2020

The world is in chaos. There is unrest, a pandemic, and maybe aliens. We thought a bit of humor was much needed.

T’was the night before Christmas, and all through the house,
Not a creaturewas stirring, not even my spouse.
The stockings were hung by the front door with care,
In hopes that Amazon soon would be there.

I glanced about at the quiet room,
And wondered if Santa would come via Zoom.
I was quite tired, and started to drift,
Wondering if tomorrow would bring me a gift.

When outside I was startled by a great deal of noise,
I fell out of bed with an absence of poise.
I peeked out the window and was quite aghast,
I saw a sleigh and eight reindeer, each wearing a mask.

The driver gave a motion and they jumped to the sky,
I didn’t know the bloody things could fly.
Then there was a thumping noise from the roof,
Followed by the sounds from each booted hoof.

I struggled to inhale, to catch a breath of air,
When suddenly, by the fireplace, a man did appear.
He was dressed all in red, from his cap to his boot,
In a stylishly, white fur-trimmed hazmat suit.

He lifted a finger to his helmet as if to say “shush”,
And went to his work as I maintained a hush.
From his bag came presents, some not so small,
And with a UV device, he sanitized them all.

There were toys and games, and much needed things in the group,
Along with paper towels and TP for when we needed to… well, you know.
There were other things set aside, that in this moment, I could not see,
I tried to look around him, wondering what they might be.

Then he turned toward me, touched a button, and his speaker gave a crackle,
He looked pensive for a moment, choosing the words he would tackle.
“What a year it has been, what more could we see,
The challenges we all went through, both for you and for me.

We’ve put up with hardships with astonishing strength,
To write about them all would exceed recommended length.
The year as such changed us into something more formal,
And we’re all hoping soon things will get back to normal.

Now there are monoliths appearing all over the world,
Seeing this, Arthur C. Clarke’s hair would have curled
But things will get better, and that will happen soon.”
Just hearing his words made me want to swoon.

He said, “I brought something special to help lead the way.”
Then he pointed to the place where these secret gifts lay.
I looked at the boxes, and my wondering did cease,
Each one marked in big letters read out, Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace.

“Well, now it’s time for me to return to my sleigh.”
Touching a button, “Beam my up, Scotty.  I’ll be on my way.”
And a moment later, he did simply vanish.
I sat there wondering if he’d been speaking in Spanish.

But then came a sound from up on the roof,
Like a weight had been lifted, leaving no proof.
I heard him exclaim, and he did with great cheer,
“Merry Christmas to all, and have a hopeful New Year.”

This year has been rough on everyone.  And while we are not trying to make fun of the situation, if we made you smile, even for half a second, then we’ve accomplished our goal.  We also want to give you hope, as with hope, there are always possibilities.

Copyright Ó 2020 by

Brian and Shirley Dean