Rachel the Reindeer scanned the job posting on the bulletin board at the post office.

“Looking for large four-legged animals to help pull a sleigh. Must be a team player. Must like cold weather. Extensive travel required during holidays. Knowing how to fly is a plus, but not required. Flying lessons will be provided. Interested applicants can contact Mr. Santa Claus for more information.”

“Must like cold weather,” she read again. Sure beats the heat here in North Carolina, Rachel thought as she wiped the sweat from her brow with her hoof.

She and her friends and family migrated to the state from a colder climate thinking the warm weather might be a nice change. What they didn’t count on was how much hotter their heavy coat would make them feel. Despite the fact that they shed the thick wool undercoat when the weather gets warm, the summers were still especially hard for them. A nice farmer who let them live on his land hosed them down to cool them off on the hottest days and provided them with lots of shade to get out of the sun. But Rachel still missed the iceskatehoofing and wished her snowdeer would last more than a day before it melted.

Over the nightly dinner of grass and shrub sprouts, Rachel told her friends about the job opportunity she’d read earlier that day. She was surprised to find that her friends weren’t as excited as she was to get back to the cold.

“I kind of like not digging through the snow with my hooves and antlers for food,” said Ralph.
“And I can keep my beard trimmed up because I don’t need it to protect my lips from the cold,” said Ronnie.

Rachel had a fitful sleep that night debating whether to take the chance and travel north for the job. The next morning she’d made up her mind that she was ready for a change and called Mr. Claus to get the details.

“Ho, Ho, Hello, Claus speaking, how can I help you?” boomed a jolly voice from the other end of the phone. Rachel asked about the job and told Mr. Claus about her qualifications, and she was hired on the spot.

Rachel wasn’t at the North Pole very long before she remembered all the reasons she loved the cold. Her wide, splayed hooves made walking on the snow easy, and her heavy coat blocked out the chill. Even flying wasn’t as hard as she thought it would be once Mr. Claus taught her the secret trick to getting off the ground.

Eventually, Rachel was able to persuade all her friends to join her in the North Pole. Even though they did miss an occasional trip to the beach, they were all excited to find that their job as sleigh pullers on Christmas meant they got to return to North Carolina each year on Dec. 24.