The Lighter Side

Photo: Anthony Cramp
One imagines a bespectacled reindeer would know a thing or two about rain.

Donald V. Mehus
New York

One sometimes wonders just how well well-known instances of our popular Christmas music—the songs and carols et al.—are known around the world. In any case, here is an anecdote apropos the subject, set in the Russia of not so long ago:

In their Moscow apartment, a couple—Anna and Rudolf—are enjoying their breakfast one cold, blustery late autumn morning. Anna, glancing out the window, exclaims to her husband, “Oh, look, it’s sleeting!”

Rudolf looks out and says, “No, my dear, that’s rain.” Anna insists it’s sleet, and a lively discussion ensues as to just what kind of precipitation is falling down.

Finally, the husband, continuing to insist that he is right, asserts firmly to his wife: “Rudolph the Red knows rain, dear.”

This article originally appeared in the Dec. 26, 2014, issue of the Norwegian American Weekly. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.

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