WILL SANTA COME TONIGHT?
“Will Santa come? Will Santa come tonight?”
“He might. He might.
If you are good, he might.”
“Can I stay up and see?”
“No. He will not come for you or me
If we do not sleep .
He’s too busy to meet us all.”
“And will he come for us?
If you go to sleep – he does not like fuss.”
Tonight, by the lights of the tree
There is, at last, some grown up time for me.
The cake is iced
The wine is spiced
The carrots diced.
The pudding’s steamed
The brandy butter creamed.
The turkey prepared awaits
And yes, I did clean the plates.
The tree is up, the table laid,
the cards are out , though the credit card’s unpaid!
So shall I soon with gifts a plenty
Mount the stairs to deliver twenty?
Do I dare to tread the stair?
And will it creak?
And will it creak?
When can I take a peek?
I need to know if they slumber
Before I arrive with my lumber.
If they are still awake
what dreams will go?
What heart might break?
Or do they know?
And is their belief just all for show?
So tonight by the magic tree
There is need of more time just for me
I will wait – and struggle to keep open my eyes
And wrestle with the morality of eating Santa’s mince pies.
My adult mind is full of Christmas chores
The cooking times, and the cards through neighbours’ doors
The parties with do not drink and drive in my ears
So the night does not end in tears
Drinks that might have been – but not that cheap red
Which would give me a headache as soon as I got to bed
I was once a child too excited to sleep
with a torrent of thoughts about what I might be given
Hoping that it was a toy beneath the wrapping – should I peep? –
Not more socks or hankies, preferably something to be driven
So could Santa still come for me?
Drowsily I dream as if I were eight
Hoping that Santa would not be late
Like every little boy
There is of course a much wanted toy
So will Santa come tonight?
He might, He might.
If you sleep well
and if you believe
Only if you believe.
And only if in your family
Love fills the hours you will be spending.
It could be the true Santa on the stair
Or it could be someone from an empty chair.
.
So will Santa come?
He will. He will.
The Brexit fairy story is also now available for viewing on the Bow Group site:
The Rt Hon John Redwood MP gives his traditional Bow Group Christmas Fairytale, this year with a Brexit theme. Though it has been trailed in the national media, the full version of the reading is available for the first time here: https://youtu.be/U3PP4bX1Fjo
December 24, 2015
Good morning.
Very good.
Merry Christmas to our kind and long suffering host and to everyone here.
Regards,
Mark
December 24, 2015
Thats a lovely rhyme.
May I wish you and your family a very Happy Christmas and all the very best for the New Year. I hope you all have a peaceful and relaxing day. I have greatly enjoyed your daily posts, and the opportunity to comment, something that is often lacking from other Politicians.
Kind Regards
Diana.
December 24, 2015
Seasons greetings to you John, and all, here’s hoping for a welcome but very late Christmas present to one and all (around May/June time 2016?), at least for the majority of those who post to this site.
December 24, 2015
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and yours.
December 24, 2015
Hope Santa brings us an Out vote in the referendum and quickly followed by a new PM that cares more for this nation.
December 24, 2015
Also a new Chancellor. One who understands that tax payers (who have made the money in the first place) nearly always spend and invest their money far more wisely and efficiently than governments will. One who understands that over high and complex taxes damage growth and the economy and destroy important incentives.
They killing the goose that lays the golden egg or the cow that he is milking to death.
December 24, 2015
Perhaps a PM who honestly thinks that his priority in three letters is the
N… H…. S……, one who actually understands that a top down, free at the point of endless delays, rationing, poor and non delivery (free unless you have to pay a fortune to park that is or cannot work due to the endless delays in your surgery) is no way to deliver anything efficiently. Certainly not something as important and vital as healthcare.
Perhaps even a real Conservative cabinet from top to bottom. One that believes in small government, strong defences, freedoms, law and order with real deterrents, low simple taxes, a Westminster based democracy, cheap energy without the green religion, decent road, a five runway Heathwick and selective immigration – Clearly I am in a Christmas mood as I relax here with the humming birds.
Maybe Santa will do and pay all my tax returns while I am away, that would be very nice of him. They are all on the dining table next to all the tax reference books, all the countless access codes and the piles of papers and figures.
December 24, 2015
This is far more the sort of thing that Cameron should have delivered, instead of the pious, platitudes and guff of his vacuous soft “Christian” Christmas message.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3372740/STEPHEN-GLOVER-Spare-pious-guff-Dave-Christmas-message-delivered.html
December 24, 2015
A very Happy Christmas to you and all your readers.
December 24, 2015
Charming ( as my literature teacher would have said John).
December 24, 2015
I am not one for changing anything which sounds ambiguous , but I wrote this as I was getting ready for work this am and realise it sounds a little flippant . I should probably have said . What a charming piece of literature with universal sentiments.
Happy Christmas.
December 24, 2015
I’m a athiest. This means I don’t believe in Santa.
Happy Christmas anyway.
December 24, 2015
I am Moslem. I believe in Jesus (peace be upon him). I believe in the prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him)
And I wish you all (whether you believe or not) a very Merry Xmas.
December 24, 2015
Thank you, Jumeirah.
December 24, 2015
I am atheist too, indeed I do not understand how any rational scientist can not be? I assume religious leaders as either deluded or just fraudsters. Or perhaps, more generously, they just think that all the mumbo jumbo helps some people and provided them with an income.
I am not even taken in by the new government/BBC/Cameron/Libdim driven, firery hell on earth, global warming alarmism and the “dirty” carbon pollution religions.
Harmless, odourless, plant and tree food, which increases crop yields and anyway a bit warmer, on balance, is a net good anyway. Become a Rational Optimist and grow up, as Matt Ridley might put it.
