Mrs. Claus poured Santa one more cup of tea as he contemplated his upcoming journey. It was a cold night and it was expected to get colder. If it wasn't Christmas Eve, Santa would have opted to sit in front of the fire and read the latest issue of Mushing Magazine. He got up and walked to their bedroom where Mrs. Claus had set out the clothes that would guarantee his warmth. He pulled on his black, wool pants and laced up his mukluks. Santa then looked around the room for his sweater but it was nowhere to be seen. Just as he started to yell "Honey, where…", Mrs. Claus walked in with a new mohair sweater she had been knitting in secret the last few weeks. She handed it to him with a smile on her face that was only matched by his. He slid it over his head and leaned over and gave Mrs. Claus a kiss on the cheek while pulling up the suspenders on his pants. He then strolled over to the door where his polar- fleece, fur-lined jacket and hat hung. As he buttoned the coat he noticed the suede, fur backed mittens hanging from his sleeves and smiled to himself thinking that he was glad he hadn't yelled out "where are my mittens?". He reached for the door and turned to Mrs. Claus and said "Don't wait up." She replied "You know I will". He touched his nose and then faced the same finger towards her . She likewise responded. He paused for a moment looking at her and then quickly turned and headed for the kennel.

The dogsled had been readied by his handlers and its suede leather sled bag was stocked full of the rewards for all the kids who had met his expectations. There were jack-in-the-boxes, board games, foosball tables, etch-a-sketches, tonka trucks, ant farms, teddy bears, dolls, a stick pony, sock monkeys, wooden rocking horses, teams of army men, trolls, plastic horses, fairy tale books, and activity books.

He approached his three huskies already bouncing against their leather gang line causing the woven leather harnesses to go taunt. Santa gave them all a scratch behind the ears while he whispered "Good Dog". From behind the team he grabbed a box of dog biscuits and some rawhide rope chews. Quietly he opened the dog biscuit box as six husky ears perked and three husky mouths smiled. He stuck a couple biscuits in the pocket of his pants for a treat sometime down the trail. After making sure that his skis and snowshoes were properly secured he stepped up on the runners of his dogsled.

Reaching down for his snow hook, Santa inspected his team and called out "Everybody". The dogs all leaned into their harness. He extracted the hook , said "Pull" and they disappeared into the cold, snowy night.
Despite the cold and the snow the trail was remaining clear enough for Santa and the Huskies to make good time on their deliveries. They ran like the wind with the homes of the good little boys and girls being their checkpoints. The Huskies did their jobs flawlessly.

Like most years Santa's circle route had him heading back through Alaska. This gave him a little extra darkness in his quest to finish before dawn. As he passed through the little ghost town of Iditarod he fondly remembered the time in 1908 he stopped there to give his team a rest. He had needed water for the Huskies, so he made a hole in the river ice. On one of his dips for water he noticed something glimmering in the bottom of his bucket. On further inspection he discovered a gold nugget. He walked back to his furry friends; who were jumping and happily howling. To see these dogs still so happy after this tiresome night caused him to toss away the nugget with the thought "I have already had MY share of luck".

This night had went perfectly like most of the Christmases before. Santa was tired, but energized by the thoughts of the happiness he was sharing. He was approaching one of his last stops at a little cabin outside Nome when the trail disappeared in front of him. The dogs instinctively tried to follow the trail but the deepness of the snow impeded their progress. They heard Santa give a "Whoa" and they instantly came to a halt. He put down his snow hook and kicked it into the ground. He unfastened his snowshoes from the sled and as he walked away to find a place to sit down, he said to the Huskies, "You have been Good Dogs. It will be a treat to put my feet in the snowshoes and be in front of the sled.". Little did he realize that what the dogs heard was "Blah GOOD DOGS blah blah blah blah TREAT blah blah IN blah blah blah SLED, and took it to be instructions to find their own dog biscuits. So the three mischievous Huskies went to the sled bag and started digging for them. They tossed toys everywhere as they searched. Santa turned around just in time to see them dump the biscuits into the snow. Santa started to yell but stopped as he surveyed the humorous scene before him. And his stunted yell turned into a thunderous laugh. The Huskies recognized this sound to mean that they had been VERY good dogs.

Of course, Santa knew this little reinforcement might cause him some trouble in the future, but he couldn't help continuing to laugh all the way through his final deliveries and ultimately to the front of his house. There his laugh stopped and turned into a smile. Through the front window he could see Mrs. Claus still awake in front of the fire knitting whatever. Another Husky was curled up on her feet, keeping them warm. Santa kenneled his dogs who howled a good night as he walked to the house. Mrs. Claus was waiting for him at the front door with eyes glistening like the snow surrounding him. She held out her upturned hand. He likewise responded.