The Night Before Tortmas
Twas the night before Tortmas
And all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
Okay maybe a mouse
The stockings were hung
by the chimney with care
With pictures of snowmen, pine trees,
And even a teddy bear
Frankie was nestled
All snug in her log
Dreaming of climbing
And a wormy filled bog
The humans in bed
And the dog beast dream twitching
No one’s sleep was disturbed
By uncomfortable itching
But out in the living room
Arose such a clatter
Frankie sprang from her log
To see what was the matter
Well, less of a spring
And more of a crawl
For a turtle all cold and lethargic’s
Not the fastest of all
Frankie craned her long neck
To get more of a view
For unexpected guests so late at night
Was something quite odd and quite new
When what to her wondering
Eyes did appear
A massive grey tortoise
In a hat dangling past its ears
Despite the chill
Of the yuletide snow
It looked very warm
Not like Frankie, all slow
Its neck was quite long
Reaching up to the tank
Its legs were like pillars
Into the carpet they sank
All over its shell
And up it’s long neck
Was a warm looking coat
Quite fuzzy, oh heck!
With a little quick thought
In a manner quite short
It dawned on her mind
This must be Santa Tort!
Friend to all creatures
The big and the meek
Who bear a strong shell
As well as a beak!
His ancient faced smiled
And now Frankie felt warm
Like she was standing on top
Of a sun-baked platform
Frankie settled in
Her night now not bleak
As Santa Tort smiled
And started to speak
“Winter is hard
For reptiles you see
We often take shelter
In mud and below trees
While the furred ones have fun
Running round and about
We cold blooded creatures
Feel often left out
So one day a year
I come visit you folk
To bring you good cheer
In tanks and under oaks
It may not be much
A little kind act
But the winter is long
And that is a fact
A light in the dark
Some joy I can bring
To warm your little heart
Till the bright days of spring.“
With that he reached over
In a little red bag
With the swiftness of deer
Not a second he lagged
With a shrug of his shoulder
And a flick of his claw
Something landed in Frankie’s dish
As she stared on in awe
With that Tort was gone
He went out in a flash
Trailing bits from the fireplace
Some soot and some ash
And so Frankie the tortoise
Found her Christmas quite merry
For waiting in her food bowl
Was a fresh picked strawberry
We read our favorite christmas eve bed time story, written by the amazing @turtlessuggest and Zoya snuggled up in her log with her head facing her tree. Any minute now Santa tort will be here!
