Creature Feature – Christmas Eve in the Forest

For all the children and young at heart…

‘Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the land,
The wild things waited
For something real grand.
Tonight would be special,
This much they knew.
But despite the excitement,
Their sleepiness grew.

The beaver was nestled in a lodge by the stream,
While visions of birch twigs danced in his dream.
The lovely red fox used her tail like a wrap,
As she curled herself up for a snug winter’s nap.
A chubby bear slumbered, his snores like a wave,
That spilled from the mouth of a rocky enclave.
All the deer bedded down on the new-fallen snow,
While tiny mice snuggled in burrows below.

Like sleepwalkers under the cold, frozen lake,
Swam slow-moving walleye, sunfish and splake.
And an old porcupine, quills frosted in white,
Settled onto the bough of an oak for the night.
As snow crystals swirled and fell on his fur
A drowsy coyote stretched with a “Grrr.”
The mischievous raven talked in his sleep,
While the little brown bat gave nary a peep.

Striped skunks lay nestled, all snuggled and pressed,
Closely together in their den for a rest.
And the feisty red squirrel, whose tongue always wagged,
Could combat no longer wee eyelids that sagged.
The bobcat and otter, the fisher and froggy,
Were drowsy and sleepy and snoozy and groggy.
The mink and the grouse and the flying squirrel slept,
As the clock, ever closer, to midnight it crept.

The bright moonlight shone in the chill wintry breeze,
As thin dancing shadows stretched from the trees.
When from her snug perch in a pine way up high,
A barred owl opened up one sleepy eye.
For from the night skies a sound reached the woods,
Could it be HE’D arrived with a sleigh full of goods?
The owl felt happiness rising in swells,
As she heard now, for sure, the chiming of bells.

The crow woke up next with excited loud caws,
Announcing to all, “He’s here! Santa Paws!”
The sleigh was descending – what a delight!
And the animals gasped at the marvelous sight.
For a large timber wolf, dressed in bright red,
Was skillfully driving the wondrous sled,
That was drawn and magically kept in the air,
By a whimsically wonderful winged polar bear.

As the big sleigh set down with a bump and a clatter,
A thoughtful moose offered his horns as a ladder.
Then Santa climbed down the giant’s huge rack,
Carrying a burgeoning, red velvet sack.
Where stuffed all inside were fabulous presents,
For woodpeckers, rabbits, raccoons and pheasants,
For opossums, and snakes and turtles and slugs,
For chipmunks and loons and thousands of bugs…

For ALL of God’s creatures that bring us delight,
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

Poem by Margie Manthey
Illustration by CeCe McDonough