The crowd's cheering filled Donner Stadium on the first day of the Reindeer Games. Thousands of elves wearing their gaudiest reindeer-themed sweaters packed the stands. Human news crews filled the front rows, their bulky cameras trained on the sky above the arena as they waited for the opening ceremony to begin.

Instead of betting candy with Clarice over who would win each event or sharing a massive antler-shaped churro with his mom, James sat beside Gloria in the judges' booth. She crunched on a handful of peppermints as they waited for the opening ceremony. "Shouldn't be much longer now that Gabe's coming out," she said.

James leaned forward as a hush fell over the stadium. There was Gabe, walking into the center with his head held high. He waved to the crowd before pulling something out of his pocket. The whole crowd held its breath.

Gabe fired the flare gun, sending a flame arching over them like a shooting star.

As that faded, an even brighter redness appeared over the horizon, accompanied by the sound of jingle bells. Closer and closer it came until the crowd roared with excitement.

Santa had arrived.

James waved to his dad as he guided his most elite team through a series of loops and spirals. As Santa soared out of the final trick, he blasted a rainbow of tinsel out of the back of the sleigh, sending it raining onto the crowd below in a shining aurora.

With the opening performance complete, Nick stood to address the crowd while his father landed the sleigh and started making his way to his seat.

"Bloody tinsel everywhere," Nick muttered as he picked shiny strands off of his reindeer-print tie, not realizing his microphone was already on. He flushed with embarrassment and cleared his throat. "Welcome to the four hundredth annual Reindeer Games. Thank you for joining us as the reindeer compete to see who will help Santa on his annual journey around the world. It is tradition that..."

As Nick delivered a long, yawn-inducing speech about the history of the Games, Gabe plopped himself next to James. "While he's yapping, let's get you up to speed. Gloria?"

She handed James a pen and a pile of papers as thick and heavy as a fruitcake.

"Don't worry," Gabe said as James gaped at the paperwork, "you'll just be judging the takeoffs for the junior division. It's a pretty straightforward event, so it's perfect for your first shot at judging."

James glanced at the rubric. It contained only two criteria: launch and landing. They both had a scale next to them consisting of ten reindeer faces, with the lowest scoring one crying and the highest with a smile as wide as its antlers.

"For each launch and landing," Gabe explained, "you'll judge them based on ease, speed, and stability. For example, if one of them gets in the air easily and quickly but wobbles a bunch, I'd give them a six or seven. Make sense?"

"I think so." James fidgeted with his pencil, wincing as his gloves chafed against his blister-speckled fingers.

"As long as you trust your gut, you'll be fine. The big guy knows you're in training, so just think of this as practice."

With Nick's speech finally over, jingling bells echoed through the stadium as dozens of young bucks and does marched in formation. Santa's elite team welcomed them with thunderous applause, sending up flurries of snow as they slammed their hooves into the ground. More than a few youngsters reared onto their hind legs to get a better look at their heroes and, in some cases, their parents.

But one little reindeer only had eyes for James.

Ruby smiled the second she spotted him, only to wince as she trailed behind the other reindeer in her row. Her nose flickered as she limped back into position.

"Looks like she overdid herself again," Gabe said.

"Hopefully this will be a good learning experience for her," Gloria said, staring straight at James.

A lump formed in James's throat. If he hadn't let her get carried away, she wouldn't be so sore.

"I'll guide you through the first couple contestants," Gabe said. "Then we'll let you score some on your own."

The first contestant, a pure white buck with what looked to be his first set of antlers, dashed forward. His first jump barely took him a foot off the ground, with his second doing little better. At last, his third try sent him into the sky. His hooves delicately tapped the air on his way back down until he stood on the ground with a trembling smile and even shakier legs.

"What do you think?" Gabe asked.

James bit his lip, squinting at the rubric. "I'd give him a five for launching since he had a hard time getting up. He was pretty careful on his way down, so I'd say he deserves a seven for landing."

Gloria snorted.

Gabe shushed her. "That's a point or two too generous in my book. Remember, the reindeer that perform the best over the course of the Games will be helping Santa on the big night. We need to make sure we can trust them to do their job well."

James nodded and marked down a three for the launch and a six for the landing.

Next came a doe who shot into the air as if she'd lived her whole life in the sky. Her landing was less impressive. She hit the snow with all the grace of a sack of potatoes, although she at least landed firmly on her feet.

"Ten for takeoff." James bit his lip. "Then a six for the landing."

"Now you're getting it." Gabe showed him his scores, a nine and a six. "Like I said before, you don't have to match my scores exactly, but it's good to see we're basically on the same page. Now, let's see how the next one does."

Gabe talked him through the next handful of contestants, pointing out things to watch for like excessive bounciness and drifting. Once he was satisfied that James had gotten a hang of the basics, Gabe let him score contestants on his own, with their results to be compared after the event.

James scored countless reindeer. A two for one that smacked face first into the stands, coming away with a bucket of popcorn stuck on his head. An eight for a mostly effortless takeoff aside from a dip in the middle. A six for slipping mid-landing. The task became almost as natural to him as breathing,

Then it was Ruby's turn.

Her eyes searched the audience. Her nose blinked faintly at the sight of James, but her legs trembled. "Never thought she'd be the type to get stage fright," Gloria muttered.

"You can do it," James mouthed.

She nodded and took a deep breath. The crowd hushed in anticipation.

She ran.

Her sprint turned into a stumble as her legs quivered beneath her. She hopped half a dozen times before finally taking flight.

The audience's cheering turned to cries of horror as she immediately plummeted. Her legs flailed as she struggled to regain altitude, but couldn't even rise an inch. She hit the ground with an echoing thud that knocked icicles off the stands.

Gabe winced as she limped back to the contestants' holding pen. "Holy chestnuts, that has to hurt!"

James's pencil hovered around the low end of the scale. After how hard she'd practiced, it hurt to see how badly she'd done. She'd be devastated!

"There will be other events," Gabe said gently. "And there's always next year."

James gave her a combined score of three.

The rest of the event passed in a blur. After the last of the youngsters landed, Santa came down to the judges while a team of elves prepped the stadium for the adults.

"Did everything go alright?" he asked as he collected the rubrics for the junior division.

"Yup," Gabe said. "Your boy's got a real knack for this."

"He even made a real tough call today," Gloria said.

James looked at her in surprise. There wasn't a hint of her usual annoyance in her voice. In fact, she was smiling.

Yet, he couldn't bring himself to feel the same way. His eyes burned with unshed tears as he thought about how Ruby would react to her score.

"Is that so?" Santa asked.

"Dad, I— "

"Well done, James! Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get these to Nick so he can do whatever he does with the data."

James deflated as his dad's bright red suit faded back into the stands.

"That's enough for today," Gabe said. He passed James a handful of jellybeans from his pocket. "Here's a little something for doing such a great job on your first day judging. We'll see you back at the stables later for some nice hot chocolate, okay?"

"Okay," James said quietly. His enthusiasm had crashed as badly as Ruby had, and for once it would take a lot more than candy to brighten his mood.