| Vintage Colorado Poetry December 2007 Santa's Tree Marvin Hass The Christmas cookies all were made The Norske Lefsa tasted fine. The braided bread was finished When my wife said it was time. "Put the chains on that Ol' Pickup, Oh, won't this be such fun. I'll bring the coffee and the goodies You might get some...when we're done." We were headed for the Cottonwood Where the pines are free and tall You tramp in snow that's belly deep Then you slip and slide and crawl. We scanned the woods with a miser's eye Searchin' for that perfect fir. Sure enough, where drifts were deepest She spied what might please her. We finally made it to the tree But the back was mighty bare. My lovin' spouse was not deterred As she sniffed that mountain air. Perfection was required Guess that's why she married me The search was for Ol' Tannen-baum That you don't often see. I heard her yellin' off somewhere So I puffed to the timberline "You-hoo, I've found it, Dear, it's the sweetest Balsam Pine." Standing close behind her And nodding at the tree Santa gave us his approval That Gent was smilin' right at me. "I yelled...hey Sa...he was gone." My wife gave me that look "Oh, I just remembered something from a children's Christmas book." We fought that tree back to the road I began to lash it down then heard the sound of harness bells, on a dime, I spun around. Santa waved from his open sleigh Saw the reindeer and his pack Then they were gone around the bend As I started to wave back. "Who you waving to," she asked, "you're acting strange again." "Oh, I thought I saw Ol'... guess it must have been the wind." My wife was right, you need a tree To honor Christmas day It sends a message to your soul To live all year that way. The tree was grand as always Our Christmas merry too. Deep in my heart Ol' Santa lives And I hope he does for you. Copyright (c) 2007, Marvin Hass. Used with the author's permission. |
| Vintage Colorado Poetry December 2007 Ranch Christmas Jane Morton I think of our Christmases out on the ranch When snow lay along every cottonwood branch. The men went out early to tend to the chores While temperatures hovered 'round zero outdoors. My gramma got up the same time as the men. She had to make dressing to stuff tom or hen. She mixed up her bread dough and set it to rise, And then she got busy and rolled crust for pies. Gramps carried the bird to the oven to bake, Before he went out where the cold made him ache. Gram steamed suet pudding on top of the stove. All day we smelled fragrance of nutmeg and clove. Dad got the truck started and drove out to feed, For even on Christmas the cows had a need. He shoveled the silage from back of the truck. Conveyer belts helped, but ours usually got stuck. Most all the equipment had some kind of quirk. It always took tinkerin' to get it to work. Meanwhile dinner cooked, and we settled to wait For dinner on Christmas---invariably late. Adults didn't care that a child could be starved, While biding the time 'til the turkey was carved. We opened the presents in late afternoon, The prelude to dinner we hoped would come soon. The presents were usually some little thing, But Aunt had them wrapped as if meant for a king. The tree would be bright with the tinsel and lights, For sunsets came early those cold Christmas nights. We sat down to dinner as dark settled in. We'd all come together, ourselves and our kin. Come time to ask blessing and Fenner's the one. The job fell to him as a minister's son. When dinner was over, folks lay all around On sofas and floors where some space could be found. We did nothing special, it now seems to me, But we were together, our own family. My memories date back to when I was a kid. We had our tradition. This is what we did. When Bill and I grew and moved further away We brought our own families to share in this day. Now our children's memories are part of it too. For bonding a family, tradition's the glue. Copyright (c) 2004, Jane Ambrose Morton. Used with the author's permission. Special thanks to Jane and Marvin for December's poems. Congratulations to Jane on her documentary on ranch life televised on Rocky Mountain PBS this fall. Marvin's colorful "Prairie Poet" web site ( www.marvinhass.com) is open to visitors. |
| Merry Christmas! James B. Hemesath, Editor Vintage Colorado Poetry jbhemesath@q.com Copyright (c) 2003-2008, Vintage Colorado Poetry. Archives |