I dreamt we had a white and pirate Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas and if you were a mouse

You would have seen Lulu decorating the house

With pirates in mind, the table was set,

Treasures of gold and silver part of the banquet.

The stockings were hung, not too near the chimney, with care,
Skull and crossbones guarding the chocolate booty in there.

The children awoke, grabbed their broadswords with glee
And commenced with swashbuckling, thankfully excluding me.

A change of our clothes, pull on woolens and mitts,
To the snow we need go for white cannon ball spritz!



On Willow, on Rob, oh, what is the matter!
In their faces I cannot make these darn snowballs splatter!

Snow demons sought to bury my poor Emily,
Fear not, barked sweet Ollie, I shall rescue thee!





Then back to the house, a 5 p.m. feast to prepare,
I read the clock wrongly - thank goodness Emily and Willow were there!


Straight to the kitchen they went, blades and spoons in a whirl,
The banquet was saved by my wonderful girls!

Guests arrived with their booty, we're so glad you've all come!
Let's exchange gifts of sailors, treasure, and rum!

Came time we all feasted, chattered and cheered,
Hooray for a themed Christmas!  Let's do it again next year!
                _________________________________________________

Yes, we decided to choose a theme for our family gift exchange this year.  Pulling ideas out of a hat, we landed on a pirate theme - aaarrrghhhhhhhhhhh!  It was so much fun being in charge of the traditional stockings this year - a task my siblings and I have decided to share keeping Mom's stocking stuffers a part of our Christmas, in her memory.  She continued giving us stockings well into our adulthood, filling them with fun and useful trinkets like fancy pens and notepads, lotions and lip balms.  This year I decided - well, first of all, that they could be pirate boots instead of our usual stockings.  Snip snip, stitch, stitch.  You know me, a little over the top.  I found things pirates would need or want to go inside the boots.  Woody was happy to see some traditional Mom gifts like the chapstick and lottery ticket - pirates need and want that stuff!  They also want stuff like compasses and flint fire starters, Chips Ahoy cookies and Goldfish crackers (har de har har!), and rum flavored candy.  And of course, plenty of gold (chocolate) coins!  I also made a mini pirate critter for each stocking, complete with eye patch and peg leg.  Sure, 'twas a goodly and right proper bag of booty fit for the surliest of seadogs, eh bucaneers?  Aarghhh!

And now it's New Year's Eve.  A very bright and happy New Year to you all, filled with an abundance of love, peace, prosperity and creativity!