Book of Past Challenges

Picture Perfect Christmas

Frosty snowbound village
with garland all around
cozy candle lit cottages
where love of family abounds.

Enveloped in Christmases of old
were homemade gifts and sweets
and sleigh bells in the narrow streets.
Holiday sights and sounds untold.

Every person went to church
Currier and Ives sold a brand
A cardinal watches from his perch.
Were things really all that grand?

Kids enjoyed a sticky taffy pull
and snow ball fights for sure
a practice still secure
and on the farm, dared tip a bull.

A well worn harness hangs
on the rustic stable wall
next to the old mare’s stall,
there’s pens to muck before supper clangs.

Nostalgia for the good old days
when life was simpler then
you know, "Good will to men"
when seen through a rosy haze.

No people of color do you see
or derelicts, drunks or gays.
They don’t fit this idealic way
around the Victorian tree.

The truth is life was hard
in this picture perfect note
and women couldn’t vote
when grandma cooked with lard.
                   ~~Judi Van Gorder

Notes: ▼

"day 20 - "  
Theme: Currier & Ives Christmas. Write a rhyming poem that takes us back in time to a Currier & Ives kind of Christmas. (Google Currier & Ives if you aren't familiar with them.) Think simpler times, family oriented. Togetherness. No cell phones, video games or TV.

Words to use: harness, candle, envelope, stick
Forbidden words: auto, car, TV, cellphone, video, computer, internet,