December 22, 1994 - A Story of Santa and His Four-Footed Elf6A • The Suffolk Times • December 22, 1994
A Story of Santa and His Four - Footed Elf
By Paul Stoutenburgh
This is a Christmas story for young
and old about Fuzzy Tail, a gray squirrel
who had a most exciting adventure one
Christmas Eve.
It all started about dawn, just after a
wonderful snowfall that covered the
ground where Fuzzy Tail had hidden his
winter's supply of
nuts. Usually it Focus on
was no problem
for him to sniff Nature
them out and then
dig them up for
eating but with the new - fallen snow on
the ground it made it much more diffi-
cult. He was sitting up in his treehouse
made of leaves in the back yard of little
Chelsea and Paulie, trying to figure out
what to do, when he noticed a big red
sled and eight reindeer up on the roof.
Then he remembered it was Christmas.
The reindeer and sleigh could only mean
that Santa must be nearby, too. He'd
have to check it all out and so he leaped
over to the roof where the two children
slept below. Then he jumped up into the
sleigh where he sniffed all about.
His little gray nose knew there was
something special nearby. He went
through all the empty, red toy bags but
he couldn't find a thing until at the very
bottom he found a beautiful big walnut.
This was a real Christmas treat for usu-
ally he had only acorns or hickory nuts
to eat. As he gnawed away in the dark-
ness of the big, red bag he heard a deep,
melodious voice shout, "Now Dasher!
Now Dancer! Now Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On Cupid! On Donder and
Blitzen!" and all of a sudden the whole
place started to shake and move. The
sleigh was taking off with Fuzzy Tail
inside!
Once they were in The squirrel has an
the air the ride
smoothed out except old tradition of
when they hit a snow
cloud and then they'd eating sunflower
bounce around wildly. seed from your bird
As they went higher
and higher it became feeder. This story
colder and colder and tells how it all came
Fuzzy Tail was afraid
he might catch cold, so about.
he pulled some of the
big bag around him and curled up and
went fast asleep.
Little did he know that that had been
the last stop on Santa's Christmas Eve
journey and his next stop would be Santa
Land at the North Pole. For what seemed
to be an awfully long time the sleigh
kept going until finally it made a sharp
turn and swooped down in the most
frozen, snowcapped country you could
imagine. Little elves in bright -red suits
ran out and took the reindeer inside
where it was nice and warm. Then they
fed them, giving them an extra ration of
food for doing such a good job for Santa.
The sleigh was pushed into a big build-
ing that was used for storage and the
door shut tight. Gaboom! Santa in the
meantime had gone inside where it was
warm to sit down to a hearty
Christmas breakfast.
When everyone was gone
Fuzzy Tail snuck out of the t:
bag where he was hiding
and looked around. It
was a storeroom for all
sorts of things. It was
full of paints of all
colors, clothes for
dolls, metal for
trucks and a whole
....::::..:
new section for
computer parts
for the new -style
toys that some
boys and girls
wanted. But it
was so cold in
that big storeroom,
he looked around
to see how he could
get inside where it
was warm.
Everything was sealed
up tight. This didn't slow
Fuzzy Tail down because
he knew that with his espe-
cially strong, sharp teeth he
could chew through wooden walls
with no trouble at all. He started right
in chewing his way through and in no
time he was inside
where he hid behind
the big potbellied
stove. He hid most of
the day there and part
of the night. When all
went to sleep he was
able to find some
cookies that were left
out from an after -din-
ner snack.
Fuzzy Tail thought
he was completely
hidden behind the stove but his big,
fuzzy tail hung out and Santa was the
first to see him. Soon all of Santa's
helpers gathered around to look at the
new visitor that had just dropped in.
Everyone loved him and started to feed
him grapes and apples and big, delicious
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walnuts. Next day Santa put Fuzzy Tail
to work, easy jobs that he could do, like
cutting string and boring holes in wood
that he was especially good at.
