Christmas Eve on the Ranch

This went around on an e-mail, and it is just too good not to re-post here. Enjoy!

Christmas Eve on the Ranch

‘Twas the night before Christmas and out on the ranch

The pond was froze over and so was the branch.

The snow was piled up belly-deep to a mule.

The kids were all home on vacation from school.

And happier young folks you never did see

Just all sprawled around a-watchin’  TV.

Then suddenly, sometime around 8 o’clock,

There came a surprise that gave them a shock!

The power went off, and the TV went dead!

When Grandpa came in from out at the shed

With an armload of wood, the house was all dark.

“Just what I expected,” they heard him remark.

“Them power line wires must be down from the snow.

Seems sorter like times on the ranch long ago.”

“I’ll hunt up some candles,” said Mom.  “With their light,

And the fireplace, I reckon we’ll make out all right.”

The teenagers all seemed enveloped in gloom.

Then Grandpa came back from a trip to his room,

Uncased his old fiddle and started to play

That old Christmas song about bells on a sleigh.

Mom started to sing, and first thing they knew

Both Pop and the kids were all singing it, too.

They sang Christmas carols, they sang “Holy Night,”

Their eyes all a-shine in the ruddy firelight.

They played some charades Mom recalled from her youth,

And Pop read a passage from God’s Book of Truth.

They stayed up till midnight, and would you believe,

The youngsters agreed ’twas a fine Christmas Eve.

Grandpa rose early, sometime before dawn;

And when the kids wakened, the power was on.

“The power company sure got the line repaired quick,”

Said Grandpa; and no one suspected his trick.

Last night, for the sake of some old-fashioned fun,

He had pulled the main switch, the old Son-of-a-Gun!

-Anonymous

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suzyrzak
suzyrzak
12 years ago

Sounds like something my Papa would do. Us kids would say he “tricked” us, but he’d just smile & say You enjoyed it & had fun didn’t you? Ah, wonderful memories…

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