Et cetera : \'Twas the Night Before Christmas at the Vinton Airport

‘Twas the Night before Christmas

In the City of Lights

The trees at the Sanders

Were sparkling bright

Cars were lined up out west

To see Larry Kersten’s creations

So many colorful displays

And all those Dalmations

While at the local airport

All those planes were a-sleepin’

Dreaming of odysseys

And parachuters a-leapin’

But one certain plane

Was feeling uneasy

Rumors of approaching deer

Made her fuselage queasy

See, she remembered a run-in

She’d had once before

With a four-legged creature

Of famed yuletide yore

“I remember what happened,”

Miss Underestimated sighed

“When a deer with no sled

Arrived at VTI late one night.”

The airplanes were all anchored

Asleep in the bed

Undisturbed by Miss U

Or the words she had said.

They were dreaming last night

Of earlier Christmas journeys

And how voyages of yesteryear

Still inspire great memories

When all of the sudden

Miss U felt a great chill

A great sense of dread

Accompanied her thrill

“On Prancer, On Dancer”

She heard St. Nick sing

But she felt an old ache

In her now-repaired wing

“On Donner, on Prancer,

Now Cupid, now Blitzen”

Miss U shuddered and shivered

And tried hard not to listen.

The sound kept approaching

The local runway

As it does every year

Early on Christmas Day.

But then in a twinkling

The plane felt happy tidings

As she realized how high

Santa’s sleigh was a-ridin’

“All is well,” she did say

As she recognized the hour

When Santa’s aviating sleigh

Soared with high reindeer power

Miss U listened as Santa

Led those deer through our town

And with his iconic twinkle

The last chimney went down

How that photo was taken

Only one small red plane knows

How did she capture

That jolly elf or red nose?

She said with a smile

“Christmas comes once a year

So I wish to you all

A holiday full of cheer!”