‘Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
Except for the writer desperately trying to meet her deadline.
Her chapters were typed
On the screen with care,
In hopes that her editor
Wouldn’t kill her if she was a day or two late.
The characters were talking
All noisily in her head,
While visions of destruction and torture
Danced in the writer’s mind as she hammered out the best climax scene ever.
And her with her coffee nearby
And chocolate in her cap,
She settled in for a night
Of writing that would likely go until daylight, rivaling any college finals all-nighter.
When out in the living room
Rose such a clatter,
She sprang from her chair
Knocking over her laptop, spilling said coffee and stepping on the cat.
Away from her desk
She flew like a flash,
Threw open the door,
And found two kids out of bed, fighting over the presents she forgot to wrap.
The lights on the tree
That still wasn’t trimmed
Gave a pretty glow
On the children’s dirty faces because she also forgot to give them baths before bed.
When, what to her caffeine-induced
Brain did appear
But a little old woman
Shaking her head in disapproval at the messy house, dishes in the sink and piles of laundry scattered about.
With the bun on her head
And the wand in her hand,
The writer knew in a moment
It must be her fairy-godmother come to save the day.
More rapid than children
On cookie, candy and pie sugar highs,
She whistled and shouted,
And called out, “You are a basket case and need my help!”
“Now! Laundry, now! Dishes, now!
“Bathrooms and kitchen
“On! Wrapping, on! Decorating, on!
“And bathing those poor kids and reading them a proper story and putting them to bed.
“To the shower for yourself!
“To the bed at a decent time!
“Now dash away! Dash away!
“Dash away from that computer, it’s Christmas Eve, after all, you can take a break every once in a while, you know!”
She waved her wand
Casting a spell
And the writer watched
As her house magically came together just like she envisioned Christmas should be but deadlines and release dates and kids’ concerts and ballgames never gave her the time to get it all done.
A wink of her eye
And another flick of her wand,
Soon gave the writer to know
That her deadline could wait, she’d figure it out later, this is the time to spend with her family and count her blessings.
The fairy-godmother bowed
Her head to the writer
“Enjoy this day, my dear,
“For tomorrow you have to get your butt back in that chair and finish this book because your editor and cover designer and readers and fans are all waiting to see what brilliant story you give them next."
And the writer gave
Her fairy-godmother a big hug,
They said in each other’s ears,
“You are wonderful and beautiful and so much appreciated. Merry Christmas to you and to everyone who’s reading this.”
Wishing you all safe and happy holidays! (And if you see that fairy-godmother, please send her my way!)
That's adorable Kristie, I love it!
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