The Night Before Christmas of 2004

When it comes down to it, of all the things I love, I find I love my children close to the best. For Christmas Eve, the people at Susan's and Fred's, Susan, Fred, Richard, Danny, Anne, Adam, Melissa, Jon, and Eleni followed the family tradition of Christmas performance.

And did they sing The Twelve Days of Christmas?

This is their script:

'Twas the night before Christmas with Susan and Fred
The moon, it was a shinin' o'er the desert homestead.
The chili was a bubblin'
on top of the stove,
And back from the church a senorita did drove.

Anne, Dan, and Adam arrived first from New York
It had been quite some time since Dan ate with a fork!
JM from Chicago and Dick from Salt City,
Then Eleni arrived looking rested and pretty.

We awoke bright and early, feeling just a little bit sour
Then waited for ole Adam at the bank for an hour
We hit the road smiling, our hearts they were a flutter
Words of big Canyon were all we could utter.

We sat in the car. It was hours away.
A beautiful sunset, it ended our day.
That first look at the canyon. Ohhhhhh! What a splendor.
Even ole Uncle Dick's heart became a bit tender.

We walked to the rim...and looked over the ledge.
Jon-Mikael swore he saw ole Santy being pulled on a sledge.
The air was quite frigid. It was really quite cold.
But thoughts of our descent made us all feel quite bold.

Finding our rooms at the lodge was a trial.
Just finding Building 2 took us all quite a while.
We awoke the next morning to a dull, cloudless day.
But Dan kept us going and pointed the way.

To the Bright Angel Trail, we all made with haste.
The first day of winter we did not want to waste.
The trail was steep. It was covered in ice.
Even the mules were slipping. We began to think twice.

Down further we went and our spirits did lift.
The earth it was opening. The day was a gift.
Past one and a half and three-mile rest
The country opened out, from East unto West.

By noon, we arrived at our planned destination.
After traveling so far, the wind and leaves gave us a standing ovation.
From Indian Garden to Plateau Point 'twas but a mile.
When we viewed the surging river, we did it in style.

We quickened our stride and doubled our speed.
The trip up the canyon would make our feet bleed.
We all made it back and remarked with delight.

Our bones would stop aching when we reached Christmas Night.

With visions of prickly pears dancing in our heads
The next day saw us all crawl from our beds.
Out in the yard there arose such a clatter.
It was Anne swimming in water that made your teeth chatter.

The sun it was shining. The sky was quite blue.
For one entire day we had nothing to do.
It was back to action the very next day
Juicy T-bone goodness was only a horseride away.

Our guides on the trail were so lively and quick.
"Just pretend they're your girlfriend and give 'em a kick."
Our horses would have been glue if they were any more tame.
But we whistled and shouted and called them by name:

"On Scratch and Dillon, on Guinness and Phantom.
On Bart, Mississippi, Tom, Barn and 'ole Brighton!"
To the Ponderosa Steakhouse! Yeehaaaw!!!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
We shot into the sunset with hair-raising cries.
JM fought with Bart with all of his might
And Anne, well she almost got into a fight.

All Christmas Eve day ribs smoked away gently.
Fred laid out a feast. We ate quite aplenty.
Which brings us to now, a particular place--
The night before Christmas with a smile on our face.

So let's all claim together, in the luminaria's light,
"Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!"

On Reading a Bit of Good News.

Don't know if anyone reads this, but it doesn't really matter; it is good for my character.

Today I read this in the New Yorker in an article by Dan Baum:

"During the early weeks of the Iraq war, the television set in my office was tuned all day to CNN, with the sound muted. On the morning of April 3rd, as the Army and the Marines were closing in on Baghdad, I happened to look up at what appeared to be a disaster in the making. A small unit of American soldiers was walking along a street in Najaf when hundreds of Iraqis poured out of the buildings on either side. Fists waving, throats taut, they pressed in on the Americans, who glanced at one another in terror. I reached for the remote and turned up the sound. The Iraqis were shrieking, frantic with rage. From the way the lens was lurching, the cameraman seemed as frightened as the soldiers. This is it, I thought. A shot will come form somewhere, the Americans will open fire, and the world will witness the My Lai massacre of the Iraq war. At that moment, an American officer stepped through the crowd holding his rifle high over his head with the barrel pointed to the ground. Against the backdrop of the seething crowd, it was a striking gesture--almost Biblical. 'Take a knee,' the officer said, impassive behind surfer sunglasses. The soldiers looked at him as if he were crazy. Then one after another, swaying in their bulky body armor and gear, they knelt before the boiling crowd and pointed their guns at the ground. The Iraqis fell silent, and their anger subsided The oficer ordered his men to withdraw.

It took two months to track down Lieutenant Colonel Chris Hughes,..."

Brilliant! Amazing! This pleased me so much, to read an instance confirming what I believe so strongly, that most of us are good and decent and often wise. There are some creeps and oh are they ever creeps. But most of us are just fine, thank you.