The Night Before Navidad

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the casa
Not a creature se movía, ¡Caramba! ¿qué pasa?
Los niños were tucked away en sus camas
Some in long underwear, some in pijamas.

While mamá worked late in her little cocina,
El viejo was down at the corner cantina,
Living it up with amigos. ¡Caracho!
Muy contento y un poco borracho.

All the stockings were hung con mucho cuidado,
In hopes that Saint Nicholas would feel obligado
To bring a los niños both buenos y malos
A nice batch of dulces y otros regalos.

Outside en el patio there arose such a grito
That I jumped to my feet like a frightened cabrito.
I ran to the window and looked out afuera
And who in the world do you think it era?

Saint Nick in a sleigh with a big red sombrero
Came dashing along like a crazy bombero!
And pulling his sleigh, instead of venados,
Were eight little burros, approaching volados.

I watched as they came, and this quaint little hombre
Was shouting and whistling and calling by nombre:
¡Ay Pancho! ¡Ay Pepe ¡Ay Cuca! ¡Ay Beto!
¡Ay Chato! ¡Ay Chopo! ¡Ay Maruca y Nieto!

Then standing up straight with his hand en su pecho,
He flew to the top of our very own techo.
With his round little belly like a bowl of jalea,
He struggled to squeeze down our old chimenea.

Then huffing and puffing, at last in our sala,
With soot smeared all over his traje de gala,
He filled all the stockings with lindos regalos,
For none of the niños had been very malos.

Then chuckling aloud, seeming muy muy contento,
He turned like a flash and was gone like el viento,
And I heard him exclaim, y es la verdad,
"¡Merry Christmas a todos! ¡Feliz Navidad!"



Screw this "Happy Holidays" stuff, folks. Merry CHRISTmas!
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The Pigeons Are Coming Home To Roost

Les Kinsolving weighs in on the Washington Post's reaction to Notre Dame firing its first-ever black football coach.

"Should colleges be forced to accept an affirmative action in selecting coaches by race, when selecting players by race -- rather than ability alone -- would never be tolerated?"

We say: why not? The pigeons are now coming home to roost. Universities across the country have been on the vanguard of those clamoring for de facto racial quotas. Let's see how the shoe fits on the other foot.