T'was the night before Winter Veil and all through the castle, not a creature was stirring, not the lowliest vassal.
When up on the ramparts arose such a clatter, I jumped to my feet to see what was the matter.
Into the chill night and down through the hall, past ornate wall hangings of autumn and fall. To the uppermost turret, with a view of the sky, I looked upon my castle... and what did I spy?
There to my wondering eyes did appear... a fat, red suited dwarf and four drunken reindeer.
He bumbled and blundered, cursed and kicked stone. He shouted profanities, assured he was alone.
With a curse and a shuffle, he reached up on high, caught the lip of the chimney and scuttled inside.
He tumbled and hurtled deep down the chute, followed by a shout as he scorched the back of his suit.
I raced down the steps, past the tapestries and through halls, to peer from a balcony, just after his fall.
He rolled from the fire with a skip and a hop, covered in soot with a flame on his top.
Surly as ever and patting out his hat, he hauled up his fat bag and began across the mat.
To the tree he did amble, his girth far and wide, with his bag full of trinkets and glittering things inside.
He set about with joy, his bluster gone soft, to spread out the gifts for the young in the loft.
His task quickly done, he looked here and there, and spotted his ale, set out with care.
He gulped and he guzzled, then poured out one more, slurping and spilling as he crossed over the floor.
Into the hearth, now quit of its flame, he trundled in tight to contain all of frame.
With a stamp and a grump, he hopped, and then jumped... shot up with a ‘WOOSH!’ a scream... then a thump.
Not long thereafter, another clatter arose, his sleigh sliding sideways, clattering hooves, then a “HOOO...!”
I peered from a window as he rode into the sky, bellowing out, "Merry Winter Veil to all! And to all a goodnight!”