Every year Christmas comes along, and with it are nativities erected, lights strung up, and five obnoxious songs are played ad nauseum in retail stores all over the nation. And of course, what is Christmas without Santa Claus, the legendarily jolly giftgiver of the holiday? An interesting thing to note about Santa Claus is the extensive collective mythos created for him over the years. What was originally a Turkish saint who put coins in the stockings of a poor family has morphed over the years, via the minds of many different authors, into an entirely new person: Santa Claus. There is a Mrs. Claus, he lives in the North Pole, little elves work for him, and he flies around on a sleigh pulled by eight flying reindeer. The 1823 poem A Visit From Saint Nicolas, better known as The Night Before Christmas, even introduced the names of Santa’s reindeer. There is Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, and Blitzen. In 1939 another reindeer was added to the roster - Rudolph.

Here’s a question that you have probably never asked nor heard before: Which of the reindeer is best and which is worst? Now, to be entirely honest, there really is nothing separating Santa’s reindeer. Sans Rudolph, the others seem to be exactly the same. There are so many Christmas specials and movies detailing the personality of each reindeer, but many of them conflict and they almost all have different interpretations of them. So how am I going to rank Santa’s reindeer? The criteria about who’s better will (almost) solely be based on the reindeer’s names and the vibes it gives me. There is an exception to this rule, and you probably already know who it is. Now let’s get into the real meat of the ranking.

9. Donder/Donner

I’m going to assume that Donder is some sort of mincing of the word ‘Thunder’, but in a way that removes any and all aura the word had. I’m assuming that this means Donder is fast, right? Except thunder isn’t associated with speed, lightning is. Thunder is associated with noise. And then, for some reason, after the original poem this one has been renamed to Donner. I would prefer my reindeer not to share the same name as a group of cannibalistic pioneers.

8. Dasher

On paper this isn’t too bad of a name. Dasher, huh? Means this reindeer must be fast, right? That doesn’t sound bad. Sadly for Dasher, there are two, arguably three reindeer whose names also mean ‘faster’. Dasher is the lamest sounding of the three (not counting Donder), earning him his spot in eighth place.

7. Cupid

Cupid? This isn’t Valentine’s Day, it’s Christmas! Anyways, I’ve seen a lot of Christmas specials with Santa’s reindeer, and in most of them, Cupid is a girl. But Cupid in Roman mythology is a boy. It means nothing at all but is a pet peeve of mine. Anyways, this is still an absurd name because Cupid is the god of romantic love, and I’m not sure what a reindeer has to do with it.

6. Prancer

I know what prancing means. It means for a horse (or a reindeer) to move in high springy steps, which doesn’t sound too bad. In fact, it makes more sense of a name than the other -ancer (we’ll get to them in a bit). But prancing, and by extension, Prancer, is a stupid sounding word. It does not strike any images of majesty in my mind.

5. Vixen

I don’t really understand the thought process behind this name. A vixen is defined as either a female fox or an attractive woman. It is a name, yet not the most baffling. Vixen I would say comes in as a clutch for holiday special writers when they need to make one of the reindeer a girl. Not a good name but not a bad one either.

4. Dancer

Having made it past the halfway mark we now see the cream of the crop among reindeer naming. And yet, there still has to be a bottom tier among the elite. Dancer is a decent name, better than any other we’ve seen so far. I’ve seen horses dance before, surely it couldn’t be too hard to teach a reindeer to do the same? Basic, but not boring. A bit too close to Prancer though for my liking.

3. Comet

Unlike fellow reindeer Prancer, Comet is a name that not only makes sense (comets are fast!) but also brings up good images in my mind (comets are cool!). Santa really knew what he was thinking when he came up with this name. This one is number 3 only because it’s easy to make fun of by comparing it to the sink cleaner with the same name.

2. Blitzen

Going solely off the original eight reindeer Blitzen takes the cake. They have the name with the best ring, and it has good meaning too (German word for lightning, which is actually fast unlike thunder). Above all else, this sounds like an actually cool name. If I had a racehorse, or even a nice sports car, I would name it Blitzen.

1. Rudolph

This name sucks, to be honest. It doesn’t really mesh in with the other reindeer having more like pet names than human names. However, it alliterates: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Rudolph’s stories stay the most consistent across adaptations (unless the creator wanted an edgy take on the character), and his position as the reindeer in front makes him very iconic. Still, what puts Rudolph head and antlers above the rest is that he is actually unique. He has a glowing red nose to basically be Santa’s headlights. It’s a shame he was bullied by the other reindeer because, unlike them, he has something to write home about other than his name.

That concludes our holiday ranking. As a reminder, this is my personal opinion. If you disagree, I would encourage you to write your own ranking of the reindeer like I did, and say why you chose those placements. With that I’d like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Hanukkah or a Happy Kwanzaa or a Joyful Yuletide or even a Blessed Boxing Day, and a Happy New Year!

My favorite Thanksgiving dish is my grandmother’s Salvadorean Turkey Sandwich (Panes Con Pavo). My grandmother prepares the Salvadoran turkey with lots of spices that fill the air as it cooks in the oven. When the Turkey is ready, it has crispy skin and a flavorful broth. The turkey sandwich is made of French bread that is dipped into the broth, filled with turkey slices, and topped with crispy lettuce. When you bite into the sandwich, your taste buds explode! It is the perfect combination of bready, juicy, spicy, and crispy textures packed with flavor. This is one of the very few Thanksgiving dishes I like to eat. It is not Thanksgiving dinner with my family without it; it is the only time we get to enjoy the dish at my grandmother’s house.

In order to learn more about favorite Thanksgiving foods, I asked current ATC students to answer a survey on what their favorite dish is and why, as well as their least favorite dish and why.