special diplomat from the Canadian goose-tribe is going to come visit us -- to see how we're doing! (!!!) So this is going to be SUPER cool! Plus, this way, everyone on the team can see what it's like to be a leader.

OHmygosh ... Donder totally wants me to take another picture of him with his Karaoke Kontest ribbon! (He's SO funny!) So I'd better go! But I'll write again as soon as I can! "Honk-honk ... honk-honk honk!" (That's me shouting encouragement to you in Goose!)

Love, Cupid

HI you guys! It's me, Comet!

Wow -- so the Yule Feast was EXCELLENT this year! Everyone had so much fun! First of all, DONDER won the final round of the Karaoke Kontest! (I'm serious!) He was a total dork on stage, but even though he was all spazzing out and stuff, he was so TOTALLY committed when he belted out his song (he sang "See You Again" by Mylie Cyrus) that everyone, like, loved him! And every round of the Kontest he got better. Donder was completely crazy-happy when he won, (he was jumping around like a salt-sprite on a fire) which made all of us laugh and laugh. (Personally, I think Donder's pretty cool.)

Then, later, all of us blew-out our vocal chords at the High School Musical sing-along! It was EXCELLENT! (I don't have the guts to perform karaoke like Donder, but I can TOTALLY sing with a group of my friends!) OH! ... and the elves who work in the Garage with Mr. Ronderbaunt did this super funny puppet show with their reindeer and polar-bear Webkinz stuffies. It was this big spoof about Coach Bryan and all of us on The Team. Everyone was laughing so hard that Kevin (the tiny elf with a huge appetite) blew a piece of popcorn out of his nose! (Seriously!) And Bluebeard -- the super skinny elf -- won the Wii ReindeerGames tournament! That was awesome. ... Almost as awesome as the giant SNOW SLIDE that Thessaly Tinselcom built for us in the Village Square!!! (I lost track of how many times I slid down it!)

So it was three days of MAJOR feasting and fun. But last night was the final night of the Yule Feast.

Most of the guests and families all returned home last night (my parents went home early this morning). I'm SO TOTALLY BUMMED the Feast is over, 'cuz now I have to wait 'til next year for it to come again. ... But I guess there will be tons to do until then, right? (Ugh ... like finishing clean-up! Yuck!) At least our first official post-Christmas Team Meeting is tomorrow -- Coach just announced it. That'll be SUPER cool!

Well, I'd better go finish cleaning up. But I'll write again soon!

'Til then ...

Be cool!

Comet

*HI* you guys! It's me, Comet! So everybody's caught up on their sleep now. And I'm SO totally psyched 'cuz today is the first day of our big Yule Feast here at the Pole! The Yule Feast happens every year, after our work is finished, and it's when all of us here in Santa's Village get to celebrate the winter holiday season!

The Yule Feast is even BIGGER than Thanksgiving, if you can believe it! (Seriously!) Families come from all over the world, the arctic animals gather, and for three awesome days, we totally feast, and play games, and give presents to each other, and oh, did I mention that we feast?!?! That's probably the best part for all of us on the Team -- we get to eat whatever we want, 'cuz we're finally off our Training diets! YYESSssss!

This year's Feast is gonna be EXCELLENT!!! There's going to be a "karaoke-off" -- that's a contest that anyone can enter! It's kind of like American Idol, but with home karaoke machines. And there's going to be a Wii tournament. And there's going to be some puppet shows that people are putting on, using their Webkinz stuffed animals. And Mr. Instubble has converted the side of the Barn into a movie theater! We're going to have a High School Musical marathon (!!!), plus we're gonna watch Monster's Inc., and Bee Movie, and a bunch of other great movies! It's gonna be GREAT!!!

But what's NOT so fun is that, just like at Thanksgiving, I have to go clean my stall. ::sigh:: (And I hate cleaning my stall!) But MY PARENTS ARE COMING! (Everyone's families are coming!) So there's TONS of activity around here right now, 'cuz everyone's hustling around, preparing for the Feast!

I'm telling you guys -- it's going to be SO excellent to just relax and have FUN, y' know? 'Cuz the Team's worked super hard this year. And we flew an amazingly great Flight Night. (Santa and Coach were TOTALLY psyched with our performance!)

OH! ... Speaking of Santa and Coach! ... Ssshhhhhh -- the Team has pitched in and gotten Santa a HooFFone! And we've gotten Coach a SUPER amazing silver whistle that came all the way from Mexico! It even has snowflakes engraved on the side of it!

I have a feeling it's gonna be a really amazing Yule Feast this year.

Hope your feast was incredible! And don't forget about all of us up here at the Pole! 'Cuz we're still thinking about you!!!

Alright you guys ... I'll blog again soon! 'Til then, have fun playing with all your new toys, and ... Be cool!

