You guys...I know the most amazing man and his name is Santa (Lou).

I'm doing a Holiday illustration project on Instagram sharing illustrations daily through Dec. 25 and today the topic was "Reindeer".

I also shared today's illo on Facebook and asked Santa to write a poem and he answered!

Keep scrolling to read it.

The Squirrels Save Christmas

by Santa Lou Pell      Illustrated by Kathy Jurek

The squirrels ran around and chattered,
It was almost Christmas day,
But something wasn’t right this year,
Just what they couldn’t say,

The tree was up and decorated,
The lights twinkled off and on,
And then it hit them,
Just what was missing,
The reindeer were all gone,

When the squirrels first visited Santa,
The reindeer were in the pen,
But there wasn’t so much as an antler or hoof,
When they went back again,

Now where they went,
Or why they left,
The squirrels didn’t know,
But they heard the disappointment,
In Santa’s Ho Ho Ho,

So the squirrels thought, and thought some more,
Suddenly they knew what to do,
If the kids could make Frosty come to life,
Then that should work for snowdeer, too,

So they all began rolling up big snowballs,
A second and a third a bit smaller,
Then they stacked them
And added some antler sticks,
Which made them a little bit taller,

Only the snowdeer didn’t come to life,
And the squirrels thought, how could that be,
They had everything put together just right,
Eight snowdeer down to a tee,
But then they remembered the magical hat,

And felt so silly by forgetting,
But none of them knew where to find such a hat,
That thought became rather upsetting,
Then one of them shouted,

I know where there’s magic,
Just come with me and see,
Inside Santa’s home,
Beneath a beautiful glass dome,
Was a magical Christmas tree,

The squirrels removed a magical bulb,
One for each snowdeer outside,
Then draped it on one of their antlers,
They’re alive, they’re alive,
They all cried,

When Santa saw what the squirrels had done,
He smiled so jolly and said,
Be thinking of a special gift that you’d like,
While I hitch the snowdeer to my sled,

Now the only thing the squirrels really wanted,
Was to join with Santa in flight,
To help deliver toys,
To all the good girls and boys,
On a beautiful, and starry, silent night.

Follow me @littlesplashesofcolor on Instagram if you'd like to see these daily illustrations.