Soundtrackers - 12 Days of Christmas

Day Two – Childhood Christmas

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
Gayla Peevey

Kids know much better. They don’t want a sweater;
they follow their own special dreams.
They write to Saint Nick, for they know that his trick
is to answer their letters, it seems.

When they ask for a pony, they’re sure he’s no phony;
they expect to see a real horse.
When it doesn’t come, they’re not really bummed -
they’re easy to distract, of course.

I still remember those long past Decembers,
they stack in my mind like kid’s blockses.
Presents galore, piled high on the floor –
and kids only played with the boxes.

Then they got older, stood shoulder to shoulder
no longer as high as my knees.
It was always a battle as each box they’d rattle
looking for their own set of car keys!

Now they are grown, all moved from home,
but those days of the past still live on.
They’re easy to find, living on in my mind
and they will ‘til the day I am gone.