‘Twas the night before Christmas and out on the ranch
The pond was froze over and so was the branch.
The snow was piled up belly-deep to a mule.
The kids were all home on vacation from school, =
And happier young folks you never did see,
Just all sprawled around a-watchin’ TV.
Then suddenly, sometime around 8 o’clock,
there came a surprise that gave them a shock –
The power went off, the TV went dead!
When Grandpa came in from out in the shed
With an armload of wood, the house was all dark. =
‘Just what I expected,’ they heard him remark. =
‘Them power line wires must be down from the =
snow.
Seems sorter like times on the ranch long =
ago.’
‘I’ll hunt up some candles,’ said Mom. ‘With their light, =
And the fireplace, I reckon we’ll make out all =
right.’
The teen-agers all seemed enveloped in gloom.
Then Grandpa came back from a trip to his =
room,
Uncased his old fiddle and started to play
That old Christmas song about bells on a =
sleigh.
Mom started to sing, and first thing they knew =
Both Pop and the kids were all singing it, too. =
They sang Christmas carols, they sang ‘Holy =
Night,’
Their eyes all a-shine in the ruddy firelight. =
They played some charades Mom recalled from her youth, =
And Pop read a passage from God’s Book of Truth. =
They stayed up till midnight-and, would you believe, =
The youngsters agreed ’twas a fine Christmas Eve. =
Grandpa rose early, some time before dawn;
And when the kids wakened, the power was back on. =
‘The power company sure got the line repaired quick,’ =
Said Grandpa – and no one suspected his trick. =
[Last night, for the sake of some old-fashioned fun, =
Grandpa pulled the main switch – the old =
Son-of-a-Gun!]
~~
Dr Bob Griffin =
[email protected] www.grif.net =
"Jesus Knows Me, This I =
Love!"