Christmas 2017

This poem came to me in the dead of the night, and I couldn't sleep until I jotted it down blindly with a lipliner pencil into a tiny notebook on my nightstand.  I entered it into a local writing contest to win second place and have it published in the local newspaper.

Twas’ Christmas twenty-seventeen,

And all were at rest.

The heat in the house

Being monitored by Nest.

The screens all plugged in,

Charging up with care.

The high frequency router

Putting waves through the air.

The kids in their beds

Were dreaming of gifts,

Like iPhones and Xbox

To watch their Netflix.

But mom had done

What she not even dare,

As the gifts of twenty-seventeen

Were wrapped with such care.

There wasn’t one single phone,

Tablet or TV.

Not one wifi-enabled device

Under the tree.

Mom had just enough

Of her zombie-eyed troop.

It was time to put life

Back into her group.

So on Christmas morning,

The kids all came down.

Couldn’t wait to text friends

All over their town.

Just waiting to post pics

Of all they had got,

Adding filters to selfies

In just the right spot.

Mom and dad sat,

As their kids opened their stuff.

They knew what came next

Might be a bit rough.

“Um, mom, I think something

May have been forgotten?”

Said one of the kids,

With a face that looked rotten.

“I think I had asked for

An iPhone Z3,

But I don’t see more gifts

Wrapped under our tree”.

“And, in my stocking,”

They heard another kid say,

“There’s no gift card for iTunes

For more music to play!”

“I’m sorry,” said mom,

“There won’t be any screens,

The internet says they give

Anxiety to teens”.

“Instead you will find

Books and a new pair of socks,

You won’t find any phone

Inside of that box.”

“We’re going to play games,

But you won’t need a remote.

Here’s a Battleship game,

You try sinking my boat”.

“Maybe we’ll go carolling,

Visit gramps and gran,

And we won’t even post that

On Instagram!”

“I like all electronics

Near as much as you do,

But the thing that’s forgotten?

Well, that would be you!”

“We’ve decided to make

Some memories this year.

We won’t need Twitter

To bring us good cheer”.

“I promise you kids

It’s going to be fun.

Our list of events

Has only begun!”

“We’re going to buy mitts,

And take them out to the street.

There are people out there

Who have nothing to eat”.

“Then we’ll strap on our skates

And take to the ice.

The Forks has a trail that

I hear is quite nice”.

“At the end of the day

I feel you’ll agree,

The best gift you got

Was time with our family”.

The whole family agreed,

And mom hugged each one near.

Merry Christmas to all,
And a happy New Year!