‘A COVID Christmas’
‘Twas the night before
Christmas, but Covid-19 was here,
So we all had to stay extra cautious this year.
Our masks were all hung by the chimney with care
In case Santa forgot his and needed a spare.
With Covid, we couldn’t leave cookies or cake
So we left Santa hand sanitizer to take.
The children were sleeping, the brave little tots
The ones over 5 had just had their first shots,
And mom in her kerchief and me in my cap
Had just settled in for a long winter’s nap.
But we tossed and we turned all night in our beds
As visions of variants danced in our heads.
Gamma and Delta and now Omicron
These Covid mutations that go on and on
I thought to myself, “If this doesn’t get better,
I’ll soon be familiar with every Greek letter.”
Then just as I started to drift off and doze
A clatter of noise from the front lawn arose.
I leapt from my bed and ran straight down the stair
I opened the door, and an old gent stood there.
His N95 made him look pretty weird
But I knew who he was by his red suit and beard.
I kept 6 feet away but blurted out quick
“What are you doing here, jolly Saint Nick?”
Then I said, “Where’s your presents, your reindeer and sleigh?
Don’t you know that
tomorrow will be Christmas Day?”
And Santa stood there looking sad in the snow
As he started to tell me a long tale of woe.
He said he’d been stuck at the North Pole alone
All his white-collar elves
had been working from
home,
And most of the others said, “Santa, don’t hire us!
We can live off the CERB now, thanks to the virus.”
Those left in the toy shop had little to do.
With supply chain disruptions, they could make nothing new.
And as for the reindeer, they’d all gone away.
None of them left to pull on his sleigh.
He said Dasher and Dancer were in quarantine,
Prancer and Vixen refused the vaccine,
Comet and Cupid were in ICU,
So were Donner and Blitzen, they may not pull through.
And Rudolph’s career can’t be resurrected.
With his shiny red nose, they all think he’s infected.
Even with his old sleigh, Santa couldn’t go far.
Every border to cross needs a new PCR.
Santa sighed as he told me how nice it would be
If children could once again sit on his knee.
He couldn’t care less if they’re naughty or nice
But they’d have to show proof that they’d had their shot twice.
But then the old twinkle returned to his eyes.
And he said that he’d brought me a Christmas surprise.
When I unwrapped the box and opened it wide,
Starlight and rainbows streamed out from inside.
Some letters whirled round and flew up to the sky
And they spelled out a word that was 40 feet high.
There first was an H, then an O, then a P,
Then I saw it spelled “HOPE” when it added the E.
“Christmas magic” said
Santa as he smiled through his beard.
Then suddenly all of the reindeer appeared.
He jumped into his sleigh, and he waved me goodbye,
Then he soared o’er the rooftops and into the sky.
I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight
“Get your vaccines my friends, Merry Christmas, good night.”
Then I went back to bed and a sweet Christmas dream
Of a world when we’d finished with Covid-19.
Tom MacDonald
Ottawa, Canada
Let’s continue fight vs. litter
Kudos to the amazing litter cleanup efforts by the group in Turtletown, Tenn.
Sadly, as our area grows, we will continue to see the rise in roadside litter.
If anyone in the area is interested in pitching in to keep Cherokee County the beautiful place that it is, please consider checking out the Cherokee County Anti-Litter Coalition page on Facebook. We can use all the help we can get, and all extra hands will be greatly appreciated.
I understand this can be a frustrating occurrence, but the litter isn’t going to take care of itself. If all of us spent a little bit of time cleaning up around their roadways or out on walks, I know we can tackle this problem.
No doubt Gary Chamberlain will be smiling down on us for continuing to work on this issue.
Sarah Wright, Murphy
An ‘Ode to Advent’
It’s a week after Christmas
And all through the store,
Remnants of excess
Are in the aisles galore!
The children are crying …
The parents upset …
We are on material overload
So what do we expect?
With all the fixin’s
glitter and glam,
We have forgotten
The birthday of the Lamb!
Our church in her love for us
Gives us a prep for
The Event!
Next year Lord, help us pay
More attention to your
Holy Advent!
Jura McCarthy Ashley
Murphy
Time to all act normal
OK ... I have been fully vaccinated and received my Moderna booster. I ought to be pretty safe to be around. Then, why am I still required to don my mask, which I always believed was to protect the other person?
Can’t I act “normal” now ... and why not?
Frankly, I’ve grown a bit weary listening to all the “science-based” information about the China virus, the Delta variant, the Omicron variant and whatever else is coming down the pike just to keep us scared.
As a supposedly free American, I object. I want to see my kids and grand-kids; I want to travel aboard a cruise ship; I want to dance on a crowded dance floor with my similarly vaccinated wife. But no, the politicians seem to know better and tell me to stay home, shut up and comply with their mandates.
No – I’m not doing it. I’m going to celebrate normal in 2022 ... whatever that is these days. Join me, please ... and Happy New Year.
Thomas Roskelly, Murphy
Thank Biden for nothing
Thank President Joe Biden for what? Two million illegal immigrants in our country? A GDP of 2.3 percent as of Dec. 22? An economy that is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy?
His approval rating with Democrats and independents is cratering because he and his cronies (many who are Obama holdovers) canot run a lemonade stand, never mind a country. Law and order is out of control. Why? Because Biden and his progressives’ ideology is wrong.
Crime is not punished – no bail, no jail time, no nothing. San Francisco, Chicago, New York City all clamoring for law and order. Why? Because Biden and his ilk want it that way.
Covid-19 is a real virus, but Biden and his ilk use it as a stick to control the populace.
Thank him for putting money into the hands of the American people … and what real good did it do? The rent was still due two months later. Food was still needed to be put on the table. The $1,200 or $2,400 was gone by then.
If that money had gone into businesses then there would be jobs and people would be earning a paycheck … every week.
Economics 101 is lost on this administration. Foreign policy and world standing is another huge issue. An entire publication could be written on that and this administrations failings.
Inflation is a growing beast that will consume many more businesses and families in 2022. Mark my words.
I challenge anyone to put forth one thing that Joe Biden has done well or has been a positive for the country, and I will thank him.
Brendan Fogarty, Murphy
Protect your family, others
The Omicron virus is 70 times more transmissable than the Delta variant. Get vaccinated now.
While the Delta variant is still a worrying presence, there could be millions of more Americans infected within weeks due to the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant, said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy at the University of Minnesota.
“We’re really just about to experience a viral blizzard,” Osterholm told CNN’s Erin Burnett. While the vaccine apparently is offering less protection than against the Delta variant, it still offers protection against catching the virus and against more severe symptoms of the virus. And, the vaccine is safe.
A study published Aug. 25 in The New England Journal of Medicine by researchers from Clalit Research Institute in Israel, Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health affirms the overall safety of the vaccine and underscore that the risk of adverse consequences from actual infection with SARS-CoV-2 far outweighs potential vaccine risks.
This is not a matter of individual freedoms nor political considerations. It is a matter of fighting a common enemy and caring about our neighbors, friends and family. Get vaccinated and help protect each other.
Jim Grazis, Young Harris, Ga.