Holiday Greetings for a Better Year Ahead

by Clark Groome
Posted 12/23/21

Let’s celebrate the holidays this year /

With wassail, music, and abundant cheer.

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Holiday Greetings for a Better Year Ahead

Posted

Let’s celebrate the holidays this year
With wassail, music, and abundant cheer.
Chanukah’s finished, with dreidels galore.
Christmas is ahead, Santa’s at the door.
Now it’s time to go up, up, and away
On this rhyming jaunt, our own verbal sleigh.

Give thanks, this year of distancing and masks,

For our first responders who’ve met their tasks
Without concern about their own welfare
As they served all those who needed their care.
The best wish for their twenty twenty-two
Would be they have a whole lot less to do.

To Moderna, Pfizer, and J and J:
Thanks for helping us keep COVID at bay.
Praise too to the honest Tony Fauci
Who kept us informed, was never grouchy
In those multiple daily interviews
Which brought science’s viewpoint to the news.

Let’s now turn away from all that was bleak
And rejoice in the “fun stuff,” so to speak.
Going out to eat, often an ordeal,
Became, slowly, a way to have a meal.
Outdoor tables became a common sight,
For diners during daytime and at night.

Soon some spots safely allowed us inside;
Welcomed us for their yummies to be tried.
Shops on the Hill and all around the town
Opened and welcomed folks without a frown.
The streets, for so long somewhat deserted,
Once again with traffic jams they flirted,

From pre-school and all the way through college
In person’s the best way to gain knowledge.
Kids at local schools are glad to be back
With books and pencils and food in their pack.
To the teachers who made this work each day:
Enjoy your time off and take time to play.

Sports and theater and music all are back.
So let’s hope that they are on the right track.
With winners all around, on field or stage,
And full houses for all are now the rage.
The teams should win a lot more than a few;
And the artists should earn a good review.

The theaters perform, the music is played,
Showing what was missed when shut-down delayed.
From the Kimmel Center down in Philly
To nearby Quintessence, a real dilly.
Let’s thank our artists, whatever they do.
They all enrich lives, for me and for you.

The orchestra’s back in Verizon Hall
With Beethoven, Dvorak, Brahms et al.
The music’s grand, there’s no need to panic,
All’s in good hands with versatile Yannick.
Down Broad Street only a couple of miles
Are other fun things to bring many smiles.

For the return of the real Phanatic.
Please, good folks, be happy. Be emphatic
That his return will hours of joy extend
To all who see him at games they attend.
And to Tom Burgoyne, the green guy’s best bud:
Keep your pal alive and never a dud.

For last season’s MVP Bryce Harper
May his new campaign be even sharper.
To all his teammates, may the Phillies shine.
Making the playoffs would be more than fine.
The same for the Flyers and the Sixers;
Postseason games would be great elixirs.

Warm wishes to Giroux, Hurts, and Embiid.
Three keys whenever their teams do succeed.
And  thanks to those who broadcast all the games.
It’s on their calls we hear the teams’ great names.
And welcome to new Sixers’ voice, Kate Scott,
Already accepted. That says a lot.


Here’s a last couplet, a word to Gritty:
Keep us all smiling; keep being witty.

Well now we must close this holiday rhyme
And wish you, dear readers, a splendid time.
May your year ahead be happy and well,
Twelve joyful months about which you can tell.
Filled for you with much merriment and glee
And, perhaps, a partridge in a pear tree.

poem, Christmas