Hello friends, it’s that time of year
Where we write to spread a little cheer
Hope you have had some good laughs
After taking the yearly photographs
Instead of writing a Christmas letter
I thought a little rhyme was better
We hope your year was full of joy
And you remember Mary’s little boy
This year our household grew by three
Of the four-legged variety
Poor Ben has become resigned
To the zoo, he's been assigned
In February, we adopted another canine
Benji chases around our favorite feline
He is so fluffy and bright
And, his hair is black and white
After taking him to the fair
Benji enamored the judges there
They fell for his adorable self
Giving us a blue ribbon for the shelf
At the fair, we saw the bunnies
They were so cute, such honeys
We decided our three-seasons room
Would make a perfect bunny room
First came Charlie, then came Stella
Fortunately, she likes the other fella.
Now, our bunnies play all day
And mom doesn't worry about the hay
Ben works hard at his lawyer job
Fortunately, not working for the mob
He works in municipal law
Writing codes for the bourgeois
He still plays chess a bit
All opponents he must outwit
Chess Club is a highlight each week
Hoping to continue to a winning streak
Amelia takes care of the crew
Homeschooling, cooking, cleaning our zoo
With five good kids, five fun-loving pets
She still has no regrets
Working for the business, Raterlabs
A second income, Amelia grabs
It helps pay off a bill
For the house on the hill
Heidi reached her sweet sixteen
And now is in the working scene
She also learned to drive
Let’s all pray she stays alive
She earns all A’s in school
Her hard work makes her no fool
For media club, she loves to write
Her essays have some good insight
Greta is made of sugar and spice
She reached fourteen without vice
Still writes many enjoyable tales
Bringing joy for her never fails
She does lots of good, kind deeds
With American Heritage Girls, she proceeds
She started a Little Flowers society
For Elsa and her friends to learn piety
John is ten, he’s a scream
He played soccer with his team
Although they lost every game
They had fun, just the same
Like his dad, the son is good at chess
Although his handwriting is a mess
His math skills are above and beyond
Of comic books, he is more than fond
Elsa is six and very sweet
Learning to read is quite a treat
She loves to play pretend
And enjoys making friends
She joined American Heritage Girls
Whose deeds are like little pearls
Elsa loves her co-op classes
She is a great sister to the lasses
Annika has reached the troublesome twos
Princess dresses are all she’ll ever choose
Although she is quite precocious
Sometimes her behavior is atrocious
She loves to talk and sing and dance
Bye-bye diapers, hello underpants
This was her greatest accomplishment so far
At using the potty, she became quite the star
We hope you enjoyed our poetic attempt
Perhaps next year, we’ll be more adept
Time is running out; better say adieu
Merry Christmas from the Bentrup crew
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| Charlie is the black Holland Lop and Stella is the Agouti Rex |
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| Beniji is an adorable maltipoo (maltese/poodle cross). |
