My Mother Saw a Christmas Elf

My mother saw a Christmas elf again outside our house,

She looked surprised she told us all, “Be quiet like a mouse,”

“Come quickly to the window now and look across the street,”

“Behind that bush he’s rather small, with green shoes on his feet.”

My brother looked and so did I; we searched so we might see,

My Dad said, “No, he’s over there, he ran behind that tree!”

My brother squealed, “I see him now he’s rather short and fat,”

I looked real hard and said to him, “I think that is a cat.”

My Dad said, “Yes, I see that cat; the elf is over there,”

“He’s run up to the neighbor’s house and hiding by the stair,”

“Well, Santa must be checking now on children for his list,”

“He’s very good at doing that so no one should be missed.”

“So boys be extra good today in case he peeks in here,”

“For Christmas day is coming soon; it’s really very near,”

My brother talked to me and said, “I think we should be kind,”

“We’ll put some cookies on the porch the elf is sure to find.”

My mother smiled and said to us, “That’s really rather sweet,”

“I’m sure the elf would love to find your special Christmas treat,”

The cookie plate was put outside so we could watch and wait,

To see if our good Christmas elf would come and take the bait.

While we were watching our front porch our mother she did shout,

“Come quickly to the kitchen now"; we ran and all looked out,

We heard the fading jingle bell that’s on the elfin shoe,

We ran back to our porch and saw our cookies were gone, too.

We missed the sighting of our elf this wondrous merry year,

But we were happy as could be for Christmas day was near,

And every night we’d dream again as in our beds we’d lay,

How mother saw the Christmas elf outside our house one day.

Peter Lowell Paulson

December 17, 2011