'Twas the night before Christmas

…in R.Bernardo

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through our town,

No noses were frozen, no snow fluttered down.

No children in flannels were tucked into bed,

They all wore their shorty pajamas instead.

To find wreaths of holly was not very hard,

For holly trees sprouted right in the back yard.

In front of the houses were daddys and moms,

Admiring begonias and beautiful palms.

The slumbering kiddies were dreaming in glee,

Hoping to find boogie boards under the tree.

They all knew that Santa was well on his way,

In a SC 430 instead of a sleigh.

He whizzed o'er the freeways and up RB Road,

In a shiny new sports car delivering his load.

The tropical moon gave the Mercado a glow,

And lighted the way for Santa below.

And soon he arrived and started to work;

As he jumped from the auto, he gave a wee chuckle;

He was dressed in Gap cutoffs with a H.O.G. buckle.

There weren't many chimneys, but that caused no gloom,

For Santa came in through the patio room.

He stopped at each house, staying only a minute,

And lightened his sack of the gifts that were in it.

Before he departed, he treated himself

To bottled spring water left on the shelf.

Then he turned with a jerk and ran back to the car,

Remembering he still had to go very far.

He jumped in the Lexus and put it in gear,

And drove throughout town singing with cheer.

And I heard him exclaim as he went on his way,

"Merry Christmas, Rancho Bernardo, I wish I could stay!"