Merry Xmas favor for my brother-in-law Jim
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Christmas Colors
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Peace on Earth in ’22
Peace on Earth in ’22
If only we could clear the world of every tragic issue
as though we’d wiped the slate clean with one gigantic tissue.
If Pollyanna ruled the world, there’d be no end of cheer.
There’d be no hungry children, no drunks crying in their beer.
But in our potential Shangri-La, perfection’s not to be.
The playing field’s not even and there is no guarantee
that things will all be equal regarding happiness.
In fact with every passing year, the world’s more of a mess.
Yet before we shed this mortal coil, there’s something we can do
to try to bring some happiness to this human zoo.
Before this year is over, it would be stupendous
if each and every one of us could do something tremendous
like deflect a bit of gossip or curb a caustic quip,
resist an impulse to defraud or cheat or bilk or gyp,
see a foreign culture as exotic, not as wrong,
join hands with the universe and try to get along.
As this old year’s winding down, if we could make a pact
not to steal or plunder, not to blame nor to react
in anger to each other. Treat each woman as our mother
and try to view each man on earth as our potential brother,
then maybe things would straighten out and throughout the Earth
our population would be healed and all would feel their worth.
Warfare would be abolished and kindness seize the day.
Oh that this was reality and we could find our way.
Prompt words today are coil, stupendous, cheer, caustic and tissue. Image thanks to the New York Public Library on unsplash.
Zinnia: FOTD, Dec 27, 2021
December 26
December 26
We’re all mindful of the date. Christmas has been done.
Jingle bells are now passé. “Noel” has had its run.
Mall Santas can be irascible for another year
until Christmas season once again draws near
and they must again be jovial, mindful of the tykes
who must be assuaged with their promises of bikes
or quantities of other toys as parents hovering near
make lists of wished-for plunder they’re meant to overhear.
Cash registers the whole mall through will jingle jangle jingle
as crowds of Christmas shoppers brave the crowds to mingle
and provide their little darlings with all that they desire.
So do stores and Santa Claus every year conspire
to insure our economy continues to expand.
So as he bows and leaves the stage, give Santa Claus a hand!
Prompt words today are jovial, mindful, bow, irascible and quantity. Images by Chris Murray and Mike Arney on Unsplash.
Ghost of Summers Past: FOTD Dec 26, 2021
Christmas Cactus: FOTD Dec 25, 2021
The Great Reveal
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The Great Reveal
When it comes to Christmas gifts, I hope you get a passel
and you find unwrapping them to be a task most facile.
Every bound up package, may it be in bow or tassel,
a rip-roaring pleasure instead of any hassle.
And though we are adults now, let them be mementos of
all those bygone childhood years that all of us just love
to retain with pleasure in our memories—
how we would prod and finger gifts and ogle, guess and squeeze.
Then, finally, on Christmas morn, we’d wake up like a shot,
barreling downstairs at dawn to see what we had got.
Before the church bells drew us out, we had to do our duty
and reveal just what Santa had left us for our booty.
Thus however much we’ve tried maturity to hone,
at Christmas time we find how very little we have grown.
As we untie ribbons, rip off paper, pry off lids,
we discover in our hearts that all of us are kids!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to All!!!!
Xmas 2021—A Year in Review
Xmas 2021—A Year in Review
How quickly now the new year waxes—
parties, valentines, then taxes
coming up in twenty-two,
when finally we’ll get to view
two-thousand-twenty-one as past—
a year that left us all aghast.
It’s doubtful we’d want to repeat
the year science failed to defeat
that curse it only vilipended
but, alas, it never ended.
It was another year most taxing—
too much discord, too little paxing.
I must lay out the brutal truth.
All-in-all, a year uncouth!!!!
Prompts today are finally, doubtful, pax, vilipend and layout.
Happy Xmas Eve: Dec 24, 2021 FOTD
Weddings Banned–Market in a Tailspin
Weddings Banned–Market in a Tailspin
They’re banning marriage in America. The vote has just come in.
Such illicit gatherings are now declared a sin.
No flower-littered church aisles. No presents neatly wrapped.
Ring bearers are now passé, honeymoon routes unmapped.
Parsons and priests are limited to un-bridal functions:
baptisms and funerals, sermons and extreme unctions.
Department stores will probably have to cut back hours
when they feel the drop in sales from no more bridal showers.
The diamond market has gone bust as have sales of cake.
Bakeries are trying to think of other things to make
like maybe first-date cookies or three-tiered valentines,
make-out brownies, passion pies or set-up clementines.
Nationwide, each future bride is busy now, I’m certain,
altering her bridal veil into a window curtain.
The only positive result is no more bridesmaid dresses
of nylon net or taffeta or other gauche excesses.
No reason has been given for this bizarre decision
that’s met with voter outrage and the whole world’s derision.
The press without exception declares this law as dastardly,
declaring that an entire generation will be bastardly.
Kids will not bear fathers’ names. Connections will be lost,
with only mothers being the ones to bear the cost
of doctor bills and dental bills and clothes and vaccinations,
of summer camp and prom dresses and college educations.
The men will all be free to sleep with any random hottie
and spend their dough on gambling debts or a new Maserati.
Perhaps that is the secret of why nine out of ten
legislators voted for the law–they are all men!
Prompt words today are illicit, gathering, unction, flower and wrapped, Image by Ben White on Unsplash.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 