A Christmas Dream

(with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore and A Visit from St. Nicholas)

‘Twas the night before Christmas, the office was quiet

No phone calls or emails, every printer was silent;

The computers were dark; they had all gone to sleep,

Every CPU resting, not even a beep;

The workers were traveling by car and by plane;

As visions of family time danced in their brain;

While I, too, was ready to head for the door,

Perhaps there was time to do just one more chore.

When out in the parking lot something went crash,

The sound was so loud I took off in a dash.

The lobby was empty, the hallways were bare,

Without any obstacles I was soon there.

The moon was just rising on a blanket of snow,

So, the sky was quite bright with a luminous glow;

There on the front lot a strange sight appeared,

Eight reindeer, a sleigh, and a guy with a beard.

I stood in stunned silence, then let out a groan,

“I can’t capture the moment; I forgot my iPhone!”

The big dude was mumbling that GPS failed,

His reindeer were jumpy but none of them bailed.

They had names he was calling and each seemed to know

It was their time to fly when his voice shouted, “Go!”

“To the roof,” he kept saying, “not here in this spot.”

But the herd wasn’t moving, not even a trot.

As he jostled, cajoled, and berated the team,

Eventually everyone ran out of steam;

So, a sleigh that was obviously meant to be flown

Sat grounded ironically in a handicap zone—

And then, just that quick, I heard somebody say,

“You there, in that door, can you call Triple A?”

As I snapped to attention and was turning around,

The guy just showed up without making a sound.

He was dressed like an Eskimo, fur head to feet,

And his clothes seemed so clean, unusually neat;

A sack full of stuff was now thrown to the floor,

And he quickly reported, “The sleigh has some more.”

His eyes—seemed to sparkle! his face had a shine!

Then I felt kind of sorry, his nose was like mine!

The white beard that flowed from his chin to his belt,

Seemed heavy enough to serve as a pelt;

He was pecking the keyboard on a new iPad Air,

“Need more hope in the world and there’s no time to spare.”

Just one tap and the Internet soon was ablaze  

With tweets, posts and Instagram’s, designed to amaze;

For everyone knows that deep down in our heart,

Is potential for good if we’re willing to start.

A wink of his eye soon gave way to some tears

As he witnessed how goodness was banishing fears.

Soon love, peace, and joy were hashtags and likes,

The heavy server traffic even caused a few spikes.

As the tow truck appeared I heard a loud shout,

“There’s still Christmas spirit without any doubt.”

The sleigh and its driver took off through the air,

As all I could do was manage a stare.

It was all just a dream but the sentiment’s right—

“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

Have a joyous holiday season and a blessed New Year!

Photo Credit: istockphoto.com