Comet

hello.

mipps

*Hi*! It's Cupid again!

Guess what?! ... I'm actually sitting here with the WHOLE REINDEER TEAM! We're here in the Barn -- back from our crazy-fun night flying around the globe delivering your prezzies! We're exhausted (Santa said we flew an amazingly great Flight Night!), so we're all gonna bed-down for a super-long winter's nap. (After all, we have to rest-up for the Yule Feast, right?!).

But before we curl up in our stalls, we wanted to wish you all ... (ok everybody ... shout the greeting, and as you shout it, I'll type it to everyone who's reading!) ...

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS, FROM SANTA'S REINDEER TEAM!!!

(That was great, Team!)

Have a wonderful Christmas you guys! We love you!!!

XOXOXO,

Your fans in Santa's Village,

Rudolph. Blitzen. Dancer Dasher Vixen Donder Prancer Comet and ... Cupid!

*Hi*! It's Cupid again!

YYAAAAAaaayyyyyy ... it's FLIGHT NIGHT! I'm SO totally excited!!!

I can't write for very long, because we're going to be getting into our magical sleigh-harnesses really soon!!! But I HAD to write to tell you a couple super-sweet pieces of news!

Okay, so first of all, remember the little hat -- the tiny red touque that Mrs. C knitted for Mipps? Well, I left it for him in the super-secret location in the Barn, near one of his tiny house-mouse doors. And it's GONE! The cap totally disappeared! So I can only hope that means that Mipps got his tiny, fluffy, red hat!

But there's MORE -- and this is Theee Coolest News, like, EVER!!!

... Coach and Santa have promoted me! To VARSITY TEAM LEADER!

FOR!!!

REAL!!!

Coach told me on the DL (y' know, the "down low" ... which is just another way of saying "in secret") -- anyway, Coach told me on the DL that Blitzen has been placed in the penalty box for now. Which basically means that Blitzen's kind of grounded ... because I guess he's done some stuff that's made Coach and Mr. C want to keep a closer eye on him. And, part of being grounded means that Blitzen isn't allowed to be Varsity Leader right now.

Coach said that Santa's been really impressed with my leadership, and initiative, as well as my performance during Training Season -- and Coach has been impressed, too. So they thought that a temporary promotion was in order!

So I'll be temporarily leading BOTH the Varsity and the Junior Varsity squads! (!!!)

And you want to know what the coolest part is?!?! ... The COOLEST part is that, tonight, as Varsity Leader, I'm going to be in the harness position RIGHT BEHIND RUDOLPH!!! (For REAL!!!)

I'm SO excited I can hardly stand it!!! I have to write my parents an email about it right now! They're going to be *so* proud of me.

Ok ... well I'd better log-off ... because I have just a couple minutes to send the email to my parents, ... then, ... it's into the magical sleigh harness for TAKE OFF!!!

I'll write again as soon as I can!!! (Our Yule Feast begins on Boxing Day, which is December 26th. It's a three-day festival and everyone's coming to the Pole! It's like Thanksgiving, only bigger and better!!!)

Have a great sleep, and I'll land softly on your roof-top -- I promise! ::wink::

Love, Cupid

*HI* you guys! It's me, Comet! Wow -- it's really here!!! Flight Night's really, finally, actually HERE!!! It seems like we just started Training Season, y' know? It's all gone by so fast, and so much has happened! But it's HERE -- Christmas Eve is HERE, which means tomorrow is THE BIG DAY!!!

Everyone here at the Pole is off the HOOK with happiness! The elves are sporting perma-grins, there's singing and laughter EVERYWHERE, and even the decorations are twinkling and sparkling with extra brightness! Mr. C, Thessaly Tinselcom, and a whole bunch of elves have been super-busy today, putting all the presents through the Present Compressor (that's what makes all your guys's presents fit into Santa's gigantic velvet bag). Then, a little before Take-Off, Coach will assemble the Team, give us a big pep-talk, and walk us over to the Garage, where Coach and Rob Ronderbaunt (Mr. C's Chief Mechanic) will put us into our magical harnesses!

Yesterday, Mrs. C presented the elves with a crazy amount of cookies, during the big annual "Thank-You Party" at the Factory. (Coach let everyone on The Team have two cookies each, but that was it. We're too close to Flight Night to blow it now! I decided to treat myself to two big oatmeal-toffee cookies. Yum!)

Training Season 2008 ended officially yesterday. Since we've worked *so* hard, on the last day of Training, we get to just have a light day of FUN! So, this year, Coach had us doing silly relay-races in the magical Forest. It was TOTALLY fun! We worked in small teams, and ran a fun course that wound through the trees. Instead of metal relay-batons (like you use in track-and-field practice), we used huge CANDY CANES, from the Candy Cane Ranch! Every relay team got an award of some sort. (Bill even came out to cheer us on! He gave my team a bag of krill ... which we've learned is a really cool thing for penguins. So we were totally happy.)

