With due deference to Clement Moore –
‘Twas the night before Christmas, a yearly condition
But this year seems different, we’re all in transition
Lindsay’s in Lansing, Molly and Mitchell in Philly
We moved to Indiana, the land of not hilly
But except for Lindsay, we’re together tonight
In Pennsylvania at Lynn’s, so everything’s right
Lise was snoozing and I with a nightcap
Was racking my brain, for the yearly re-cap.
Much has happened, and my thoughts are scattered
Trying to sort them, well my brain was just battered
Long months on the Trail, now seem like a flash
All jumbled together, a giant mishmash
My memories were swirling, like new fallen snow
It’s obvious he wanted it, quid pro quo
When what to my wondering mind should appear,
But the people I hiked with, and spent half the year
Some of them slow, some lively and quick
All took on the challenge, it was no picnic
More rapid than eagles my comrades they came
I whistled and shouted and called them by name
Hey Shocktop, hey Earthworm, hey Redbeard and Wiz,
Yo Quest, Yo Fuj, Yo Sponge Bob and Crusher,
We’re living the dream! We all heard the call!
Now on to Katahdin, dash away all!”
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly
We met each obstacle and climbed to the sky.
From Georgia to Maine, or’ the mountains we flew
Through snow and rain, heat and humidity too.
And then in a twinkling the trail was laid out
Like the view from a tower, I saw the whole route
It twisted and turned, it went up and down
Can’t forget the rocks strewn all around
I dressed in synthetics, from my head to my feet
I was usually sweaty, and my body was beat
My means of survival was all on my back
I looked like a peddler, living out of a pack
For almost six months, twenty-two hundred miles
My comrades and I, we bested the trials
Thousands had started, only hundreds completed
We got to Katahdin, we were undefeated.
While I did the trail, Lise made a big move
To Indiana she went, to find a new groove
The town of her childhood, West Lafayette
With her went Rover, our reptilian pet
She bought us a house, the first that she saw
It had what we needed, so why hem and haw
Molly and Mitchell, taking Philly by storm
Have raised scrounging to a new art form
They’re both doing well, and making their way
Proud parents they have, I’m happy to say
Lindsay’s in Okemos, waiting and chilling
Looking for something she finds fulfilling
She works with children, to make a few shillings
So far we’re all lucky, there’s been no killings
It’s a year of transition, but we came out all right
So Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 