Our stay in California will end the day after Christmas when we return to Mesa, Arizona for a few days. I promised to share some poetry with you, and I thought Christmas might be a good time to start. As you read the following poem, please remember that I wrote it when I was in high school. 

The Night Before Christmas 

"Twas the night before Christmas 
​And all through the home, 
​Rats and mice 
Were beginning to roam. 
The stockings were hung 
By the chimney with wire; 
I'd put them there, hoping 
That they'd catch on fire. 
The children were gagged 
​And tied to their beds, 
While visions of killing me 
Danced in their heads. 
I with my nightcap 
and Ma with her jug, 
Sat kicking the hound dog 
That lay on the rug. 
​Ma went to sleep, 
But I had a cause; 
I was staying awake 
To see Santa Claus. 
Out in the driveway 
I heard a loud roar; 
Someone was waiting 
​Outside our front door. 
I sprang to the window 
And then, with a crash, 
I fell through the shutters 
And into the trash. 
Then what to my wondering 
Eyes should appear, 
But my mother-in-law 
With a six-pack of beer. 
"You're not Santa Claus!" 
I said with a shout, 
As I bolted the door 
And locked the hag out. 
An hour or so later, 
​Across the dark sky 
Like a leaf in a gale, 
I saw Santa fly. 
Then up on the rooftop 
​I heard, I confess, 
A noise like a battle 
With Eliot Ness. 
And then from the chimney 
I heard a great shout, 
​And I realized the fire 
Had not been put out. 
Like a jet, up the chimney 
Flew the old man in red; 
And the words "Merry Christmas!" 
Were not what he said. 
With the speed of lightning, 
​He shot up the flu; 
He wiped out his sleigh 
And his reindeer too. 
So, listen to me, kids, 
You'd better believe, 
That was no shooting star 
​You saw Christmas Eve! 

​Susie and I want to wish our friends and family a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Stay tuned for more of my prose and poetry, and please feel free to leave a comment on my website or Facebook page.