'Twas the Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Xmas, we were all in the club,
Providing a meeting, instead of a pub;
The ashtrays were clean and the coffee was made,
The Big Books were out, and we had all prayed.

When out in the lot, there arose such a clatter,
We jumped from the table to see what was the matter.
The Chair with his Big Book, and I with my smokes,
Headed outside and found these two blokes.

They came on inside, and they sat at the table,
And said that they'd chair, as soon as they're able.
"To start with," they said, "it's more than not drinking,
It's doing your best to fix your wrong thinking."

"'Think, Think, Think!' and those slogans we used,
Help keep the newcomer from getting confused.
Step one is a start," they said we should know,
"And after step two, we'll be all aglow."

"We make a decision when we get to step three;
Step four is real tough, we all could agree.
Step five is the one where we let someone else know
Step Six we are ready, and on Step Seven let go. "

"We get to step eight, and we make our long list
And then with step nine, we have to persist.
After step nine, some promises ring true
We didn't just get that out of the blue."

Step Ten makes assumptions, says *when* we are wrong,
We make amends promptly, we don't take too long.
Step Eleven keeps us centered on spiritual things
Step Twelve shows us how to each day be our best.

These chaps they imparted holiday cheer
Reminding us all of the things we hold dear.
They put on their coats and got ready to leave
A pretty good end, for this Christmas Eve.

As to their names, we only could guess
But I'm pretty darn sure it was Bill and Bob S.
The men hopped into a red '35 Ford,
And as they pulled out, one of them roared:

"We leave this message, for our sisters and brothers:
Trust God, clean house, be of service to others
For all of you people, we wanted to say:
Have a nice holiday, and don't drink, just for today."