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An Aussie Christmas
by Allan Goode

The kids were all excitable, like every year before,
They all expected lots of toys, with games and so much more,
For Christmas was a special time for friends and family,
With promises of joyous times, and lots to do and see,

A family tradition that was started way, way back,
A barbie by the river down near uncle Jimmy's shack,
With lots to eat, like steak and snags, some eggs and chicken too,
Some prawns and seafood top it off and veggies, just a few,

But this year held a special treat, to give the kids a ball,
Something that would make them squeal, and drive us up the wall,
We'd organized a jumping castle, big and bright and bold,
Just the thing to make their day and take their fun off hold,

We organized the generator, all the ropes and pump,
Just to get it all set up so they could start to jump,
And once the castle filled with air, the kids began to pounce,
And dived inside the castle walls, to jump and scream and bounce,

Uncle Jimmy left the kids, to start the barbie cookin' ,
Little Danny slipped out back when no-one else was lookin',
'Cause Danny was an active boy, who used to love to climb,
On trees or ropes or anything, at any place or time,

But still the kids were havin' fun, while all the food was cooked,
They slid and screamed and went extreme, while several parents looked,
And when the food was cooked at last, they went to join the queue,
To fill their plates with yummy treats, and still dessert to do,

The day had been a scorcher, like so many summer days,
Like any Aussie Christmas, so our uncle Jim would say,
But just as luck would have it, then a breeze began to rise,
And cooled the stifling summer heat, a pleasant days surprise,

But all at once the wind picked up, with new intensity,
And that was when we realized, what all had failed to see,
For Danny in his climbing spree, had loosened several ropes,
So he could scale the castle walls, and raise the damsel's hopes,

But now we were confronted with a truly awesome sight,
The red and yellow castle was attempting to take flight,
So screaming children ran in fear with mothers close in toe,
While uncle Jim and all us blokes watched castle flying low,

It gained a little altitude and pulled the last pegs free,
And headed off towards the shack pursued by Jim and me,
The cattle went ballistic and crashed through the northern fence,
But uncle Jim was close behind with thoughts of recompense,

Then all at once it happened and it caught us all off guard,
'Cause uncle Jim had caught the rope and tried to dig in hard,
But then the wind picked up some more and pulled him in the air,
And half of us yelled, "let it go!" while others stood and stared,

Well uncle Jim's not silly, so he let go straight away,
But still he stayed attached to it, I still recall today,
The peg had hooked him through the belt; he hung there upside down,
And there was nothing we could do, below him on the ground,

The red and yellow castle made a funny shaped balloon,
And uncle Jim just dangled there, below it like a loon,
It dragged him through the tree-line and he disappeared from view,
So we quickly grabbed the nearest car, and chased him as he flew,

A flock of pink galahs got spooked, and quickly took to wing,
And you would too if you were chased by that inflated thing,
But luck it seemed had found him, and the castle slowed in flight,
The air was quickly emptying, A ghastly wrinkled sight,

We had to follow on the road, but found him soon enough,
He'd landed in the cattle yards within the water trough,
A splash of luck my dad would say, with just a scratch or two,
The castle looked an awful sight, all caked in cattle poo,

A pile of red and yellow streaked all over country brown,
But uncle Jim was happy just to finally be down,
It took us many hours just to get the cattle back,
And fix the fence and all the rest to get us back on track,

The castle was the awkward thing to clean and then return,
I'm sure the smell will stay with it until they have it burned,
The barbeque had ended when the castle took to air,
But no-one was complaining, there was laughter everywhere,

The Christmas celebrations were continued through the night,
And gathered round the camp fire we recalled that silly sight,
And every year we gather and we joke at how we stared,
At poor old uncle Jimmy and his castle in the air.