So that was yesterday. Today, we get to just REST -- 'cuz we've got a crazy amount of flying to do tonight, and Coach wants us to be super well-rested and ready to handle all the challenges we'll have to face. ('Cuz, y' know, there's gonna be bad weather in places, and we're gonna fly SUPER fast, 'cuz we basically have to fly all around the whole world in ONE NIGHT! And that takes serious strength and stamina!)

The one thing that's weird is that Coach and Santa have some "big announcement" to make. (?!?!) The whole Team's supposed to gather in the Barn in a little bit. I have NO idea what's up, but I guess we'll find out soon enough!

And then, TONIGHT, we'll be flying to your house! TO DELIVER YOUR PRESENTS FROM SANTA! YYESSSssss!!!

So have a SUPER great night, you guys! (We'll see you when you're sleeping!) And I'll blog again after Flight Night to tell you about the big YULE FEAST we'll be having here at the Pole!

Be cool!

Comet

*Hi*! It's Cupid again!

I'm back at the Pole! The whole Team came home from Finland last night. (Coach let us fly there and back! As an exercise and an extra treat.) We had so much fun at Vuokatti I can't even tell you! It was hard work, but the whole field-trip was super amazing! And the Team performed super well, so Coach was, like, ecstatic!

Even though the field-trip was a blast, it's been great to be back home. It was so nice to sleep in my own stall last night, and to be around all the familiar comforts of the Barn and the Village, and to see all the elves and stuff. The absolute best thing, though, was getting home in time for the Solstice Parade! Because that's one of my absolute favorite winter events.

The snow foxes organize the Parade every year. (They're really called Arctic Foxes, but we call them snow foxes, because they're so white and fluffy -- they're perfectly camouflaged in the winter snow!) The foxes gather other arctic animals that live outside the Village (like Kidu's tribe!), and together, the animals create a beautiful procession of magical light and sound -- all in honor of the Winter Solstice. (Solstice is the day when, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, the sun reaches its most southern point in the sky. So Winter Solstice is the longest night of the year. Here at the Pole, we call it "Mid-Winter" or "Deep Winter.")

Anyway, this year, the Parade was amazingly beautiful!!! The snow foxes led the procession, and Kidu's tribe followed them. (Coach's people -- the polar bears -- always bring up the rear!) Some of the snow-fox couples had their kits with them -- y' know, their little families of baby foxes -- who were only about seven or eight months old!

All of the animals were either carrying beautiful white candles decorated with icicles, or were wearing softly-tinkling faerie bells. Some of the foxes, hares, and bears were shepherding magical orbs of rainbow light that were hovering in the air above the Parade. (For real! It was AMAZING!)

There's always a choir, too, made up of all the animals. (This year, they paraded in the shape of a snowflake!) And they sang these beautiful soft songs about wind and snow and ice. ... Then, at the end, all the polar bears gathered in a circle, and, all at once, they raised up on their hind legs, let out a big ROAR!, and released a HUGE magical fire-ball of light that traveled up and up into the sky, where it exploded like a cobalt-blue puff ball! Then everybody cheered! It was the most beautiful Parade yet!

OH! And throw THIS snowball! ... Mrs. Claus came up to me, after the Parade! She showed me the tiny touque she's knitted for Mipps! (OMG, it's so cute and fuzzy!) And Mrs. C asked me if I would make sure that Mipps receives our gift of thanks! (Me! Mrs. C asked me!)

I was so excited that I left the Parade right away and ran back to the Barn. I put the touque in the exact same place where I left Mipps my note! Hooves crossed that he gets his special present! I'll have to keep you guys posted! ...

For now, tho, I'm off the the big cookie party at the Factory! (Mr. and Mrs. C always deliver platters and platters of home-baked thank-you cookies to the elves on December 23rd -- which is today!) So I'll write again as soon as I can!

Love, Cupid

HI! Itz Comet! I M txtng U from Finland!

[I M on Donder's HooFFone] Trainingz been

+hard but also RAD. & OMG the Tunnel ROX!

We LOVE Vuokatti! I'll give U all the 411 when

we get back -- which iz 2NITE! We R getting redy

2 fly home rite now. Which means we'll B home

in time 4 the Solstice Parade!!! YESS!!! We R

sooper tired, but totally redy 4 Flt Nt! Which iz

only 2 DAYS AWAY!!! Coach iz happy, & the Team iz 2.

... LOL -- Dndr just threw a snowball @ me.

O! Cuz itz time 2 put R pax on & get in2 formation

4 the flt home. !!! I'll write more as soon as I can!

B cool! --Cmt