<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000">Hard to believe but this is number 29 for us:</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif" align="center"><b>Borderline Santa<span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif" align="center"><b>(St. Entropy sees what an invisible barrier looks like)<span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">‘Twas the Night before Christmas. At the museum staff party,
<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">I was mixing the eggnog to make hale those just hearty. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Some strange creature was stirring the brew, with a spark<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">So that luminous smoke rose aloft in the dark. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">(The secret ingredient? I’m sworn not to tell,<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">But it works as a preservative equally well.)<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">The curators were curled up on floors, chairs, and shoes,<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">With visions of Nobels inspired by the booze. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">The VPs amassed by the fume hood and ranted<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">In hopes that their grant apps would…well, be granted.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">When, up from my phone, there arose such a clatter,<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">I hit every button to see what was the matter. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Away to the window I flew—okay, ambled—<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Threw everything open—all signals seemed scrambled. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">When, what to my bleary red eyes should appear, <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">But. Nothing. Just nothing. The vista was clear. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">But my phone was still beeping, and I learned, in short
order,<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">That St. Entropy was detained at the border. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">For lack of a visa, the Saint had been grounded, <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">His bag had been seized, his sleigh was impounded. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">The reindeer lacked proof of immunization,<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">And were in quarantine holding of endless duration.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">The season was shaping up poorly, no doubt—<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">No presents, no Santa, and the nog had run out. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">The stockings that hung by the chimney with care<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Were destined, it seemed, to remain empty and bare.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">And those visions of sugarplums in the heads of the staff<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Were to be nothing more than faint dreams and chaff.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">With a twist of my neck, and a tic ‘neath my eye,<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">I thought of the only museum trick I could try. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">I called every embassy and claimed with impunity<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">That Santa had total diplomatic immunity.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">His bag? That’s a courier pouch with information,<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Crammed full with loans for a North Pole installation.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Those reindeer? Protected, and being brought through<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">For a breeding program in the national zoo. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">The protests from ambassador, consul, and official<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Soon led to action both quick and judicial—<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">The detention of Santa was not only untoward<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">But clearly a violation of international accord.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">The embassies changed every Stop sign to Go,<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">And—for the first time—*I* said “Ho, ho, ho.”<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">St. Entropy joined us at last, late at night,<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Covered with labels and stamps, but all right. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">He spoke not a word—not a clean one, at least—<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">But grabbed all of the 90 proof, and drank it. The beast. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Despite the old Saint feeling aloof and, well, snooty,<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">He was determined to fulfill holiday custom and duty.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">He filled all the stockings with reams of red tape<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">And found-in-collection things of various shape.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Then, thumbing his nose at protocol and form,<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">He went to the fume hood, and up it he swarmed. <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">He leaped to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Then let out a sigh and a groan most abyssal.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">There were no reindeer, no Donner, no Blitzen--<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Every last one of them was AWOL. Just missing.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">And I heard him exclaim, as he stomped out of sight, too,<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">“Merry Christmas? Bah, humbug! They won’t leave the zoo!”<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><i>--John Simmons and
Sally Shelton draw the line at practically nothing. <span></span></i></p>
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