I walked out of our house and saw a reindeer standing in the middle of our front yard. The morning sunrise of orange and red painted the backdrop of a beautiful Christmas morning. In the freshly fallen snow, there were little hoof prints that led straight up to a “rain-meer” as my 4-year-old sister exclaimed.

 

That was Christmas 2010 and we had just finished moving into our new house that has wood that back up behind it.  We were opening presents and something caught my sister's eye as she ran up to the window. It was such a magical moment to have seen a reindeer in our front yard. What she didn't know was that it was just an average Jo deer. But to her it was “Dancer,” one of Santa's reindeer.

 

After spotting it, my sister ran to the fridge and came back with apple slices and baby carrots. With her bright eyes opened wide and her hands full of produce, we silently walked out the front door. She placed the reindeer’s snack on our porch, and we took a seat on the bench.

 

Waiting silently, we sat there for about 20 minutes before the deer noticed its snack and walked toward us. As still as we could sit, we watched the deer munch down on the baby carrots about 6 feet away. The deer finished up and walked back out to the yard. My sister’s excitement couldn't be contained and the innocent joy spread through all of us as we piled out of the cold back inside.

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My sister revived our family with the Christmas spirit and let us all focus on the priceless Christmas joy rather than ones we get from presents. 12/12/16