I wrote this a few years ago on Christmas morning.

It literally woke me up and was written on my phone using notes and later posted it on Facebook. I hadn’t saved it. I was glad to be reminded and certainly have it now.

Christmas Dinner Story

Funny how time can slip away, your three steps closer to the dawn

Big sun draws nearer to the horizon,

Old planks stripped of all their paint – and falling off the barn

A young boy awakens on Christmas morning, and finds just enough waiting to yell

Tin can holds nothing but lint, and dust, and an ancient fire’s embers

And the old man remembers well

But as the years go by, and the old oak grows towards the sky – Autumn leaves have fallen again

Sunsets go, and sunrises welcome new beginnings

The old man sighs and says, “Northwest winds pushed waves across the open ocean,”

A young boy smiles at him

 

I’ve found my home here, among the splintered wood, with that beautiful grain

I’ve found a new place to lay my bones; I’ve found where I will lay

 

A bitter smell brings back that longing, empty nostalgia,

You see that old dog hunting again

A promise to meet each other, in that great big open meadow, will be kept unto the end

And when the smiles, laughter and smells seem to remedy,

Suddenly the tears are falling

The mantle in that old home place, is aged and warm with memories

You’d love to hear the stories it could tell

Generations of loved ones and family traditions, in this place you’d remember well

The fat crocking ham put away for a Christmas dinner story,

A hidden jug of shine, in the cellar, beneath the boards there,

An old wily whitetail hangin in the barn

But that’s another story to tell

 

I’ve found my home here, among the splintered wood, with that beautiful grain