A Year with Santa
All year long Fuzzy Tail worked with
Santa and his helpers as they made toys
for the next year. Everyone was busy.
There was a
special order
for certain little boys and girls who
wrote to Santa and it was Fuzzy Tail's
job to see that each was properly
wrapped and put in the right bag for
delivery next Christmas.
Time went by so quickly that it
seemed in no time at all it was
Christmas again. Everyone was busier
than ever. The reindeer bells were pol-
ished up and the sleigh was brought out
and given a new coat of paint. It was
starting to look like Christmas all over
again. All this time Fuzzy Tail was
happy but in a peculiar way he longed
for all his friends back home and the
trees he used to know where he could
climb up and jump from limb to limb
and gather acorns and hickory nuts. As a
matter of fact, he was getting pretty
tired of just plain walnuts all the time.
Then he had a plan: He'd hide in one of
those big toy bags and travel back home
with Santa when he went to deliver his
presents on Christmas Eve.
So it was that when the sleigh was
being loaded with the big, red bags of
toys, Fuzzy Tail sneaked out and worked
his way into the bag on the very bottom
where he pulled a doll's blanket over his
head and fell fast asleep. He vaguely
remembered bouncing around a little bit
on the ride and he remembered Santa
calling to the reindeer and stopping here
and there to deliver toys. Then off they'd
go to another house.
Santa was in his best red suit with his
big, shiny black belt and polished boots.
My, he looked handsome! His beard was
snowy white and had just recently been
brushed by Mrs. Santa so it was all nice
and fluffy. Every once in a while he
would hear that familiar call, "Now,
Dasher! Now Dancer!..." and off they'd
go again. Stop after stop was made. How
Santa got all those toys in the right hous-
es is still a mystery to this day.
Fuzzy Tail knew the schedule and had
purposely gotten into the bottom bag for
the last delivery and so when he was
picked up with the big bag of toys he
knew he was at last at home. Before he
knew it he was going down the
chimney with Santa. My, it was
dark and spooky in there.
All went well until
p.. halfway down when
the heavy cord
around the top of
<<..';. the bag caught
and Santa
went down
the chimney
leaving the
bag of toys
caught
u halfway
up. What
{ a
could he
do? He
., couldn't
reach it to
pull it
down .
Would he
have the
' leave it, for
it was getting
light outside
and Santa al-
ways had to leave
for the North Pole
before sunrise?
He thought to himself,
"Oh, if Fuzzy Tail were only
here." And he called out, "Fuzzy
Tail, if you were only here to help,
you could cut that cord with your sharp
teeth." Well, it didn't take Fuzzy Tail
long to figure out what to do. He quickly
chewed through the bag and climbed up
the side of the chimney to where the
cord was caught. Then, with his sharp
teeth, he cut it loose and everything,
including Fuzzy Tail, fell to the floor.
"Well, what are you doing here ?" Santa
said. Then Fuzzy Tail explained why he
had gotten into the bag. He wanted to be
back home at Christmas time.
A Special Gift
In no time Santa had placed all the
toys under the tree And had reached into
the bag for a special package of birdseed
he brought along for each family, for
Christmas meant sharing with everyone,
including the birds. Knowing how much
Fuzzy Tail enjoyed sunflower seeds
Santa told him that because he was so
good and helpful he was going to put
some out on the feeder and let him stay
back home where he belonged. After
that — well, you know the rest of the
story. "Laying his finger aside of his
nose, and giving a nod, up the chimney
he rose."
Fuzzy Tail, being very hungry, imme-
diately ran out and jumped onto the
feeder and began eating. Sunflower
seeds are his favorite and to this day all
squirrels know that bird feeders have
special seeds and that is why, boys and
girls, you will always see squirrels like
Fuzzy Tail on your feeder.
As Fuzzy Tail munched away, he
heard off in the distance Santa calling
out his familiar "Merry Christmas to all,
and to all a good night."
Photo by Barbara Stoutenburgh