Patch Blog: 'Twas the Evening

A parody of "The Night Before Christmas" from a single parent's perspective:

‘Twas the evening of Christmas

And under the tree,

Among all the presents,

Sat my daughter and me.

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.”