Twas The Night Before Christmas

by Real Macaw Member, Don Sisk

With Sincere Apologies to Clement C. Moore

Twas the night before Christmas, not a sound could be heard, not even the parrot, that noisy old bird. The room was ablaze with the lights from the tree, basking the faces of Polly and me. With me in my PJ's and an eggnog in hand, Polly was chewing an old rubber band. I flicked on the TV to hear of the sports, The local news, scandals and weather reports. When the newscaster broke in with a shout, "Hurry up to your windows! Go ahead and look out!" I ran to the window and peered through the glass, and saw that a light snow had covered the grass. I looked to the sky and what did appear, a top-heavy sled, not pulled by reindeer. It was hard to make out what was pulling the sled, but I swear it had wings, and a bright crimson head. And surely enough, oh what wonderful things, Santa's sleigh was driven by scores of Greenwings!

What a marvelous sight, it just couldn't be true, But in that flock were some Hyacinths, too! With some Scarlets and Greys and a 'Too or four, I took out binoculars to spy me some more. When I got back to the window, it would appear that Santa was circling, and heading right here. I heard the sled landing up on the roof, Without the clip-clopping of each heavy hoof. Instead my poor ears picked up and heard, Each honk and squawk of cacophonous birds. As I heard all the clawing up over the ceiling, I became overwhelmed by what I was feeling. By warmth and delight and certainly joy, 'cause I knew my dear Polly was getting a toy. Festive Amazon

After a moment I heard a strange sound, I'm sure it was Santa now heading toward ground. I went to the chimney, and waited a while, And when I first glimpsed his boots, I started to smile. It took him a while, but he got in the house, " Small flue you've got there, too small for a mouse." He winked at me and blew a kiss to my pet, But when I looked down, my carpet was wet. "Ooops, I'm sorry, you know how it goes," Then he hiked up his pants, and wrinkled his nose. And so I asked him, "What's up St. Nick? "Where are the reindeer? What, are they sick?" "Oh no," he said, then gave a great chuckle, "They're all all right," then he tugged his belt buckle. "But me and the missus had a bit of a row, She said ' Me or the reindeer just had to go'." "So I looked at the cost of keeping some parrots, It wasn't much cheaper than buying 10 tons of carrots. "But they've got that something that reindeer just lack, So when they chose me, I just never looked back." So I nodded at him with a look of knowing, He nodded back and said, "I must be going."

He reached in his sack and took out some things, A ball, some leathers, some red Lucite rings. He gave them to Polly, she whistled so sweet, Then she grabbed the leathers with both greedy feet. Santa laughed so hard, and with such mirth, You'd think that his voice could be heard 'round the earth. Then he looked at the chimney, and then at the door, And I knew in an instant what he had in store. He walked out the door and onto the snow, He summoned his flock from the roof to below. Then he boarded his sleigh and grabbed both the reins, Then he started to call each bird by name, "On Sinbad, On Paco, Now Lefty, Now Right, "Ooh just forget it, it'll take me all night." And I could swear that he said as he flew out of sight, "Merry Christmas to all and to all a 'BAWGAWK'."