Overboard by Chip Dunham for December 11, 2011

My little tribute to the date:

A VISIT TO THE MALL(With apologies to Clement Moore)

‘Twas two weeks before Christmas and all ’round the mall,Six million cars were parked wall to wall.For what seemed like hours I drove round and roundUntil at last a parking space I found.I sat and I waited with blinker light blinking,While all around me bright lights were winking.Then, out of nowhere there came an encroacher,The horrible, infamous parking space poacher!He swung right around me as if I weren’t thereAnd pulled into the space with nary a care.He stepped out of his car with a wave and a grinLeaving me to continue a quest without end.

I finally made it to the hustle and bustle,But the stores were so crowded I couldn’t move a muscle.I paused for a moment to pull out my listIt was all written down so none would be missed.To toy store, to bookstore and sporting goods, too.Buy cookies and candies and clothing so new.See reindeer and elves and good old Saint Nick,See parents and children, they all run so quick!The charges are mounting, like drifts in the snow,My list seems quite endless. Where does it all go?Now the presents are bought, but the battle’s not won,The search for a perfect tree has begun.

That tree is too short, this one’s too tall,Another has no middle branches at all.When the tree’s been selected and I lug it on home,I realize it’s shaped like a humpbacked old gnome.When the lights are all lit and the popcorn is strungAnd all the ornaments and stockings are hung,I sit in the glow of the twinkling lightThinking back on a long ago, far away night.I think of the child who was born long agoAnd I’m thankful for cards and lights and snow.Then, I realize Santa probably was rightSo, “Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night.”