The Last Days of December

The Last Days of December


Sophie had enjoyed Christmas but it had been a hectic time.


She sighed.


The 13th year of this new century was now coming to a close and it seemed the years keep accelerating.


Her husband Francis looked at her.


He asked, "What are you thinking?".


"Oh," she smiled, "just wondering what dress I should wear to the New Year's Eve party tomorrow."


"I'm sure your taste will be impeccable as always," Francis kissed her.


She looked at the reflection of herself in the mirror.


"I do wish  we could go away on a long holiday," she sighed.


"Well we're certainly visiting a few places next year," Francis smiled.


"All business trips though," Sophie grimaced.

Francis scanned next year's itinerary... hmm...  that should be nice... hmmm... Sarajevo eh?

"Francis," she finally said to him, "it seems the older I get, the more time flies by. Before I know it, we'll both be dead."

"There's still plenty of life left for both of us," Francis kissed her again,
"now let's get ready to welcome in the New Year shall we? After all it's not like our dying is going to start a world war or anything."


"No, I suppose not," Sophie laughed.


And with that Francis... or as he was called in his own Germanic tongue... Franz... left the room.


Franz... Franz Ferdinand... the ArchDuke Franz Ferdinand... heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire left his wife Sophie the Duchess of  Hohenberg to her thoughts.


The year was ending.


A new one was about to begin... 1914.



-A short story
 written by Christopher
 Monday December 30th
 2013.

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday and Today



Little Johnny had a dream
He went to school
and there was a new principal
A school assembly was held.
The new principal said,
"There's yesterday's world
and today's world
And fast approaching on the horizon
is tomorrow's world...
Yesterday we had many wise persons in the world
To whom we asked questions
and sought answers.
Yesterday we had many encyclopedias in the world.
Yesterday we had many leaders
in the world.
Today we have ONE wise person in the world to whom we ask questions and seek answers... Google.
Today we have ONE encyclopedia in the world... Wikipedia.
Today... well sadly...
But tomorrow we shall have ONE leader for the whole world...
The children in Johnny's school shouted "Hail."
And children all over the world shouted  "Hail" in their own language
(in Germany they shouted Sieg Heil)...


... the echoes of voices of many yesterdays past seemed to fade away...

... voices that had once shouted...


... Ein Reich, Ein Volk, Ein Fuhrer...

... they just faded away...

... or maybe they had merged with the new voices that shouted...


... ONE world...

... ONE humanity...

... ONE leader...


-A poem written by Christopher
 Friday December 27th
  2013.


Sent from my iPhone

Christmas Day 2013

Christmas Day 2013


It's Christmas Day 2013
Gotta get out of bed
Eat one's cereal
No that's Rebecca Black's crazy song
gotta open one's Christmas presents
Rush grab the wrapped Christmas presents under the tree
Milk and cookies beside tree are gone
Santa must have ate them
Empty beer bottle as well
Santa must drink
Dad already up
With potato chips and dip and beer
Watching the first of 5 NBA Basketball games that will be played today
Mom up making the last of Christmas dinner
Everything must be eaten before Noon
Gotta rush downtown to the cineplex to see all the blockbuster movies opening today
Little boy and little girl will see movie about the making of Mary Poppins
Book-loving nerd big brother will see new movie based on life of Nelson Mandela
Game loving and Play Station loving big brother will see action flick about fire-breathing dragons and sorcery
Mom will see whatever romance movie is playing today
Big sister will meet up with girl friends and see whatever high school romance movie is playing today
Dad will stay home and watch all the NBA games playing today
So turkey and stuffing and mashed potato and gravy and dessert all wolfed down
And washed down with either fruit punch or egg nog
Then off to the movies for most of the family
Return home
Have some of the leftover turkey
Play with all the games and toys opened this morning
Then off to bed
Mom puts blankets over little boy
and kisses him good-night.
"Mommy, I have a question," the little boy says.
"What's that dear?" Mom asks.
"I overheard someone at school last week say that Christmas is actually the celebration of someone's birthday. I didn't catch the name..."

The little boy looked at her with his big questioning eyes,
"Mommy, whose birthday is it we're supposed to be celebrating today?".



-A poem written by Christopher
 Wednesday, December 25th
 2013
 Christmas Day 2013.

The Sports Car Convertible On The Day Before Christmas

The Sports Car Convertible On The Day Before Christmas



Vancouver- a city where a lot of people drive sports cars convertibles
You see them with their hoods down
beautiful, shining and gleaming
The drivers- alone or with a passenger
always seem to have the same expression on their faces,
"Look at me, look at what I'm driving, I'm King of the world".
People who want everyone to notice them
People who are full of themselves


On this the Day before Christmas
I sit in a restaurant eating lunch
Looking out the window
I see a nice-looking open air convertible
for it's a warm December 24th in Vancouver
It's stopped at a traffic light
No one is walking around at this intersection
No one is passing by
So the driver must have the feeling that no one is around
No one is watching him
no one is observing him
He has no one to impress
So the look on his face
at this moment in time-
is an honest look
and this observer is surprised to see
a look of extreme loneliness.

So I guess in spite of what all the TV Commercials have been telling us for years
Driving a fancy sports car convertible
is not the key to happiness.



-A poem written by Christopher
 The afternoon of Tuesday
  December 24th
  2013

Haiku About Elvis Presley

Haiku About Elvis Presley



Elvis' blue suede shoes
at the end of lonely street
yeah they're all shook up

Mobsters Like Lobsters

Mobsters Like Lobsters



Mobsters like lobsters
was what Joe read on the card
handed him by a fortune telling Bard.


"Thanks," he paid the gypsy and left
before his watch became an object of theft
Joe wanted to know the best way to kill a mobster
and now he learned it was through lobster.


Joe had a beef with Big Mickey Spallone
who helped himself to his girlfriend at home
Trouble was Spallone was a mobster boss
And getting to him was like using gum for floss
your dentist wouldn't recommend it
And neither would your feet in the cement grip
as you hit the East River
with a splash and a shiver.



So find out where Spallone eats
and poison his dish of culinary treats.


This was during the Prohibition era
when female lushes ruined their mascara
crying for their beloved booze
and damning those who held Temperance views.
They would bat their lashes
and keep moonshine in stashes.



Now Big Mickey Spallone- he ran a Speakeasy
where people went if lack of booze made them queasy
he ate at Macelli's across the street
he didn't have to walk far on his feet.


And so into Macelli's kitchen Joe went
bribing the cook with a dollar and cent
for prices were low in those days
and Broadway had many good plays.


Sure enough Big Mick had ordered the lobster
sighed the cook,  "So typical of a mobster."
Joe added hemlock for the seasoning
based on a premise of Socratic reasoning
and the dish was presented to Big Mick
who downed the lobster very quick
in a display that made patrons sick
when Joe appeared and confessed his trick,
Big Mick's last words were, "Damn you, prick."




-A narrative poem
 written by Christopher
 Monday December 9th
 2013.


Sent from my iPhone

Haiku About Jack Frost

Haiku About Jack Frost



A cold December
Jack Frost nipping at our nose
our pain his dessert

Haiku About Nelson Mandela

Haiku About Nelson Mandela



True candle in wind
great light now extinguished
R.I.P. Nelson

Haiku About Santa Claus and Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

Haiku About Santa Claus and Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer



Santa's beer keg gone
could be the cause of Rudolph's
red shiny nose though

Haiku About Temperatures Over Vancouver Today December 3rd 2013

Haiku About Temperatures Over Vancouver Today December 3rd 2013



Arctic air prevails
brass monkey has painful look
he froze his nuts off