'Twas the night before Christmas, by Dr. Seuss

As I was packing my things up to move, I ran across some work from my freshman Honors 200 writing class. I'm exceedingly pleased by it. Enjoy!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas


There once was a night
in the house of McGrath
in the land of Gazoogle-Hamona-Gamath.

The night was so quiet,
the clock held its breath
and even the father stopped brushing his teth.

The socks by the fireplace,
hung for St. Nick,
were waiting for presents like Gobbles and Blix.

Children all drembling
asleep in their beds
had large purple fruit fairies inside their heads.

When BLAM! the lawn shouted
and BOOM! the snow roared,
and I jumped up to check that it wasn't a snore.

The white snow was shining
but out on the grax
was a little fat man and nine grumbling Lorax.

Their names he was shouting
and as they were called,
I saw each turn around and flip off the wall.

Flip Bonzer, flip Gooble,
Flip Jangleby-Schnoozle,
Flip Yoddleba-reedlebee-plankavanoozle,

Flip Toral, Flip Quazzit,
Flip Habble-galabble,
Flip Thoble and Ungle, now get yourselves at it!

Then all of them flipped,
and each gave a shout,
and they all flew away with nary a pout.

Tell me you're not smiling. I dare you.

Words

Have you ever noticed that certain words always seem to go with other words? Despite the fact that a word has its own independent meaning, some words seem to be inextricably attached to others.

For example, I challenge you to use the word 'fraught' without continuing on to say 'with danger' or 'with peril'. Do it without sounding awkward or forced. Once you've done that, try 'Duly' without 'noted'. I can't think of a common usage, thought the dictionary suggests some that I've never heard.

A recent home teaching visit brought to light another one. This young lady is getting married shortly, and as we left my companion said "Good luck with finals. Oh, and good luck with the impending marriage." Impending marriage? Doesn't the word 'impending' usually bring along words like 'doom' or 'destruction'?

Heh. I like it.

A thank you note

Sometimes it's really hard to do the right thing, even when you know without any doubt that it's what you need to do.

Sometimes you're really grateful for people who help make it easier.

Thanks.


I'm aware that 99% of my readers won't know what I'm talking about here. If you don't already know, don't bother asking; I'm not going to elaborate any more than this..