With Halloween over, today is traditionally the day that the Christmas decorations come out, so it is appropriate that an iconic animal associated with the festivity is getting a jump on the holiday spirit by joining the list of species to have its genome sequenced. Published today in the open-access journal GigaScience, is an article describing the sequencing and analysis of the reindeer genome. This work, although unlikely to reveal why Santa’s reindeer can fly, provides a great resource for gaining greater understanding of the processes of evolution, domestication, animal husbandry, and adaptation to extreme environments.