Christmas poem

This year has been especially hard on a lot of people with the current global financial meltdown, in the United States especially. The United States is, arguably, in it's worst economic conditions since the Great Depression, and definitely since the end of World War II. Foreclosures are looming constantly over many, construction projects are grinding to a halt, jobs are dead as the money runs out. The State of California is now in a 42 Billion dollar budget defeciet situation. All funding to state sponsored construction has been cut, schools are closing, people are losing their jobs, old jobs are not being replaced and are being eliminated, cities and towns are either bankrupt or on the verge... Things just are not going well at all. So in the spirit of the season I composed a little Christmas poem to keep our minds on the holiday spirit. I hope you'll all read it and enjoy it... or at least read it and call it crap. But it won't take long, you'll be done in a snap!

Merry Christmas everyone, I'll post again in the New Year.

Christmas Two-Thousand and Eight

'Twas the season of Yule

But profit reports smelled worse than a stool,

The stores were all boarded and shut,

closed and gone as sales fell in a rut.

Foreclosures were high

and reposessions were nigh

Many families soon with no home

Look sadly on crumbling streets they are soon to roam.

The children of the wealthy

had Christmas dreams so unhealthy

An X-box360, a Nintendo Wii Fit

Stuff too expensive, by just a wee bit.

Even Santa, with his jolly old heart

was laying off elves, just as a start;

Dasher and Dancer and Comet and Cupid

were all given pink slips, now isn't that stupid!

He looked at the gifts on the back of his sleigh

Much smaller than in Christmases of Yesterday

Even Santa cuts back when the bottom falls out

poor Rudolph the Reindeer had to pawn his red snout!

I want, I want! The children all shout

Their parents, despair trying to figure their bills out

Heating and water and rent cost lots of green,

We hope you don't mind the heater being set at thirteen.

Off to bed now the children are sent

The parents money, before they get it, is spent

Off to the sky, Santa did go

A little less jolly, seemed his Ho Ho Ho!

Through the sky that old elf flew

Not much spirit came into view

Many houses were bare, devoid of their lights

This year was the worst he'd seen in many nights

Down the chimneys he crept with his sack

Noticeably lighter this year, on his back

Below the tree the presents he left few

A sweater for Suzie and a scarf for Jimmy too.

The next morning the children from their beds they did wake

not long, to open their presents, they did take

No cell phone, no X-box, no video games came out

the mouths on their faces, they made one big pout

Corporations, parents, children, even you and me

Had forgotten the true meaning of Christmas you see

It's not about the presents and toys

It's about family and friends, and children, both girls and boys

While the tree and the stockings may seem empty this year

It is important that you not shed a tear

Give thanks for who and what you call your

For there are still many to whom you have more

Christmas is not a time for being greedy

Give that spare change, instead, to the needy

We often forget what it is that matters most,

So with family and friends take up a toast

To health, to happiness to friends that are near

to doing the same again year after year

To time with the family even when times are tough

Because being with them is more than enough.