The tree on the common shone bright as a flame,
Putting even the old Minot Lighthouse to shame.
Each window in each sturdy home was a frame,
For a single white candle accenting each pane.

Through one of these windows, behind the light's glow,
A bunk could be seen with another below.
The people asleep in this snug bottom bed,
Were a six-year-old girl and a doll with a sled.

Now a sled and a doll can be sharp on the back,
But the tired girl slept till she felt the toy crack.
She opened her eyes, lay the doll on the floor,
And tilted her head toward the half-open door.

A little tree stood out of sight down the hall,
But its presence was known by the light on the wall,
Blinking red, and then green, and then nothing at all,
Such a comfort it was while to sleep she would fall.

Did she hear a soft tap on the window? She did.
It was snowing! Like sugar from heaven to kids.
She jumped from the bed and looked out at the yard,
But what caught her eye first was the sky, which was starred.
Not a cloud blocked the moon or the planets beyond,
Yet a blanket of snow covered fields, hills, and ponds.

Now the boy in the top bunk behind the girl stirred,
And the black cat ensconced in his left arm pit purred,
But before his young sister could utter a word,
An event unlike any she'd witnessed occurred.

Down the road toward her house galloped eight little deer
Who were towing a sleigh driven hard from the rear.
She could hear the man yip at them as they flew near,
Their momentum so wild he was fighting to steer.
It was then, as they shot through her yard like a spear,
That his plan to collide with her house became clear.

For he bore down upon her not slowing a lick.
Then he lifted the reins, simply gave them a flick,
And the deer nimbly ran up the kitchen's north side,
Pulling driver and sleigh to the roof in one glide.

The effect wasn't quiet. The house was still quaking.
She wondered how anyone slept through this shaking.
But brother and cat were still soundly asleep,
As if sleigh landings made not so much as a peep.

She dashed to the hallway and ran down the stair,
Nearly tripped on a fruit cake but she didn't care,
A team of eight deer and a sleigh on your roof
Is a sight you don't see every day--that's the truth.

She was throwing her boots on and grabbing her hat,
When a light in the room where the Christmas tree sat
Cast a flickering eerie blue glow on the wall.
So she quietly tiptoed back down the front hall,
And peeked into the room with the fireplace and tree.
What she saw was a red-suited man on TV.

He was standing on top of a house, near a sleigh.
He adjusted and tuned an antenna array.
Then from out of a sack he pulled presents and candy,
And appeared to be setting them where they'd be handy.

Now leaving behind all the toys, sleigh, and team,
He squeezed into the camera and out of the screen.

The girl stood in shock as he crashed to the floor
And then rolled to his feet as if ready for more.
When he noticed he wasn't alone there he smiled,
"Did my tromping around on your roof wake you, child?"

She was too shy to speak, so he did all the talking.
"The first thing I do is I fill up each stocking."
He walked to the TV, poked both his arms through,
Pulled a gift from the roof and a popcorn ball too.

As Santa Claus worked, the girl saw through the snow
That the neighbors' new den had the same bluish glow.
Down the whole street, in fact, televisions were going,
With the same rooftop scene that her TV was showing.

And the same Santa placing gifts under her tree,
The same one eating cookies and drinking hot tea
Was at that moment setting up trains at her cousin's.
Every house had its Santa. There must have been dozens.

Santa said to her as he prepared now to leave,
"I am only one man, and there's one Christmas Eve.
I can't visit your house and then all of the rest.
It would take me five lifetimes; your mom will attest.
So I broadcast myself like a live tennis match.
I can visit a million and five in a batch!"

As he climbed through the TV and onto the snow.
There was one puzzling thing the girl needed to know.

"But how are the presents all different?" she said.
"Remember," he answered while settling the sled,
"We can watch the same show, hear the same song or book,
But you don't take away the same things that I took."

Then her TV went dark--all the other ones too.
And she ran to the window to see what they'd do.
Santa yipped at his team, they ran straight down the shingling,
Took off on a run with the sleigh bells ajingling,
Careened through the woods and were soon out of sight.
And the girl didn't sleep for the rest of the night.

John Lengyel works at home in Cohasset and writes.
But he's run out of rhymes so you'll just have to deal.