Christmas, 2003

Christmas in Wee Valley

They lived in the valley over yonder,

The Wee Ones, that is.

Theirs was clear –

work, spend, work, spend –

the mantra repeated so often,

in so many ways,

in so many places,

that those wee ones didn’t hear it anymore.

Nor did they know the mantra was constantly chanted

in the background of their lives.

White noise it was;

add it to the chirping of the red, bold diminishing birds,

the engines pushing tons of steal and wee ones to and fro,

the time clock that mastered their time and lives.

‘What noise?’ you say.  ‘I hear nothing

cept the chirping,

and a car driving by,

and the ding when I punch in at work…’

‘I got a new thingamajig today!  Don’t you just love it?!’

‘Why…What exactly is a thingamagig?’

‘Well, I don’t rightly know, but I do know one thing!’

‘What’s that Wee One?’

‘It was on sale!!!’

‘Oh my!  A sale!!  Why didn’t you tell me earlier?!  I really need one of those thingamajigs!  I wonder if they have them in red or purple, or maybe teal?!’

On their way home from a work-a-day,

cash in hand, thingamajigs on their minds,

‘When I go home, I feel so discombobulated – out of sorts really!

I miss the speed with which we make those bopzats!

And the noise of the bopzatpoota machines – oh how they roar!

We made 39,000 bopzats today!’

‘Wee One, excuse me…’

‘Yes?’

‘What’s a bopzat?’

‘Don’t you know?!  It’s the latest rage!  Everyone’s buying them!’

‘Really?  What for?  Do they sing?’

‘Oh no, they do not sing.’

‘Well, do they ding?’

‘No, they do not ding.’

‘Hmmm, do they roll?’

‘No, they definitely do not roll.’

‘Walk?’

‘No, no walking.’

‘Make dinner, warm you up at night?’

‘No, I’m sorry.  Bopzats don’t make dinner, nor are they food.  And they don’t warm you up at night.  You can get a Luippspin to do that.  They come in 30 colors now!  They come out of the department up the hallway.’

‘But, what then, does a Bopzat do?’

‘I don’t know, really.  But, they are the rage!  We had to increase production 30 fold this week to handle the demand!  You should have seen the Wee Ones lined up, some got there two days before the production line was scheduled to finish!’

On their way home from a work-a-day,

cash in hand, thingamajigs and bopzats on their minds.

Now, Christmas comes three times a year in Wee Valley.

Better that way.

More opportunities for the Wee Ones to prove they weren’t like

that horrible, stingy scrooge fellow.

Oh, they knew him well.

His movie had been reproduced yearly by the big people on the other side of the valley,

by big stuffed animals and a green frog, and now by the wee ones’ very own preschool.

No, they weren’t like him, or that green Grinch fellow either!

That mean fellow didn’t want to give gifts!!!!

He knew not the meaning of Christmas!!!

Poor fellow.

Such a small heart…

They understood fully that the measure of their caring for another

could only be weighed in size and number

of presents!

So, yes, they requested more Christmases.

And, to prove their goodness,

they asked for more hours at the noisy work-a-day plant

making thingamajigs and bopzats

and whatever else the big people on the other side of the valley

dreamed up,

so they could earn more money

to spend on more gifts.

Because we all know that Christmas isn’t Christmas

without spending.

We all know that, right???