Health & Fitness
Patch Blog: 'Twas the Evening
A parody of "The Night Before Christmas" from a single parent's perspective.
A parody of "The Night Before Christmas" from a single parent's perspective:
‘Twas the evening of Christmas
And under the tree,
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Among all the presents,
Sat my daughter and me.
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The stockings I’d knitted
A few years before
Lay emptied beside us
On the living room floor.
Her siblings were sleeping—
Worn out from the fray,
But Sarah was packing
For her flight the next day.
How precious and brief
Was the time that we’d had,
But tomorrow at noon
She’d be back with her dad.
A two-hour time change
And a five-hour flight
Meant a drive to the airport
Before morning’s light.
So into her suitcase
Her gifts she did stuff,
Though—with all of her haul—
One just wasn’t enough.
So she took one of mine,
As she does every year,
And filled it to bursting
With all her new gear.
The dolls and toy horses,
The books and the blocks,
The puzzles and games,
And the frilly new frocks.
Then off to the airport
In the morning we sped,
While a million sad sentiments
Danced in my head.
‘Round her neck, “Unaccompanied,”
Read a large tag,
And she looked like a vagabond
With a carry-on bag.
She boarded the plane,
Since we had little choice,
And I called out, “Good-bye!”
In a choked, broken voice.
But I said in my head,
‘Ere she flew out of view,
“I miss you already,
And I always love you.”