Santa fell off the log.

But he jumped up again when he saw who arrived.

"Holy Martin Luther!" He exclaimed. "You scared me! But it's good to see you guys!"

And then he looked at Antonio.

"The famous Antonio," he said.

"The famous Santa!" Antonio replied, grinning widely. "Where's the famous sleigh?"

"Inside the famous barn," Santa answered. And then he looked at all the children.

"What do we have here?"

"Four kids," Matthew put in.

"And an elf," Alfred added.

"Big brother."

"Nice to meet you, Emil," said Santa.

"'e brought them," Berwald pointed at Antonio. "It h'd nothing to do with m'."

"Well, the more the merrier!" Santa exclaimed. "We need children tonight."

Santa looked down at the elf. Berwald looked up at him. Berwald's glare frightened the Tino Santa, but no one also ever needed to know that.

"…I-is there something you need?" Santa asked, voice low so as not to let the kids know.

"…..Wife."

Also not wanting anybody to know that, Santa quickly spun around and faced Antonio.

"So, do you think you can do it?" he asked.

"Of course!" The dog replied. "The name's Bond. Antonio Bond."

Santa put the blue harness over Antonio's back.

"Is that too tight?"

"Nope! Are we ready to go?"

The children climbed on the sleigh.

"Is that Rudolph?!" Alfred asked excitedly. The Danish red-nosed-reindeer was still asleep on the straw.

"He's having the night off," Santa explained.

"He only works one night a year," Antonio put in. "But who's complaining? Are we ready?"

Rudolph opened his eyes.

"A dog pulling my sleigh?!" he asked, slightly outraged. "I'm going out of my mind."

Santa covered Rudolph with the blanket again and patted him until he fell back asleep. Then he went over to Antonio.

"Antonio," he whispered, "I don't think we can do it."

"Of course we can! Trust me," Antonio replied.

"I do trust you. It's not the speed. It's the chimneys, the bedrooms, the tricky stuff. I don't think we have the time."

"Guess what I have?" Antonio asked.

"What?"

"An idea." Antonio said. And that's how the lizards cam back into the story.

Feliciano kissed Hans on the forehead.

"Thanks for the fly, Hans!"

"Thanks for eating it."

They were under the dead bush back in Canada. But suddenly, they weren't. The bush was gone and they were in Santa's sleigh.

They landed and bounced, and landed again. Then Hans saw Antonio, smiling happily. He groaned.

"Cold enough for you?" Antonio asked. Then Hans and Feliciano noticed it was very cold.

How cold?

Did you ever stick your hand in the freezer for ten minutes?

No.

Why not?

Because it's too cold.

Well, that's how cold it was. And Hans loved it.

Hans and Feliciano jumped onto the sleigh. They landed on Lukas' lap, and then fell to the floor.

"Now," said Antonio, "¡Vámonos! Let's go!"

Santa stood up in the sleigh. He laughed then shouted

"I agree! Let's go!"

And away they went.

Out of the barn door, into the yard, across the snow and up, pulled by the mighty Antonio. Up, up, and away. Into the air, into the sky. Berwald waved goodbye.

Hang on.

What now?

I know that a reindeer can fly sometimes, but what about Antonio? I've never seen a flying dog. Except for the one who was running after a plane and bit the wheel just as it took off. But what about Antonio? He can't fly, can he?

Nine times out of ten, ninety-nine time out of one hundred, dogs can't fly. Take your dog to the park and say "Raivis, fly!" Raivis will probably sit there and look at you with one of those faces that say "Sorry pal. I'll chase your ball, I'll fetch your stick, I'll steal your shoe, I'll lick your granny's bald head, but I'm not going to fly today." So, fair enough, dogs can't fly. BUT when you're hanging around Santa, you can expect magic things to happen, and that was what was happening now. Magic. And good magic an never be explained. The real thing. Santa magic. Once-a-year magic. BUT here's a secret: This time magic can be explained. The sleigh could fly, and Antonio with it, because kids all over the world believed that it would. The kids of the whole world kept that thing in the air. It was as simple as that. That's why Santa was worried. If kids stopped believing, the sleigh wouldn't fly, Antonio wouldn't fly, and Rudolph wouldn't fly. The sleigh, the sacks, the whole lot would tumble to the ground. No more magic, no more Christmas, and no more Santa. If they couldn't deliver all the presents tonight, it would be over. Kids would stop believing and Christmas Day would become just another day of the year, a day off school, a day off work- nothing more. Antonio was pulling more than a sleigh full of presents. He was pulling the future of Christmas. But he didn't know that. Only Santa knew.

Back to the story.

Antonio didn't know how he could fly, but he knew he would. When he jumped, when he felt his paws climbing the air like it was solid and friendly, he knew he was in the magic hands of Santa.

"I'm impressed!" he shouted over his shoulder.

"Nothing to it!" Santa shouted back.

Santa was glad there were kids on board. They made up for the loss of Rudolph. Antonio flew beautifully, like and eagle with invisible wings.

Up, up they went.

They saw the world below, the shining snow of Northern Finland, the farmhouses, the lights from the kitchen windows lighting the snow.

Up and away.

They saw snow-coated trees and the lights from the Spar supermarket in a town called Muonio.

Up, up, up.

They saw the lights of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. And blocks of ice shining like giant diamonds on the Gulf of Finland. Up, up, into the clouds, and up.