Here is my take on an old Christmas classic…
Twas’ the night before Christmas, and down at the store,
All the people were hurrying to get through the door.
And there I was with them joining the fray,
Just a few short hours before Christmas day.
“This is crazy” I said with my eyes turned toward Heaven.
My list is too long and it’s almost eleven.
It’s good that the store is open this late,
For those people like me who just wait, wait, wait, wait!
You see, I was shopping late into the night,
And I’m sure that I really was an interesting sight.
My arms full of packages, my feet moving fast,
Because I had saved Christmas shopping for last.
So there I was, impatiently scanning the shelves.
Wishing there really were such things as elves.
I had quite a list that I still needed to find,
And it was nearly driving me out of my mind.
A new dolly for Jenny and a puzzle for Bill,
A book for Freddy, and a necklace for Jill.
Those are the things that I had to buy,
Oh, why did I wait so long, why, why, why, why?
The shelves were picked over, and yet still full of stuff,
But the other shoppers were being quite rough.
I had been bumped, bruised, jostled and jarred,
And I still needed to find a new shirt for Bernard
Kelly wanted a sweater for winter of course,
Bobby was hoping for a plastic play horse.
Sally, my secretary wanted a raise,
But instead I was hoping to buy her a vase.
The company Christmas party had gone really late,
And I was feeling kind of sick from the food that I ate.
My back was still sore from putting up our big tree,
And the lights on my house numbered 4 thousand and three.
And now here I was in this ridiculous store,
Full of Santas and snowflakes and reindeers galore.
Christmas music was playing from the ceiling above,
Saying something about peace, joy, and love.
But I had no time, to listen to carols,
I was on my way to find some apparel.
My wife wanted a skirt, something in red.
And my son really wanted a fast racing sled.
The list just kept going, I was beginning to tire,
But it was my fault that things were getting down to the wire.
Why are the holidays always like this?
What happened to having a merry Christmas?
Could there be more to this time of year?
Something with joy or real Christmas cheer?
“What if I’m missing something?” I thought to myself?
As I reached for a toy from off of the shelf.
My hand stopped in mid air as I continued to reason,
And I remembered something else regarding this season.
A story from church back when I was a child
Something about a virgin, who was tender and mild?
Then I saw something that made my heart skip a beat,
It was in my same aisle, just down a few feet.
A nativity scene was sitting next to a toy railroad track,
And then the whole story came flooding on back.
I remembered the virgin, whose name was Mary,
And the trip to Bethlehem that must have been scary.
No room in the inn so they stayed in a stable,
Like out of a nursery rhyme or a long ago fable.
When the baby was born, he did not have a bed,
So they placed him in a manger, where animals were fed.
As I stared at that nativity scene I remembered some more,
Some shepherds in fields with a sheepherding chore.
And an angel appeared in the middle of the night,
It must have been a frightening sight.
But the message was good and he spoke of joy,
And not the kind that comes from getting a toy.
He spoke of true joy and peace and of love,
Coming down to us from the heavens above.
A Savior was born in Bethlehem,
That is what the angel told unto them.
And I remembered also that some wise men arrived,
Could this story be true, or was it contrived?
And at that moment in the middle of the store,
I bent down and knelt right there on the floor.
I realized that the nativity scene at the end of my aisle,
Was not a coincidence, not by a mile.
God put it there so that I would recall,
That Christmas is not something you find in a mall.
He reminded me what Christmas is really about,
And now I just wanted to stand up and shout,
At the top of my lungs, with all of my might,
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”