Twas the night before Christmas, and in a cyberspace "House"
Many souls stirred, now clicking their mouse.
Warm messages were sent, through the phone lines with care,
as merry yuletide greetings sang in the air.
The people now met, from all through the land
In "Mucks" and "IRC's" and chat rooms to hand
These festive wishes which left no doubt
Of the peace and happiness the season was about.
And me in my nightclothes now seeing it quite late
Prepared to log off, to rest for the date
That now was only some hours away,
For all too soon, it would be Christmas day.
My finger hovered over the exiting key
When what to my wondering eyes did I see!
A small moving icon did appear on the screen
And for a moment I thought, "this *must* be a dream".
Nine reindeer now flew, one with a red nose,
Pulling a sleigh and up they all rose,
As a jolly old driver now called them by name
And I stared in wonderment as I knew of their fame.
Prancing in the air, to the top of my page,
They landed quite deftly, setting the stage,
For the one called Saint Nick as he smiled at me
Letting me know I had no reason to flee.
Seeing this I relaxed, and sighed with relief,
For I knew that this vision would cause me no grief.
No figment was he, no vision brought on,
By an addled brain that was too far gone
Or a "virus" of some sort, to lead me to think
That my entire system was now on the blink.
He spoke not a word but went straight to work,
And leaping from the sleigh, turned with a jerk.
To the icon of my mailbox I watched him now stride
And opening the cover, he slipped quickly inside,
Awrapped gift taken from the sack on his sleigh,
And raising the "flag" was then on his way.
Leaping to his sleigh to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down on a thistle
But I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all! And to all a good night!"
Wait! There's more!)
This unusual story though, does not end on that note,
For what of the "gift" of which I had wrote?
With feelings of wonder I reached for my mouse,
And scrolling it through my own cyber "house",
Placed the pointer o'er the mailbox sign
Curious to "unwrap" the gift that was now mine.
This same mailbox had been through the years,
An astounding tool in reaching my peers,
Of those with an interest in furry and non,
Cartoons and comics, living hither and yon.
Many close friends, very dear to my heart,
All started from this box, it's almost solely the start
Of my "family" online so what could it be,
That Santa had left in this place just for me?
Clicking the button on this quite special place
The box opened wide and I stood face to face
With a group picture of those to these warm wishes I send,
For really what greater gift is there than a friend?