12/25/2024
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
All the hamsters were chewing, we don’t own a mouse;
The stockings were hung on the bin sides with care,
In hopes that St. Bretty-Claus soon would be there.
Hamdad, Hamum and Pebz were all snug in their bed,
While visions of chewing ShyVis danced in their head;
And mum in her nightgown, and dad in his jammies,
Had just settled down after snuggling the hammies.
When out on the balcony there arose such a clatter,
Scissors sprang from his nest to see what was the matter.
He opened the cage door, all in a flash,
Poked his nose out the window, and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to Scissors' wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny hamdeer,
With a little ham-driver, so lively and steady,
Scissors knew in a moment it must be St. Bretty.
More rapid than robos her hamdeer they came,
And she whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
“Now, DUNCAN! NOW, SPARROW! now, DILLAN and LUX!
On, BOSCO! on PUGSLEY! on, ULYSSE and DUMPTRUCK!
To the top of the balcony! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”
As bedding that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the hamdeer they flew,
With the sleigh full of treats, and St. Bretty-Claus too.
And then, in a twinkling, Scissors looked up and saw,
The prancing and pawing of each little paw.
As he drew in his paw, and was turning around,
Through the front door St. Bretty-Claus came with a bound.
She was dressed all in fur, from her head to her toes,
With a cute furry face, and a bright pink nose.
A bundle of treats she had stuffed in her cheeks,
Until the sides of her face looked like mountain peaks.
Her eyes – how they twinkled! her dimples how merry!
Her ears were like wings, her nose like a cherry!
Her sweet little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the crescents on her cheek were as white as the snow;
The end of her hat she held tight in her teeth
And a fuzzy scarf encircled her head like a wreath;
She had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when she laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
She was chubby and plump, a right jolly old ham,
And Scissors laughed when he saw his dear hammy fam.
A wink of her eye and a twist of her head,
Soon gave Scissors to know he had nothing to dread;
She spoke not a word, but went straight to her work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And placing a paw on the top of Scissors' head,
She gave a quick nod, and vanished instead.
She appeared in her sleigh, to her team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But he heard her exclaim, ere she drove out of sight,
HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!
