‘Twas the day after Christmas, and all through the house All the fam’ly was sleeping, yes, even my spouse. The stockings were tossed by the chimney with flair Some turned inside out, to make sure nothing’s there.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds, Nintendo DSes tucked under their heads; And I in my bathrobe,
MacBook on my lap, Was happy to know there were no gifts to wrap.
When out from the kitchen there rose such a clatter, I sprang from the couch to see what was the matter. I waded my way ‘cross a floor filled with trash To a kitchen heaped high from our Christmas Eve bash.
The sun through the window, it gave quite a glow: (Los Angeles Christmas: We never have snow), It shone on the remains of the Christmas day cheer, The leftover cheese ball, the dregs of the beer. The un-put-away brownies as hard as a fossil, And o’er on the stove, it shone
down on the wassail.
I blinked as the sun blasted straight to my eye And just in time glimpsed a brown streak passing by. Four-footed and furry and dragging a ham, Dodging around me and trying to scram. And as he ran off with a peppermint cluster I knew in
a moment, it was my dog Buster.
More rapid than eagles he streaked ‘cross the floor Buster grabbed what he wanted, and came back for more: More cheesecake, more truffles, more bagels and lox, More chocolate chip cookies, more scotch on the rocks. He smashed and he scrambled, bumped into the
wall, Then dashed away, dashed away, dashed away all.
“I should have cleaned up when the guests said good-bye,” I moaned to myself with a pretty big sigh. After two days of feasting, the kitchen looked grubby I scrounged in the sink, tried to dig up the scrubby–
I searched quite in vain for a halfway clean towel When out from the living room came quite a howl. I set down the saucepan all caked thick with goo, The glaze for the ham which had now turned to glue.
I skipped to the living room, limber of foot And inched past the
fireplace, dripping with soot. Unraveling ribbons clung fast to my shin As I looked round the post-Christmas scene with chagrin.
A mountain of presents all covered the floor They looked so appealing when bought at the store. Now gift wrap was ripped and the tissue was crumpled, The new shoes abandoned, the new tank tops rumpled.
I picked my way round all the presents caloric, The baskets of chocolate to make me euphoric, Strange foods so exotic that no one would try it (And don’t my friends know, New Year’s Day starts the diet?)
And just
then I heard from the top of the spruce The pitiful cry of a dog on the loose I lifted my eyes from amidst the debris — Old Buster had climbed to the top of the tree.
The angel crashed down as the Christmas tree swayed, The ornaments flew in a sparkling cascade– The puppy leapt on me, I felt his claws rip, And then right behind, the tree started to tip–
The lights all exploded as down the tree crashed– The pine needles shredded, the presents were smashed– And I said as I landed on top of the pup, “Happy Christmas to all– Someone
else can clean up!”
Janet Batchler
ed
Happy day after Christmas and a merry rest of the year! Even when Christmas is over, the light of the world is still here. Matthew West
1051 Perimeter Drive
9th floor
Schaumburg IL 60173
USA