'Twas the Day Before Christmas Eve

(I would say it's rough draft, but why be daft? It won't be revised; it won't be reprised. So here it is for what it's worth. Happy Holidays and Peace on Earth.)

'Twas the day before Christmas Eve and all through the dale,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a quail;
The presents were stacked by the pellet stove with care,
In hopes that Christmas Eve time soon would be there;
The Su-Su was chewing up treats on the floor,
With visions of evermore Greenies galore;
And Mom's in her Christmas shirt and Dad in his sweats,
And Grandma has a book and no peanut brittle regrets;
When out in the orchard there arose such a ruckus,
I sprang from the couch and nearly froze off my tuckus;
Away to the back door I skipped like a nerd,
Opened the slider and scared all the birds;
The snow on the fallen down apple tree,
Turned it into a beautiful winter memory;
When, what to my wandering eye should arise,
But a miniature coyote and eight tiny magpies,
With a feral gray kitten, claws lively and sharp,
I knew in a moment it was no cosplay LARP.
More speedy than Dad's wifi those animals came,
To eat at the Anderson's buffet of fame,
Look Dad, it's a coyote! Hey Mom, more magpies!
Yeah, yeah, they replied, welcome to our life.
To the top of the deck, to the bird feeder base,
The animals all coming out for a taste;
As the crumpled papers that after Mom's gift opening fly,
When they meet with Dad's garbage bags, go by the by,
So too did the animals leave the feed trough,
And back came the flickers to finish it off;
And then, in a nano, I heard from the front
The cooing and rustling of quails on the hunt.
And I crossed the living room, stepping over the dog,
And lo and behold, more Christmas stuff to blog!
The computer was on, Google Chrome to the fore,
With holiday logos and top ten lists and more;
A bundle of toys and of gifts and new booty,
How can one wait until Christmas for their looty?
The Amazon deals, how they glisten and gleam,
The Cylon tp holder, how it fulfills lifelong dreams,
And the Twitterverse glitters with holiday snippets,
While Facebook is quiet, an early morning kibbutz;
The online calm before the oncoming storm
Of soon to come a new Doctor Who Xmas yarn!
It's all overwhelming, this season of cheer,
Of family and friendship and white-tailed deer;
As I realize I've completely lost the old poem's thread,
I laugh and then decide to put it to bed;
A click of my mouse and a twist of my wrist,
And another line is written and checked off the list;
It's time to go offline and hang out with the folks,
To eat many goodies and hear fatherly jokes;
Pulling out of the house to a wide focus shot,
The snow on the gutters drips not a lot;
The wildlife twitters, 140 characters or less,
The dairy section of Yoke's moos at its guests;
And Christmas music blares from Dad's little shuffle,
Happy Holidays, friends, enjoy the kerfluffle!

XOXO