Homegrown Traditions

One of the yearly traditions I've created with my kids is the annual poem requesting their Christmas lists. I always ask for them in the regular way by phone or e-mail; but somehow, the fact that they're all married with families of their own and full time jobs seems to waylay the requested lists. I usually follow up with a silly short poem I compose and send to them, hoping to jump start the process:

Here is this year's poetic request:

The days are getting shorter,
The leaves have turned to gold
And the wind's begun to bluster
As the temps grow ever cold

Just around the corner,
Christmas lies in wait
And spirits start to wonder
If lists have e'r been made

It's only weeks away, you know
Till Santa Claus arrives
And Christmas trees are all aglow
In little children's eyes.

So send your lists to me, my dears
I don't want to get tough
And have to box your dainty ears
With mother's soft kid gloves.

And last year's:

The weather is weird.
They say we’ll get snow,
And the cold north winds have started to blow.
It’s been howling all day here in VA,
And it’s almost too cold to go out and play.

I went to the store to look for some fixins to
Go along with my turkey and trimmins.
And all the stores along the roads here
Already have Christmas lights hung everywhere.

I couldn’t believe it when I saw wreaths and trees
For sale at the store just bold as you please.
By the time Santa comes near the end of December,
Good Lord, they all be as dry as dead weeds.

And then when I thought of the shopping days left
I thought to myself, hey, where are the lists?
My kids haven’t sent any wishes or wants
Do they think I’m a psychic who can guess their response?

Please send me a list to shop from, I pray
I need your gift list without any delay.
If you can’t help me out
I don’t know what I’ll do.
Don’t make me get tough and use the thumbscrew.

Corny, I know; but hey, I have fun doing it; and sometimes they even respond in prose!