We live at a time when the World is as conducive to humankind as it ever has been and it will, almost certainly, get better still so why not enjoy it.
December 24, 2015
Great link here LifeLogic in relation to what you are writing about.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/428780/climate-change-predictions
December 28, 2015
Indeed, it is an absurd conceit to think they can predict the climate in 100 year time. The article you link to and Michael Crichton make the point very well indeed.
December 24, 2015
Lifelogic – Happy Grumpmass to you too.
December 28, 2015
I am not grumpy at all, I merely observe the world as it actually is. I am rather optimistic about the world, despite the appalling governments and politicians we have to suffer.
December 24, 2015
Very nice thoughts John, thank you very much.
I read that your leader has come under fire for his well judged message emphasising the country’s essential Christian values, but it has come from those who can only believe in themselves. Sad lot.
Enjoy the break with Very Best Wishes from the Costa Blanca for a relaxing Christmas and a result in the New Year most of us seem to wish for.
December 24, 2015
I have just been watching a report on loneliness at Christmas and decided that next year my husband and myself will offer our services and volunteer to help provide a Christmas get together and meal for people on their own. We are just the two of us because we live quite a distance from family and I think that giving up some time on Christmas day would be more rewarding than sitting down watching rubbish on the TV. Let’s remember those by themselves.
I wish you a Happy Christmas John and hope next year brings us the results we want for the country.
December 24, 2015
A merry yuletide to you and yours John. Many thanks for your efforts on behalf of the people of England and the UK this year. Enjoy your Christmas.
December 24, 2015
Happy Christmas everyone, and thank you JR for your efforts in the past year.
December 24, 2015
Thank you so much for your reasoned, well researched blog which I enjoy every day! Much appreciated. Well written and have a lovely and blessed Christmas.
December 24, 2015
My sentiments exactly Mike.
December 24, 2015
Happy Christmas to thee and thine, John.
And a Happy New Year of course, 2016 hopefully being the year that might bring much-needed improved governance of our nation into being.
Keep up the pressure!
Regards,
Martyn
December 24, 2015
A very Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones, Dr JR.
December 24, 2015
Thank you John for posting your thoughts on a range of topics, and for allowing us to vent our feelings, thoughts,and indeed our frustration at times, on the performance of our elected representatives.
Wishing you, your family, and all of your contributors who make this, a must view website, a very Happy Christmas.
I can only hope next year will be better than the last for many.
December 24, 2015
Cosy word, perfect for Christmas Eve.
Merry Christmas to you John and your family and to all who read and write here.
December 24, 2015
Seasons greetings to JR, with thanks for a splendid blog and to fellow posters for so many stimulating comments.
December 24, 2015
… and Christmas Greetings to you as well John.
December 24, 2015
Great sentiments, but I fear you’ll never make poet laureate, Mr Redwood! If people followed your excellent economic advice, though, we could all afford our own barrels of sack, and enough to treat our friends in Europe and beyond as well. A very merry Christmas to you and your family.
December 24, 2015
Merry X and HNY. Thanks for this website + your effort
December 24, 2015
I’ve been informed not to leave a minced pie by the fireplace tonight ; my 8 year old daughter does not want Santa getting too fat – he might not be able to get back up the chimney !
I appreciated your verse this morning ; Santa will come and bring – apart from the presents, the love and goodwill to all .
Avery merry and enjoyable Christmas to you Dr.JR and to all your responders .
December 24, 2015
Merry Christmas John and family.
Here’s hoping for a free and prosperous country devoid of all foreign interference.
Thanks for keeping us informed and accepting our rants in good grace.
December 24, 2015
Have a lovely, happy Christmas, Dr. John R, and thank you very, very much for your daily blog. I send you and everyone my favourite Christmas carol:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hs9-Sxf9j4
December 24, 2015
Many thanks to our host for another year of stimulating diary topics – and the heroic efforts made in the cause.Thanks also to all my fellow respondents for their frequently well researched and composed (and civilised) contributions.
A Happy Christmas to all!
December 24, 2015
Happy Christmas to you and your significant others John.
I admire your fortitude in reading the daily comments on this website.
December 24, 2015
A very merry Christmas John, a happy new year. All the very best.
December 24, 2015
Thank you for all you have done and tried to do on our behalf
Have a very happy Christmas
December 24, 2015
Merry Christmas and thank you for all of your work this year in making the case for democracy. You remain an inspiration to all of us who care about our country’s future. In my case it’s inspired me to join Vote Leave and after Christmas I’ll be distributing the large pack of Vote Leave leaflets I’ve just received!
December 24, 2015
Happy Christmas and hopefully a peaceful New Year to John, family and everyone here.
We may argue, but everyone on here is always unfailingly courteous, which is a lesson to most other sites, due, no doubt to the calm and thoughtful manner of our host.
Look forward to taking up the cudgels again in the New Year.
December 24, 2015
Thanks for all your posts and allowing us all to have our say.
Have a wonderful Christmas with your family.
December 24, 2015
I hope you & your family have a wonderful Christmas John.
Your blog is still top of my favourites list after so many years.
More power to your elbow in 2016!
December 24, 2015
Thank you, John, for your blog and all the hard work and good humour you put into it almost (?) every single day.
I wish you and all other readers a very happy Christmas and good health and peace in the year ahead!
December 24, 2015
That hits the spot well chosen words. Happy Christmas Dr Redwood and all contributors.
Thanks for going the extra mile in 2015.
December 24, 2015
A very merry Christmas to you and yours, JR, and many thanks indeed for being our kind and indulgent host.
December 25, 2015
A very merry Christmas and best wishes for the New Year, to all on this blog, and to the one who allows it to exist. Thanks.