Another Christmas

You see it on the greeting cards, the frost, the furs, the sleigh

As I recall when I was young that was the Irish way

But mum and dad saw better times and took me by the hand

And journeyed far upon the tide to a new and distant land

 

Here there was no freezing snow when Christmas time drew near

While seafood and an ice cold drink became our festive cheer

We’d listen to our parents yarn and the stories they would tell

As bushfire smoke upon the breeze became the yuletide smell

 

Children scamper round the tree with gifts that never end

And those we’d hardly spoken to were treated as a friend

We were different folks for those few days, I wonder why – and then

I remind myself it’s all about the child of Bethlehem

 

I gaze upon the empty seats, where loved ones no longer sit

And remember names with glistening tears, when the Advent candles lit

It doesn’t hurt to pause awhile for those who now have gone

They may have left their earthly homes but their souls still live on

 

Now I am old and slowing down with grandkids of my own

It always seems a mystery where the time has flown

As the youngsters fall asleep I pop a well earned beer

And in Aussie style I thank the Lord I’ve lived another year

 

Nollaig Shona Dhuit to all the readers
From the Man in the Green Hat

Tomas ‘Paddy’ Hamilton
20 November 2014

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FILE PHOTO (December 2013): Aircrew from No. 36 Squadron, RAAF Base Amberley, enjoy a ‘traditional’ Christmas lunch onboard a C-17A Globemaster in transit to the Middle East. Photo by Sergeant W Guthrie.

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