Christmas with Teenagers

This poem was written as a mom and how my own two teenagers were making us feel this particular year during the holidays.

‘Twas several weeks before Christmas and all through the house,
Teenagers were wishing and starting to pout.
For their gift list was long and expensive as hell,
Mom and Dad worked real hard to keep cool and not yell.

“Don’t you remember at all, a single thing you’ve been taught?”
“Tis the season of giving, not to add up what’s been bought!”
We help feed the homeless and donate to their shelters,
We are thankfully blessed, not living life helter-skelter.

For in the blink of an eye, all you have can be gone,
and your meal for the day could be a solitary wonton.
So, count your blessings my sons, each and every day,
and remember the season and these words that I say.

You may not be wealthy, well-off or upper class,
but you are loved more than anything, a joy unsurpassed.
Your parents work hard to keep you safe, warm, and fed,
a roof over your head, bellies filled and a soft bed.

So, make your lists of expensive and unnecessary gifts,
demand this and demand that or you’ll jump off a cliff.
Just remember one thing, come Christmas morning,
Jesus was born in a manger, just swaddling adorning.

You’ll receive what you need and a few surprises you don’t,
even though we both know in three months you’ll move on.
But the love that we give you each night and bright day,
is what you’ll cherish and remember not the price that we pay.