MARYVILLE, Tenn. — Santa and his sleigh are getting ready for the trek around the world come Christmas Eve, but did you know he has backup reindeer?
Santa's southern fleet of reindeer in East Tennessee are in Maryville at Reindeer Retreat. Romeo, Curly and Dominic aren't even a year old yet, but they have some big hooves to fill.
They are preparing just in case the big guy needs reinforcements. Jim Enos is preparing them for the chance to pull Santa's sleigh.
"We are feeding them well and we're making sure that they get plenty of rest because if Santa calls at 2 o'clock in the morning, they're gonna have to be ready to go," Enos nodded.
That's right. Enos owns one of Santa's backup reindeer facilities.
"If one of his reindeer were to get injured on Christmas Eve, let's say slip on a roof or something, then he could immediately go to a backup reindeer facility and he could pick up a backup reindeer and be off on his way and still make all of his deliveries on time," Enos explained.
So, how does the big guy know where to get the reindeer? Of course, he's high tech.
"There's a tag in our reindeer's ears," Enos pointed out. "That tag actually goes to an app on Santa's phone. So when Santa is out, because it's the middle of the night and he needs to find the nearest reindeer, all he has to do is turn on his phone, open the app, and it will locate the nearest reindeer that he can have for a backup."
In the meantime, the boys are playing reindeer games and learning to float in flight school.
"They learn how to avoid obstacles, they've got to learn smooth landings and smooth takeoffs and they've got to learn to take off from slippery surfaces and also land on slippery surfaces," Enos smiled.
Until then, the three reindeers' hooves and antlers are at the ready in case the call comes in.
Reindeer are highly regulated by the USDA. There are only four licensed reindeer farms in the entire state of Tennessee. If you would like to learn more about the farm, you can visit the website at reindeerretreat.com or visit the organization's Facebook page.