Tis the season for traditions and I'm going to share one from the McMurray Household with you. Every Christmas, I write a story featuring my children that I read to them just before they go off to bed on Christmas eve. Over the years, the McMurray children have been on some wild adventures from being sucked into their favorite Christmas specials to helping Santa deliver presents while trying to evade a secret government agency. We've had a lot of fun and shared a lot of laughs along the way. Here is one such story I wrote for Christmas 2020. I hope you enjoy it!
Heard a sound they couldn’t believe.
The ring of a bell and the beat of a drum
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
Turned to Kaelin and said,
Or is the noise all in my head?”
“I hear it too,” Kae said, “The beat of a drum!
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
The girls got their brother
Like the dogs looking for supper.
“A present!” Jase cried, “The beat of a drum!”
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
Right there under the tree,
With a bow, tied to a tee
In white, “The Christmas Jumanji.”
The ring of a bell and the beat of a drum
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
They chose to tempt fate,
And found the instructions to play
Kels read them aloud to the beat of a drum,
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
For those who seek to find,
And leave their world behind,
In hopes you reach the end it time.
Without a word Jase rolled the dice and they drummed,
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
“Watch your step, you may fall,”
The carpet iced from wall to wall
They slid and slid, their skill not aplomb,
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
Until Kae rolled the dice,
And these words thawed the ice,
Makes these ladies naughty not nice.”
Then Karens appeared with clench teeth, showing their gums,
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
“That’s mine!” one Karen said,
Then swung, but Kels ducked her head.
She crawled through the fray,
Then rolled the dice and the Karens dropped dead
Then new words appeared with the beat of the drum.
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
is drunk as a skunk and in need of Mylanta.”
From his chair he mumbled like a crazy street bum,
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
“Come on over,” he pestered,
Dressed in cheap polyester
And he replied with a certain hand gesture.
Jase took his turn and the fraud faded and grumped.
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
Then the loud roar of a train,
Had runaway and could not be restrained!
Kae dove for the dice, heart pounding like a drum.
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
In the Saint Nick of time,
And In its place, rose a mountain so high
From the peak came a roar and the pounding of drums.
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
And the words that appeared,
Made their blood cold with fear
the Bumble is hungry and out of reindeer.
The snow monster banged on his chest like a drum,
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
It grabbed hold of our Jase,
Mouthed gaped open to taste,
And hurled the two dice in its face!
It let go of Jase and to the drums it succumbed.
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
“There is still a bit more,
Toy soldiers, cannons, guns galore.”
The armies marched to the beat of war drums.
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
Toy soldiers' sabers clashed!
Their guns and cannons flashed!
Crawling low in a desperate dash,
Grabbed the dice, and threw them against the war drum.
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
Don’t tell elves to try it,
A protest becomes an elf riot”
And so the ground beneath the kids’ feet thrummed,
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
Broken glass, fire and noise,
Santa’s riot police deployed,
The looting of his sweatshop toys.
The flying cannisters of their tear gas drummed,
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
Through the smoke, teary eyed,
She grabbed hold the dice
And let them fly toward the sky,
The riot came to a stop but with ominous drums,
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
“Do you kids fear the dead?”
The game’s crystal ball said,
A future of darkness and dread.”
The ghost of Christmas yet to come, arrived with a drum,
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
Out of the fog he loomed,
With graves markers and tombs,
With skeletal finger and boomed,
“There is no more time to get back where you’re from!”
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
From his cloak came a laugh,
Nearly split them in half,
“Can’t you see, young ones?
“That you walked right into a trap?”
“There is no escape from the sound of the drums.”
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
She had one more roll up her sleeve
Holding each dice, and not yet sure what would come
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
“All the words you have preached,
We choose not to believe,”
Our Kels rolled the dice,
And smiling, said, “Jumanji!”
The dark figured howled, beat his tomb like a drum,
Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
crawled into bed with little to say,
Wondering if next year they’d hear the beat of the drum.
The Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
The Da DaDA Da DaDa Da DaDa Da Dum!
© Sean McMurray 2020
