PLAYING REINDEER GAMES; DANCER, PRANCER AND RUDY CALL FARM HOME

ANNA, Ill. -- Holiday Farms is the site of some Christmas activities rarely seen below the Arctic Circle -- reindeer games.

Larry and Pam Miles, owners of Holiday Farms, house three reindeer on their 100-acre farm: Dancer, Prancer and Rudy. Not only have the Miles seen the reindeer games, they've seen examples of how all the other Christmas myths came about -- including one famous jingle.

"It's kind of humorous, you know -- `Up on the rooftop, click, click, click,'" Larry Miles said, explaining that reindeer actually make a clicking sound when they walk. "That's a tendon going over a bone. They use it in the tundra, during a white-out or something like that, to find each other."

Reindeer don't fly, "except Christmas Eve, then we've got to throw an anchor on them." But they do pull sleighs in some parts of Scandinavia.

"I've heard that they leap but I've never seen it until just a little while ago," Pam Miles said. "You've seen those pictures of Santa's reindeer where they have their front legs folded back under them. That's what they were doing."

Even though they look like they could take off flying at any moment, Pam said the 3-foot reindeer can't clear the 4-foot-fence that encloses them.

Reindeer are a different species than Whitetail Deer and more closely related to Caribou. They don't have upper teeth. They can be stubborn. They're prone to heat exhaustion in the summer. Their hooves are flatter than a deer's and look almost like a snowshoe. Both males and females have antlers, although the males racks are much larger and the males know how to use them.

"We stayed away from Rudy when they were in heat. He was mean," Larry said. "Anytime anyone was around he'd kind of duck his head and look like he was going to take you in if you came in there."

The Mileses feed them reindeer food sold by Purina and for treats they like apples and grapes. "Apples are their favorite treats," Pam Miles said. "That's like a Hershey bar to us."

The males grow to about 300 pounds, the females about 200, and their faces look like a cow's with antlers. The Mileses got Dancer and Prancer, the females, in September. Rudy is on loan to them and they're hoping he'll help them increase their herd.

The reindeers' coats are thick and rough, making them look much heavier than they are. The coats let them endure anything the Missouri winter can throw at them, but makes it difficult for them to endure the summer.

"What we're going to do is rig up some kind of special shelter and put a fan in it," Larry said. "The heat takes a toll on them. They're not very active at all during the summer."

The Mileses added the reindeer as the latest step in making Holiday Farms the complete Christmas shop. They'd like to have six reindeer and teach them to pull a sleigh or covered wagon. The farm, which already has 35 acres of Christmas trees and offers wreaths and garlands, will eventually have a Santa's workshop complete with a Santa.

Pam said she tells the hundreds of children that come through the farm on school tours that the reindeer only fly once a year.

"That's the first thing they ask is, can they fly," she said. "We tell them that Santa doesn't mind us having them because we feed them and take care of them."