Twas the night before Christmas, but Covid was here, so we all remained extra cautious this year.
Our masks are all hung by the chimney with care in case Santa forgets his and needs a spare.
With Covid, no cookies or cake, so we‘re leaving Santa hand sanitizer to take.
And children sleeping & dreaming, the brave little tots… The ones over 5 just received their first shots.
Maybe it’s time for a long Winter’s nap, we‘ll toss and we‘ll turn all night in our beds, as visions of variants dance in our heads.
Gamma and Delta and now Omicron, the Covid mutations go on and on.
I thought to myself, “If this doesn’t get better, I’ll soon be familiar with every Greek letter.”
Then just as I started to drift off and doze a clatter of noise from the front lawn arose.
I leap from my bed and run straight down the stairs, open the door, an old gent standing there.
His N95 made him look pretty weird but I knew who he was by his red suit and beard.
I keep six feet away but blurt out quick “What are you doing here, jolly Saint Nick?”
Then I say, “Where are your presents, your reindeer and sleigh? Don’t you realize tomorrow’s Christmas Day?”
While Santa stood there looking sad in the snow, he started to tell me a long tale of woe.
He’s been stuck at the North Pole alone while his white collared elves had been working from home.
Most of the others said “Santa, don’t hire us! We’re not worth a damn, thanks to the virus.”
Those left in the toyshop had little to do, with supply chain disruptions, they’d make nothing new.
And as for the reindeer, they’d all gone away, none of them left to pull on the sleigh.
Santa said Dasher and Dancer were quarantined, while Prancer and Vixen refused the vaccine.
Comet and Cupid were in ICU, so were Donner and Blitzen, and they may not pull through.
And while Rudolph’s career can’t be resurrected, his shiny red nose, they all think he’s infected.
Even with his old sleigh, Santa couldn’t go very far, every border to cross needs a new PCR.
Santa, he sighed, as he told me how nice, if only children could again sit upon his knee.
He couldn’t care less if they’re naughty or nice, but they’d have to show proof that they’d had their shot twice.
But then the old twinkle returned to his eyes when he shared that he’d brought me a Christmas surprise.
When I unwrapped the box and opened it wide, starlight and rainbows streamed from inside.
Some letters whirled ’round and flew to the sky, and they spelled out a word that was 40 feet high.
There first was an H, then an O, then a P, then I saw it spelled HOPE when I added the E.
“Christmas magic” said Santa as he smiled through his beard. Then suddenly all of the reindeer magically appeared.
He jumped in his sleigh and he waved me good-bye, then soared over rooftops and into the sky.
I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight, “Get your vaccines my friends, Merry Christmas, good-night.”
Then I went back to bed and had a sweet Christmas dream, of a world when we’re finished with Covid 19.
