Friends, Family, & Foe Ho, ho, ho,

Twas the day before the night before Christmas,
and across the Navajo rez I sped.
My beloved Subaru injured,
my fuel economy dead.

On 3 cylinders I drove,
the number 2 spark plug lame;
sputtering from Moab to Phoenix
into the Staats family lane.

Grandpa, Grandma,
brother, mother, and dad;
the great dane so large
remaining asleep on her pad.

We talked, we laughed,
we cried a bit too,
for times were a chang’n
this family askew.

Grandpa’s got cancer,
my father a cold,
the dog’s farts smell someth’n aweful,
and I’m start’n to feel old.

After church services one, two, seems like four,
we prayed to God, “Please, no more!”
Stand up! Sit-down! Wake up! Sing that!
‘How do church-goers ever get so fat?’

I awoke this morning
to sleigh bells in the yard,
my father like his father
playing Santa too hard.

Dreams of robots and movie scripts,
sci-fi gravity tossed;
my shut-eye wonder land
disrupted and lost.

I walked from my brother’s house
to my parents’ next door.
My mother laughed at my hair;
then we gathered on the floor.

Magnets, tea,
books, licorice, and dice;
we exchanged boxes, opened stockings
everything so nice.

The dog now sports a bandana,
my grandfather new slippers and chair.
My mother a zippered sweater
and I an Oakley cap to wear.

The dog ran off
with a ribbon and nearly consumed a shoe,
my brother quickly scolded
for something he didn’t do.

Some things will never change
some things will be new.
Just glad to be with family
for this Christmas too.

w/Love,
kai