Santa needs additional reindeer this year to get the job done, according to documentation filed with the NWT government.
On Thursday morning, the territory’s Department of Environment and Climate Change said it had issued one Kris Kringle of address “North Pole” with a reindeer transport licence – which is an actual thing – for December 24-26, 2023.
Far from being a ploy to harvest Facebook shares, the department said issuing the licence to Santa “allows the reindeer to move freely from rooftop to rooftop across the territory and the rest of the world.”
But a close examination of this year’s licence – compared to last year’s, when the department pulled the same stunt performed the same vital exercise – shows that Santa feels the need for extra deerpower in 2023.
A year go, the territory’s licence only permitted nine reindeer.
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For Christmas 2023, Santa’s licence adds three alternate reindeer for a total of 12.
The three alternates are Olive (the other reindeer, who used to laugh and call Rudolph names), a reindeer that may be Rudolph’s son Robbie – though the ages given in the document suggest this is unlikely – and a third reindeer who may be Robbie’s onetime Reindeer Games coach, Ol’ Jingle.
Kringle could not be reached for comment, and the departmental staff responsible perhaps wisely sloped off for the territorial government’s annual mandatory holiday leave before posting the reindeer licence to Facebook, so the reason for this year’s extra reindeer is not immediately clear.
It’s possible that Santa, realizing the various disasters that faced the NWT in 2023, is attempting to bring extra gifts this year in a last-ditch bid to spread some joy.
But it’s also possible that in 2022, everyone had been sufficiently bad that a lighter load was necessary, and 2023 simply marks a return to normal service.
